Flagstones Enclosure
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 The "Druid Stone" found at Thomas Hardy's house in 1891, now identified as a sarsen stone from Flagstones Enclosure | |
  Flagstones Shown within Dorset | |
| Region | Dorset, England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 50°42′25″N 2°25′12″W / 50.707°N 2.420°W |
| Type | Causewayed enclosure |
| History | |
| Periods | Neolithic / Bronze Age |
Flagstones is a late Neolithic interrupted ditch enclosure (similar to a causewayed enclosure) on the outskirts of Dorchester, Dorset, England. It derives its name from having been discovered beneath the site of the demolished Flagstones House.[1] Half of it was excavated in the 1980s when the Dorchester by-pass was built; the rest of it still exists under the grounds of Max Gate, Thomas Hardy's house.
In March 1891 workmen were digging under the lawn at Thomas Hardy's house at Max Gate when they discovered a large sarsen stone three feet (0.9 m) underground.[2] It took seven men with levers to raise the stone which had been lying flat.[2] Around the stone was a quantity of ashes and half-charred bones.[2] Hardy called it "The Druid Stone" and had it erected at the edge of the lawn where it still stands;[3] he wrote about the stone in his poem "The Shadow on the Stone".[4] It was only when the enclosure was discovered in the 1980s that it was realised that the sarsen stone came from a larger monument.[3]
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