Monument record 2854/0/2 - The Great Merestone medieval boundary marker on Finlow Hill

A large boulder, half buried in a field on Finlow Hill, 245m east of Mottram House. It lies on the former medieval boundary between the parishes of Nether Alderley and Over Alderley, but later agicultural work has removed the bank on which it must have stood. This stone is referred to locally as the "Great Merestone" and is one of a number mentioned in a description of a perambulation of the parish and estate boundaries of May 1598, as well as much attention as a semi sacred object. The stone is roughly squared with a diameter of 1.3m dia and stands 0.4m above ground level and is made of fine grained sandstone and may be a glacial erratic. On the top surface is a damaged carved cross. (1)

Stated in (2) as a large boulder stone (1.5 - 2m in diameter) probably a naturally emplaced glacial erratic (volcan tuff, Lake District) within the middle of Finlow Hill, referred to in the May 1598 perambulation of the boundaries.

<1> English Heritage, Various, Old/Original Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Description), 2001/33862 (Scheduling Record). SCH4606.

<1> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 2001/33862 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

<2> 1998, Alderley Edge Landscape Project Archive (Unpublished Report). SCH4334.