Here, the West Bridgford & District Local History Society talks about The Stone Man:
West Bridgford’s Stone Man is largely forgotten now but stirred the imagination of local poets in the nineteenth century. It was discovered at the beginning of that century, when a pond was being excavated in the triangle of land between Loughborough and Melton Road, at their junction with Wilford Lane.
The ancient, life-size effigy of a cross-legged knight was then left, propped up where it was found, next to an old boundary stone, marking the limit of the manor of Nottingham.
Edward Hind summed matters up in his 42-line poem Ode to the Stone-Man of West Bridgford, published in 1853, when he asked, ‘Good mister stone-man, can you tell me who the dickens you were made to represent?’ Another poet, William Bradfield, took 29 pages in his The Story of the Stone Man in 1864, to conclude that it was a Crusader knight.
But which knight? Some people were of the view that the effigy came from Flawforth Church. There were several such monuments at the church (on Flawforth Lane, near Ruddington) until it was demolished. But the people of West Bridgford wanted the Stone Man for their own.
They decided the knight would have been a member of the Lutterell family, who were Lords of the Manor of West Bridgford in medieval times. So, it was only right, at the end of the nineteenth century, when the field was sold for development, that the effigy was found a home in St Giles’ church. It now rests under a 14th century arch that was once in the ancient church, but was moved to the new extension built in the early twentieth century. Perhaps the Stone Man had returned home at last.
See https://www.bridgfordhistory.org for more information about the local Society and what we can offer, including an extensive photograph archive. The Society has also published two books on Aspects of West Bridgford’s History, plus there are also several other books available by local authors. Meetings are held from October to April, more details to be announced later.