The Tarry Stone Update.

The Tarry Stone Updated.

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I have mentioned this sarsen stone before in an earlier accounting of this blog. I now have further information on its history.

TARRY STONE. A sarsen stone 3 ft. high, by 4 ft. long, and 2.ft. thick. This formerly stood in Cookham village, about two feet from Dodson's fence, where the roads parted to the church and the ferry. It is now in the Mill Garden at Cookham, where it was removed by the late George Venables when he was churchwarden.

This stone was formerly known as Cookham Stone. A.D.1506. The tithing man presents that the Warrener ought to hold sports at Cookham Stone on the day of Assumption; and he has not done so. The stone was originally a boundary stone to the property of the Abbot of Cirencester, whose house was close by, as is shown in the will of John Luffenham, A.D. 1423. Similar boundary stones are yet to be found in the neighbourhood, as in West Mead (at the southeast corner of the piece No. 623 in the Tithe Map), another at south-west corner of No. 624, and another at the south west corner of No. 625.
This accounting was by Stephen Darby in 1900. The stone was returned from the Venables garden down Mill Lane and set at the  head of the High Street for quite a number of years.
The stone has now been relocated in what is thought to be its original position.