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Can anyone on this site please explain to me why certain people feel the need to make, some times dozens, of stacks of stones when out in the Peak District?
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In reply to eric the good:
I cant explain it I'm afraid but I do not like it.
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In reply to eric the good:
simples. Same reason they put graffiti on walls and bus shelters. Same reason they plant flower beds, make sculptures, aspire to politics, become CEOs and build monuments. We are all arrogant, self-obsessed, narcissistic arseholes who are terrified of our own mortality and desperate to leave a mark on the world around us so that our pathetic lives might leave some impression, however small after we and all who knew us are dead and rotting to nothing but dust.
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In reply to eric the good:
Because they're there.
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In reply to eric the good:
To give you the satisfaction of kicking them over.
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In reply to henwardian:
> We are all arrogant, self-obsessed, narcissistic arseholes who are terrified of our own mortality and desperate to leave a mark on the world around us so that our pathetic lives might leave some impression, however small after we and all who knew us are dead and rotting to nothing but dust.
We are...?
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In reply to eric the good:
Inevitable consequence of the involution of our anal scent glands leading to a shift from marking our passage with our passage to marking our passage with graffiti and debris.
Post edited at 14:46
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In reply to eric the good:
selfies in stone ....
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In reply to eric the over sensitive: what's wrong with walls?
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In reply to eric the good:
> Can anyone on this site please explain to me why certain people feel the need to make, some times dozens, of stacks of stones when out in the Peak District?
So that other walkers can collect a few stones as they pass and then find aesthetically pleasing places to leave them in a more natural environment.
Edit: I was very impressed by someone's dedication in re-arranging the industrial waste stained rocks and the coal on the slag beach south of Seaham to make art however. Photos below. I think it was a lockdown project that became all absorbing. I was particularly impressed by the gradient fill on the sail.
Post edited at 19:46
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In reply to eric the good:
Somebody went completely overboard and built a massive circle of stones near Arbor Low; fortunately, it looks though the farmer toppled them with his tractor.
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In reply to eric the good:
I find people being intolerant and offended by stone stackers more offensive than the stacks of stone left by the stone stackers
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In reply to eric the good:
I can't get too worked up about it on the scale of things we don't like in the countryside.
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In reply to kinley2:
Speak for yourself
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In reply to wintertree:
The sea will take those away.
Expect to see people collecting coal spoil again soon...
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In reply to wintertree:
I quite like the stone stacks etc. on beaches, possibly because they're so ephemeral.
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In reply to eric the good:
Same reason a bunch did it at Castlerigg, Avebury, Stone Henge etc. It’s part of human nature.
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In reply to eric the good:
In an almost similar vein I was going to raise the matter of commemorative plaques being affixed to natural rock features.
A path - the Jubilee Path - around Foel Lu's above Penmaenmawr passes a point where a dozen or so "commemorative" plaques have been attached to a rock outcrop. These are usuall along the lines "In loving memory of Joe Bloggs. 1945 - 2016..." I think they are quite intrusive and unnecessary and are desecrating a natural feature.
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In reply to eric the good:
Great Gable is festooned with cairns, sometimes every six feet and often absolutely huge. Its got to the point that the removal of stone covering the fell is leading to the underlying ground being subject to erosion, particularily during heavy rain. I once nearly got into a fight with someone when he objected to me demolishing cairns and spreading the stone back on the fell.
Apart from anything else the masses of cairns are unsightly, whatever happened to "leave no trace"
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In reply to Bojo:
> In an almost similar vein I was going to raise the matter of commemorative plaques being affixed to natural rock features.
> A path - the Jubilee Path - around Foel Lu's above Penmaenmawr passes a point where a dozen or so "commemorative" plaques have been attached to a rock outcrop. These are usuall along the lines "In loving memory of Joe Bloggs. 1945 - 2016..." I think they are quite intrusive and unnecessary and are desecrating a natural feature.
Agreed.
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In reply to eric the good:
So we can knock them over and check Gravity is still working?
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In reply to OwenM:
> To give you the satisfaction of kicking them over.
Oh that made me chuckle.
Far more fun to knock one down with a well placed stone throw.
Then build two more..........
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In reply to eric the good:
Somebody left some huge ones just north of Salisbury near the A303, there shaped in a circle.
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In reply to Graham6664:
A quid to the first person who knocks one over.
