Does anyone know what this stone was at Clapton Pond?

Does anyone know what this stone was at Clapton Pond?

Clapton, History of Hackney

For an imminent book of Hackney photos from the 1980s, I wonder if anyone knows anything about the strange piece of stone in this picture at north Clapton Pond
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201383812541565&set=o.207670989263807&type=1&relevant_count=1

13 Comments

  1. Pingback: @LDNe5

  2. Pingback: @eyeonclapton

  3. I wonder if there is anything in here http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/e-clapton_pond_appraisal.pdf that can help

  4. Pingback: @fuckyeahhackney

  5. Thanks Emily – can’t see anything in there except mention of a Roman stone sarcophagus, which doesn’t quite fir the bill, although the stone could be that old!?

  6. I have found a more recent photo from Fin Fahey

    Masonry, Clapton Ponds

    He says:

    “An odd thing that I’ve not noticed before at the Ponds. No inscription, no plaque, and no reference that I can find to it on the net. But it seems quite deliberately set on a plinth and it looks like limestone. What – the remains of a memorial or drinking fountain? Or could it be a couple of remaining stones from one of the grand houses that were typical of Clapton a century ago?”

  7. hmm, interesting close up – it certainly looks pretty old. Alex P also has a recent snap, from my original position. The birch trees & other planting is quite new but they obviously retained the plinth. There’s no limestone in the area, and would they bother to keep just part of an old house?

  8. Thanks for all your help. Due to deadlines we have gone with this below, and I think it’s ok to leave it an as yet unsolved mystery:
    “Clapton Pond 1987
    The pond was dug out in the early C17th as a reservoir for water from the river Lea.
    An ornamental weeping hawthorn shelters a seemingly nondescript piece of stone, but it obviously belongs here. Its origin has been variously imagined but we don’t know what it is or why it’s there.”

    The hardback book Hackney Photographs 1985-1987 by Dewi Lewis Publishing should be available from early summer.

  9. Nice. If you do ever find out, it would be good to know

  10. Pingback: @hra_100

  11. Still no idea what the stone is, but the book, including the photo at the top is now out https://www.flickr.com/photos/93287657@N05/14065599590/

  12. Could it be one end of a horses drinking trough?..can’t help thinking it is something of a practical use thats ended up as a relic

  13. This was talked about on Robert Elms’ radio show feature ‘Notes and Queries’ last Wednesday, but still nobody knew what it was. Some people seem to think it might be mounting block for horse riders? Yeah Hackney got a few mentions too.

Comments are now closed for this post.