Details
The monument includes a boundary marker stone known as Edgerley Stone located on the north side of the B3358 between Challacombe and Simonsbath to the south of Bill Hill. The marker is formed by a rough wedge-shaped stone of local origin set into a grass verge adjacent to the road. It is 1.5m in height, 0.8m across at its widest point gradually narrowing to 0.45m at the top, and is up to 0.4m thick. Traces of the names `F Isaac' and `F Bray' have been inscribed into the front of the stone, probably in antiquity as the formal lettering and weathered condition of the inscriptions suggests. An Ordnance Survey benchmark is also visible on the stone. Edgerley Stone is known to have been in its present position from at least 1207 when it was already marking the boundary of the Royal Forest of Exmoor. It is referred to in a charter granted by King John at Winchester which disafforested the men of Devon and confirmed the appointment of William de Wrotham as warden of the forests of Somerset. Prior to the 13th century the boundary stone would have stood in open moorland although it is not possible to establish a closer dating for its origin. Several later records of the 17th century refer to the stone which was and still remains an important and well known boundary marker. It forms one of eleven such boundary markers which defined the Devon county boundary, a boundary which remained unchanged until the early 19th century.
Selected Sources
Book Reference - Author: Macdermot, E T - Title: A History of the Forest of Exmoor - Date: 1973 - Type: DESC TEXT