‘Skelton’s is a poetry of objects, as well as of vanished animals, with bones and feathers becoming especially charged artifacts for his poetic vision.’
Paul Sheehan
Haining Stones (2016)
In the catalogue of the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry, item no 77/393 is described as a commonplace ‘weight stone’. This NRGCA publication explores the possibility that it may in fact be a ‘haining stone’ — a ritual object connected to superstitions surrounding ‘dobbies’, ‘brownies’ and other supernatural agencies thought to once inhabit secluded rural locations.
Haining stones themselves are previously undocumented and so their exact form and function is unclear. An NRGCA source indicates that there are two distinct types — a ‘hand’ stone and larger ‘field’ stone. By contrast, a ‘dobby’ stone is a hollowed-out or vessel-like stone which received a propitiatory offering of milk made to the presiding spirit prior to the process of butter-making.
Haining Stones features photography of four artefacts — three ‘hand’ stones (one if which is the aforementioned museum object, 77/393) and one ‘field’ stone from an undisclosed location in Dunnerdale, Cumbria.