St John's Stone

Origins

The St John’s Stone stood in open fields on Leicester Abbey land in an area called Johnstone Close.  The earliest known reference to the stone dates to 1381. For centuries, it had great significance for local people.  Early in the nineteenth century, a semi-circular amphitheatre was hewn from the hillside so people could sit and look at it.  It then stood some seven feet high.  The Leicester artist John Flower made a drawing of it in 1815 when it was still a substantial edifice, but by 1835 it had become reduced to about three feet by people rubbing against it. 

Legend and Mythology

It is claimed the stone aligned with the Humber Stone on Midsummer’s Day. Modern research suggests that a line in the Humber Stone may align, not at midsummer, but on May Day, the Feast of Beltane. It is said that the stone was frequented by fairies, who would dance around it at sundown. A custom which survived until the nineteenth century involved visits to the stone on St John’s Day (24 June) for a festival echoing ancient fire and sun worship. 

Where is the stone today?  

Pieces of the stone can be found in St. Luke's Church, Stocking Farm, but the stone itself has vanished.  Its location is now a back garden near the rear of 62 Somerset Avenue in the suburbs off the city’s Blackbird Road/Stadium Estate.