The beach at Bexhill is pebble-ridden with flinty stones. It plays havoc with your feet, but it’s an interesting environment with a lot of potential.
Some of the stones are curiously pierced. People comb the shore looking for good examples – children and middle-aged metal detectorists are particularly enthralled by them. Apparently the poloponised rocks protect against bad luck.
Over the past few weeks we’ve started a little collection of these holy stones. I’ve even incorporated one of them into my baker talk at the castle. Below are a selection of finds…
According to folklore, if we hang these above our stable door it’ll stop our horses getting hag-ridden. Worth a try (if we had a horse… or a stable).
I’m not sure what causes the holes. Someone suggested a stone-eating worm was involved, but this seems unlikely outside the world of computer games. Whatever the process it produces some remarkable results. The small white stone leaning on the brown stone bottom left is almost a cylinder. The small brown stone in the middle of the bottom row has three equal-sized holes – all linked.
Lance Woodman 