Hove Park is home to the famous Goldstone, a huge rock set in a ring of nine smaller rocks. The stone originally sat in Goldstone Bottom, between the railway and the South Downs, but now takes pride of place in the park’s south west corner. It is massive, weighing an impressive 20 tons and roughly 13½ feet long, 9 feet high and 5½ feet wide. So what’s the story?

Devils, druids and eerie stone faces

Local legend has it that the stone was used by ancient Druids for worship. Look closely and you’ll see the shape of an eerie human face in the rock. Once known as the 'Grey Wether’, another myth says the rock was hurled into its original place by the Devil when he was excavating Devil's Dyke to let the sea in and drown the Weald.

Farmer Marsh Rigden takes action

The legends inspired increasing numbers of people to visit the site during the 1800s, and the growing crowds eventually started damaging the crops on the farm it stood on, owned by William Marsh Rigden. In the early 1830s he took action and buried the whole thing.

The stones remained safely buried and almost forgotten until autumn 1900 when William Hollamby, one of Hove’s Commissioners, rediscovered and unearthed them. A few years later, in 1906, they were finally put on display in the brand new Hove Park.

Apparently there were more than nine stones surrounding the original, some of which may have been used to build the base of the Victoria Fountain on Brighton’s Old Steine.

Stunning Sussex Sarsens

Like similar Sussex standing stones, the Goldstone is a Sarsen, made of a particularly hard sandstone and flint conglomerate. There’s nothing mysterious about the material, which occurs perfectly naturally in the ancient geological strata which once covered the South Downs. You can still find Sarsens in areas where the old land surface remains, filling local valleys, and higher up on the Downs they can be found buried underground.

If you want to see more Sarsens, there are plenty lining the road into Stanmer Park, which was once called ‘Stony Mere’, meaning a stone-filled stream.

Modern druids adopt the stone

There’s no proof ancient druids used the stone. But modern druids adopted it. In summer 1929, an oak tree was planted near the Goldstone to celebrate the 100th chapter of the Brighton & Hove Royal Arch, the Ancient Order of Druids, and a plaque erected to commemorate the occasion.

There are very few Celtic place names in Sussex. Most of our towns and villages have names of Saxon origin. So the theory is that the name ‘Goldstone’ is also Saxon. The words gield (gold) and god both refer to an idol or god. It’s thought the stone was there, visible, when the Saxons first arrived in the area, and it’s reasonable to assume they also saw the strange face in the stone and perhaps revered it. Maybe they even called it the God Stone? Who knows.

The truth is lost in the mists of time. But the Goldstone remains for everyone to marvel at, over the years inspiring the name of the old Goldstone football ground, Goldstone Villas, Goldstone Road and more. If you’re in Hove, why not pay it a visit?