Milpreve – Stones

Some people commented on the adder stones that we collected on our recent trip to Kent. So, I thought I’d leave a little info here.

People have traditionally used the term “adder stone” to describe any stone with a naturally occurring hole through it. Often made of flint, they have also been called hag stones, fairy stones, and snake’s eggs. In Cornwall, where I am from, they were called milpreve.

There’s a lot of folklore (people-knowledge) surrounding adder stones, which, of course, is another story. But what does remain is a curiosity in the discovery of such items.

I guess it’s the form that creates intrigue.

As a creative artist, especially when I studied visual arts as a student, Barbara Hepworth was one artist who piqued my interest. Of course, in her created sculptures, she often featured ‘holes’.

I recall studying: ‘the hole’ as a way back as well as a way forward. Conjuring notions of time, past, future, and a space for potential possibilities…

I recall playing with T.S. Eliot’s Burnt Norton
Time present and time past
are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility…

Anywho… I digress.

I guess it’s the ‘noticing’ of forms that is the essence of this. Projecting meaning onto them is what we all then do. Hence, the development of our language and cultures. We see the form of a sunset and it conjures feelings or thoughts, perhaps an overwhelming awe, or a speechless moment, a void… to be filled with meaning.

So back to the holed stones. Whether it’s the mystery of days gone by, or the beauty of sculptural ‘gaps or connections’. Holes exist in our world; space, void, potential… make of them what you will.