The Drinking Stone – a One Shot Story.

Perched on a ledge just above the road through the Hafren Forest in Mid-Wales this huge boulder was given the name from it’s habit of descending at dawn each day to the river below to drink.

Visitors to the boulder in the early morning will find it is still wet from dipping in the Hafren river to satisfy it’s thirst. Alternative theories are that the stone goes to drink overnight, or even only once a decade. It is not clear what would happen if you were to see the stone going down to the river or on the way back, though getting in the way would not be a good idea. Nobody I am aware of has claimed to see it on the way up or down, and as the slope from the road down to the river is a jumble of large boulders (though not as large as the Drinking Stone) the possibility that seeing the boulder moving may lead to the viewer themselves turning to stone cannot be excluded.

Alternatively a local legend suggests this sandstone boulder was eroded out of the hillside above and rolled down to it’s present position some time since the end of the last ice-age. The shapes on the visible face are said to be flute-casts on the underside of the exposed bedding caused by turbid flows of sand and silt slipping into the ocean basin where the rocks were formed. This about 445 million years ago around the end of the Ordovician period or the start of the Silurian. As the turbidite flows settled out they filled in hollows scoured into the sediments on the seabed and formed the shapes in the rock we see today. The legend continuing that the morning dampness observed is caused by condensation on the cold bare rock.

On review it is possible I may have mixed up what is legend and which is scientific fact.

Whichever, only a couple of years ago few people passed the lonely rock on it’s perch above the single-track road, only locals and those prepared for the hike up to the source of the River Hafren/Severn. Then something called Instagram or whatever happened and now the forest walk a few hundred metres further on is swarming with visitors to one of the “10 best secret locations” in Wales, Britain, the World, possibly the Universe. I am confused as to which, but by definition it no longer qualifies anyway. But still they come, many leaving their rubbish and dog shit behind as mementoes for others to clear away. Worse, hardly any have learned to drive before setting out to come, and certainly have not passed their driving test, you know the one with the bit where you have to engage reverse gear and show you can use it.

Rant over.

Sadly few seem to be bothered to stop and visit the Drinking Stone to check on it’s welfare and that it has indeed managed to go down to the river today and drink. This despite a maintained path that leads up to the rock and an interpretation board placed nearby.

I photographed the Drinking Stone with my Moscow 4 and Ilford Ortho Plus film, getting far enough away from it to include the whole rock in the photo proved challenging on the steep forested hillside.

If you want to find out more try Colin Humphrey’s article in The Silurian (PDF download.)

Share this post: