MSO7145 - Hore Stone at the Head of Lew Combe (Monument)

A boundary stone marking the Devon/Somerset border and the west edge of the Forest of Exmoor. Several historic maps name it the Sloley Stone in error. The existing slab may have replaced a broken displaced slab that is situated nearby.

'Sloley Stone' is incorrectly marked on the 1st and 2nd Edition, and 1962 Ordnance Survey maps. [1-3] A stone is mentioned here in a lawsuit of 1678. It lies on the boundary of the parishes Challacombe, High Bray and Exmoor. It is one of the Forest boundary stones, called 'Hore Stone', which is mentioned in the Perambulations. [4] A boundary stone is mentioned in the 1815 Perambulation, marking the western boundary of the Forest of Exmoor. [5] The stone is mentioned in a lawsuit of 1678 and, as the 'Long Stone' or 'Lew Combe Stone', in the Perambulation of 1815. [8] The Hore Stone is a boundary stone, located at SS 7175 3962. The boundary stone (A) is set to the immediate south side of a fence about 3.5 metres to the west of an enclosure bank, at the head of Lew Combe. It marks the position of the junction between the Devon and Somerset county boundary (which is coincident here with the western boundary of the old Forest of Exmoor) and the Challacombe/Brayford/Exmoor parish boundaries. The stone is an earthfast, natural, upright, grey rhomboidal slab, 0.5 metres high, 0.8 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick. Its northwest side is engraved 'EARL FORTESCUE' in deep cut letters, and its southeast side contains an Ordnance Survey bench mark. Lying on the turf against the northern side of the fence is another stone (B). It is a broken, rectangular slab with a curved top and is 1 metre long, 0.37 metres maximum width and 0.10 metres thick. The end opposite the curved end is pointed and has obviously broken. Its upper face contains some illegible engraved figures, probably a date, and there is nothing on the reverse side. Stone A is shown on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map [1], annotated Sloley Stone. This name however was an error, which has now been corrected on the current 1:10000 and 1:25000 Ordnance Survey maps. The correct Sloley Stone is situated 245 metres to the south (see MSO6808). MacDermot [6], shows a stone at the site of A, on a map of 'Exmoor Forest and its Purlieus, 1400 (?)-1819', named Hore Stone. As a Forest boundary marker, a stone here is referred to as early as 1207 as Hore Stone. In 1678, it is noted as Hore Stone and Horestone. Finally, in the last Perambulation in 1815, it was referred to as Long Stone or Lew Combe Stone. This is the site of the Hore Stone, but A is not the original stone. MacDermot, in 1911 [4], referring to 'old well-known boundary stones of the 17th Ccentury' describes stone A as being "still to be seen". Burton [9], states that "an earlier stone, has in recent years been recovered from the mud close by. Figures carved on its face would appear to be a date, but they are so badly worn away that it is impossible to state when". This is obviously stone B, and may well be the original Hore Stone. [11] "Sloleys Stone" is indicted here on the Challacombe Tithe Map. [12] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [13]