The Sailor's Stone

This stone overlooking the natural amphitheatre that is The Devil's Punchbowl is a memorial to a sailor who was making his way back to his ship at Portsmouth when he was murdered in 1786. He was killed by three other sailors who had just been the recipients of the generosity of the slain sailor.They were captured and hung on nearby Gibbet Hill. The stone is placed near the old London to Portsmouth road as it passed near the summit of Gibbet Hill and at 892 feet high it is the second highest point in Surrey. The road was at a later time realigned at a lower level but still looking down on the Punchbowl and this is where many a driver sat in traffic queues north of Hindhead on what became the A3 and was the only section of single carriageway between London and Portsmouth- ( but that is another story ) . The one thing I am not happy to see is that the Ordnance Survey have chosen to inscribe a bench mark on the front of the stone in amongst the inscription. This is quite a sensible thing in that anyone who moves the stone is cursed and after being moved once was returned to it's original place. Thus this is a permanent point for a bench mark but I think it could have been put on the side instead- besides there is an OS Trig pillar at the top of the hill.

Devils Punchbowl Surrey Hindhead