The Great Stone (Trafford)

The Great Stone, now lies at the northern entrance of Gorse Hill Park in Stretford on the A56 (Chester Road) not far from Old Trafford at SJ804955. It was originally positioned adjacent to the nearby ‘Great Stone Road’ but was moved in 1925. No one is really sure what the Great Stone is, some say it was used as a road marker during the Roman period, others that it is the base of a Saxon Cross (it does look very similar to Robin Hood’s Picking Rods on Mellor Moor in Stockport) and others that it was used as a Plague Stone with the holes on top filled with vinegar to prevent the spread of infection. Stretford, as the name implies, was an important crossing point over the River Mersey during Roman times, and presumably much earlier. In an area that is generally lacking in stone, surely this glacial erratic boulder of millstone grit must also have had some significance to prehistoric people, perhaps marking a much earlier trackway?