Hello. Its February!
First up we’re headed to the Benbow in Penzance, Cornwall tomorrow at 6pm for the launch of Amy Hale’s new book of the artist (and author of the first ever Stone Club book of the month) Ithell Colquhoun’s sex magic works. It’ll be brilliant evening, with Amy in conversation with Matthew Shaw, and books available to purchase from Tate. We’ll be upstairs, so pop in if you’re nearby.
You may have seen we’re coming back to Brighton on the 15th May. We’ll be joined by our friends The Odditorium alongside a series of wonderful guests including Simon Costin of The Museum of British Folklore and The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, as well as Katy Soar (who’s new collection is also our current book of the month), David Bramwell and the brilliant Philip Carr-Gomm.
You can snap up a ticket from here
Excitingly we are coming back to the ICA on March 3rd! Tickets have just gone on sale and the bill is mega!
Amongst our guests will be Gwenno, Justin Hopper and Hettie Judah.
You can nab a ticket here
COMPETITION
We have a copy of our current book of the month, the fantastic Circles of Stone, to give away.
Circles of Stone editor Katy Soar has collected together a hugely entertaining, engaging and enchanting selection of stories that fit together seamlessly and brilliantly. Circles of Stone is a classic page turner, that includes both familiar authors and one or two that have been lost in the mists of time. Misty moors and strange liminal spaces provide the settings for many of these stories of uncanny happenings, unexplainable phenomena and magical goings on.
“The standing stones, stone circles, dolmens and burial sites of the British Isles still resonate with mystery of their primeval origins, enthralling our collective consciousness to this day. Rising up in the field of weird fiction, ancient stones and the rituals and dark forces they once witnessed have inspired a wicked branch of the genre by writers devoted to their eerie potential.
Gathered in tribute to these relics of a lost age – and their pagan legacy of blood – are fifteen stories of haunted henges, Druidic vengeance and solid rock alive with bloodlust, by authors including Algernon Blackwood, Lisa Tuttle, Arthur Machen and Nigel Kneale.”
To enter simply tell us about a ghostly encounter you’ve experienced. A winner with be drawn at 6pm on February 29th, and a winner notified shortly afterward.
Stone of the Month: Boleigh Fogou
A strange and mysterious subterranean cavelike structure, Boleigh Fogou, is one of a number of these extraordinary and uniquely Cornish constructions. Its entrance is, as you can see, lined with ferns and once you’ve slid down the muddy bank you will find yourself in a mossy, spider littered dark and dank tunnel. To the left hand side is a hole which leads to the ‘creep’ a smaller space still with a figure shaped enclave at its back. Come back out into the main tunnel and look to your left and you will find the carving of a figure that Julian Cope so infamously couldn’t find in his television series The Modern Antiquarian. ‘Do you see it?’ says Jo May (the then owner), ‘I think that I could see it’ says Julian Cope in reply. In the book he adds to this saying something along the lines of ‘but I’d have to be psychedelically informed’.
What was their use? It’s much disputed from grain store to a ritual use, all manner of theories have been considered and mused over. The truth is we may never fully know and this is perhaps what makes them so intriguing. They are infused with mystery!
Boleigh is in the grounds of a house so is on private land, but if you contact the owners they are very happy to let you through to have a look.
In the late noughties, Matthew Shaw (Stone Club’s co-founder) alongside artist, Brian Lavelle, made a series of recordings in Fogou’s under the title Fougou (the spelling used by T.C.Lethbridge). You can find them all here.
There’s still time to nab a pink Stones of Kernow jumper featuring Lanyon Quoit. Very handy for keeping cosy whilst hunting for stones. You can snap one up here.
Happy stone hunting, don’t get too soggy!
Love Stone Club
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