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In reply to BuzyG:
They are not only in the Peak District....
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In reply to Currently Resting:
Not quite. Those sites at least served some (ritualistic/calendar perhaps) purpose. These stacks of stones are just that. A pile of stones
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In reply to Wide_Mouth_Frog:
I think these probably have a ritual purpose to them. It's just a very loose ritual. Whilst I'd like to blame it on shallow Instagrammers I think for lots of people it's a connection with something, with the place, with others who do it.
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In reply to Herdwickmatt:
> I think these probably have a ritual purpose to them. It's just a very loose ritual. Whilst I'd like to blame it on shallow Instagrammers I think for lots of people it's a connection with something, with the place, with others who do it.
Well yes, I suppose you could describe inane copycat behaviour as some sort of connection with others. It might be stretching it a bit to see its desecration as a connection with a place.
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In reply to Robert Durran:
Mmm... Let's not pretend the Peak is some sort of pristine environment. It's got countless shooting moors devoid of wildlife. There's centuries of heavy industry. Millennia of farming and habitat destruction. Countless moments of slash and burn agriculture. The stone stones are quick and ephemeral, the phase will pass.
I'd suggest direct your ire at something more consequential, like public access rights in England, or the lack of genuine rewilding.
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In reply to Herdwickmatt:
Also I don't mean it to sound rude or impolite, just people stacking stones is inconsequential in the grand scheme of the genuine desecration of places which should be open to the public.
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In reply to Herdwickmatt:
It's not inconsequential when stone-stackers stack stones on scheduled ancient monuments as I've seen on bronze age cairns in the Brecon Beacons. One of the problems with stone-stacking is that it's thoughtless and the stackers don't think about the impact they might have on existing features. What happened to 'Leave no Trace'?
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In reply to eric the good:
A while back I built my own cairn.
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52235579315_740a59baa2_b.jpg[/img]
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In reply to Welsh Kate:
My ancestor Uffgungem Num Num carved a large figure of a bloke with a big dick on a Dorsetshire hillside in circa 300ad ish.
Ever since then, folks from as far as Japan have been arriving with cameras and the local fish and chip shop and souvenir centre has made a fortune.
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In reply to birdie num num:
Pretty certain there isn't a chippy in Cerne, and the nearest is the one in Damers Road in Dorchester (despite my forum name, I'm a Durnovarian originally ). But you're right about the tourists!
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In reply to Welsh Kate:
Yes well I'm a bit woolly about the full details. I can't be expected to remember all the stuff about family when it goes back all the way to Adam and Eve Num Num
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In reply to birdie num num:
> Yes well I'm a bit woolly about the full details. I can't be expected to remember all the stuff about family when it goes back all the way to Adam and Eve Num Num
Was that just before the Book of Num Num Numbers?
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In reply to Dave Hewitt:
Yes. And just after Our Father, Jarvis Num Num said 'Let there be lighters'
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In reply to birdie num num:
Yahweh I meant. And he only wanted to spark up a cheroot.
In reply to Herdwickmatt:
> Mmm... Let's not pretend the Peak is some sort of pristine environment. It's got countless shooting moors devoid of wildlife. There's centuries of heavy industry. Millennia of farming and habitat destruction. Countless moments of slash and burn agriculture. The stone stones are quick and ephemeral, the phase will pass.
> I'd suggest direct your ire at something more consequential, like public access rights in England, or the lack of genuine rewilding.
Not to mention miles and miles of dry stone walling, stacked stones!?
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In reply to Cobra_Head:
> Not to mention miles and miles of dry stone walling, stacked stones!?
It's the motivation that is largely the issue.
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In reply to birdie num num:
> Yes well I'm a bit woolly about the full details. I can't be expected to remember all the stuff about family when it goes back all the way to Adam and Eve Num Num
You've become comfortably num!
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In reply to Robert Durran:
> It's the motivation that is largely the issue.
Probably, the same motivation that gets people climbing; because they want to.
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In reply to eric the good:
I blame Richard Long http://www.richardlong.org/Sculptures/2011sculptures/linewalking.html
In reply to Cobra_Head:
> Probably, the same motivation that gets people climbing; because they want to.
Well, yes, obviously at a trivial level. I was comparing the motivation of stone stackers with that of dry stone wallers. They are clearly different. It is a matter of whether one is more acceptable than the other in their time and place.
Post edited at 11:38
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