Day 138 - The Four Shire Stone

This Sunday, we awoke to an overcast day, but it was one of those strangely bright cloudy days that don't look like rain is at all a threat. So, despite having planned to get caught up on some work, we couldn't resist the chance for a walk.

We pored over our Ordinance Map of the area looking for somewhere to walk close by and settled on a circular walk on a section around Moreton in Marsh that we hadn't yet traversed.

The road we chose eventually leads to Evenlode and starts out in a rather eclectic section of town, with an odd mix of housing styles. After passing one of the town's two allotment gardens, we were soon in the countryside passing horse farms. We were pleasantly surprised to find some really gorgeous estates out this way.

A large variety of birds were singing as we went and we watched what we thought were two Red Kites fly over the open fields looking for lunch. As we turned down the road leading to Great Wolford, Phil gave the birds a run for their money with his eagle eye spottinng a lone deer munching on the grass of a farmer's fallow field.

As we approached the Oxford Road -- the main road leading into Moreton in Marsh, we noted that the various and farms all had names with the words "Four Shire" in them: Four Shire Home Farm, Four Shire House, North Four Shire Stone Farm. On the opposite side of the Oxford Road we noticed what at first we mistook for the stone entrance to a manor. But only one side of the road had one. Phil quickly noticed writing on it (his eagle eyes at work again), and we found ourselves staring at The Four Shire Stone, a boundary marker that marks there place where at one time four English counties came together: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. In 1931, the boundary for Worcestershire was moved, so now it is more accurately the Three Shire Stone.

It's actually a listed monument built some time in the 18th century from Cotswold stone , so has that lovely golden hue to it. Over the years, people have carved their names into it...the 1800s version of graffiti. Research shows there was another 4 Shire Stone here in 1675.

If you've been reading our blog you know we are in the land that inspired much of Tolkein's work, so it should come as no surprise to learn that the stone is thought to have inspired the "Three Farthing Stone" in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Shire in those stories is divided into four farthings, three of which meet at the "Three Farthing Stone."

From here it was a walk back into town, where we stopped to explore the local industrial park when we spotted a Petro Canada decal on the front of a truck. Turns out one of the occupants of the park is the Porsche Club of Great Britain while another is a company call Rennsport that builds the Porsche 911 there to bespoke specifications. You just never know what you'll discover by noticing a Canadian icon.

Then it was home and dinner (no Sunday roast today after our fine evening out on Friday). Oh, and we discovered the BAFTAs were on the tellie, so we watched those in preparation for fast-approaching Oscar night.