The green stone

Does anyone know more about this, i find it a fascinating topic but cant find out more than what the book tells, here

is what i know so far. (Not the gunpowder plot, but the green stone).



At the beginning of the seventeenth century England was ruled by a Protestant regime, this is what lead to the

gunpowder plot which was hatched by a group of catholic landowners in 1605. The plan was conceived by Robert

catesby and Thomas wyntour and as we know conspirator guy Fawkes was left to carry out the final part of the plot.


Fawkes was tortured into revealing the names of the other conspirators, the remainder of the group fled to the

wyntour family home of Haddington court in worcestershire and were captured not long after arriving there.


The interesting bit is this was not the end of the affair, as the chief minister Robert Cecil, had requested that Robert

catesby should be taken alive, as it was believed that he was in possession of a sacred relic which was a green

jade gemstone called the meonia stone.






The belief was that it was once set in Excalibur and historically had belonged to Mary queen of scots, who was the

last legitimate catholic heir to the throne, after her death it was believed that the next heir should possess the

stone.


Cecil wished to destroy the stone so that it could not be used as a rallying symbol, but catesby was shot dead and

the location of the stone was lost.





In 1979 graham Philips and fellow researcher Andrew Collins decided to go in search of the stone. After a great

Deal of research they managed to find the identity of the person the stone had been entrusted to, this was Thomas

Wyntours sister lady Gertrude, when the conspirators arrived at the family home, the servants were dismissed, so

She was the only person to see them before they were captured. Cecil suspected that she had or new the location

Of the stone, but the king had forbidden the torture of women, however she was placed under house arrest.


It was discovered in her secret writing that before she was arrested she was visited by Humphrey packington of

nearby Harrington hall. He was not a conspirator but was a devout catholic, and was a distant relation of Mary

Queen of scots.




In searching for the stone graham and Andrew found a mural behind panelling in the upper floors of Harrington hall,

the mural was of a young King Arthur wielding Excalibur before a hill on which his knights were assembled. Only

packington himself could have commissioned this mural. This was interesting as the stone is associated with

Excalibur and could be a clue to the stones location.


The local area was searched and a place was discovered that seemed to match the mural, which is called knights

hill. They found a heavily encrusted sword buried in the foundations of a bridge at the bottom of the hill which

dated to the time of the conspiracy, once clean it was found to bear the arms of Mary queen of scots, and a coded

message which was meonia fore Marye this lead to the discovery of the location of the stone on the banks of the

River Avon a few miles from the same bridge.



They found this stone and allowed a member of their group to keep it, unfortunately their friend died and the stone

to her daughter, after this the stone was sold on eBay and it is once again lost, there is a book about there

adventures called he green stone by Martin keatman and graham Philips. It tells more about the more mysterious

side of the story.

Interesting. The most precious stones in the world are semiprecious stones. Look at the oldest and most precious of the crown jewels and the stones on the top of the staffs of the countries.

Hmmm...I'm not disputing the possibility that such a stone existed, Baetyl worship is common in most cultures and it stands to reason that some, like the Black Stone at Kaaba, were preserved and passed down...but the back story and the constant losing of it all sounds a bit fishy and contrived.

www.andrewcollins.com...

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


I thought it sounded a bit fishy too, maybe they never really found it, btw thanks for that link.

reply to post by Gildenel


I've been trying to find some independent evidence of the seven swords he claims to have found as well...and nada. You'd think that there would be something...but on all the links I found, mostly writing, some unrelated photos but no pictures of swords...or the stone itself really. I'm not saying it isn't true, but I think that if I had found something like that, I would have taken photos...especially if I was of such a careless disposition to go lose the thing again...

I'm an Arthurian buff, so I like the idea of their being more than metaphor behind the legends, but this is stretching my imagination a little too far.

I like your avatar by the way. I love the Merlin series, I think Colin Morgan, and the writers involved have done the best job of capturing the essence of Merlin of anyone so far, but then they clearly did draw from T H White a great deal, so it is perhaps to be expected

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Yes you'd think that if this were real there would have been more archaeological or academic interest or at least more written about it than the material of the original finders of the stone, and to lose all of the swords as well. I wonder if such a thing really exists though? I can't find anything written about it apart from that which the authors of the green stone have written, or people associated with them.

I loved that tv series and I am an Arthurian buff too, it was about merlin and was an amazing portrayal of him, that last image of him guarding Arthur still in the present day sent chills down my spine. Do you know Alan Garners work, really amazing writer, integrates Arthurian legend into his stories along with local mythology, some of his work is quite haunting.

Originally posted by Gildenel
Yes you'd think that if this were real there would have been more archaeological or academic interest or at least more written about it than the material of the original finders of the stone, and to lose all of the swords as well. I wonder if such a thing really exists though? I can't find anything written about it apart from that which the authors of the green stone have written, or people associated with them.

After I logged off ATS the other night I was looking for a book to read and I picked up Cao Xuequin's The Dream of the Red Chamber. Until then I hadn't realised that it was also called The Story of the Stone, but oddly enough, in part, it is about a sentient green jade stone. Long story short, it kept my mind on the Meonia stone, and I tried to do a little more digging. Still nothing. The only Meonia reference I can find is that it is the ancient name of Lydia, named after a King Meon of Phrygia. If 'Meonia' is an anagram of 'I am one' as the authors claim, it is not a commonly used one outside of business circles. So none the wiser here I am afraid though I am always happy to learn more about Phrygia, so I don't consider the effort wasted.

Originally posted by Gildenel
I loved that tv series and I am an Arthurian buff too, it was about merlin and was an amazing portrayal of him, that last image of him guarding Arthur still in the present day sent chills down my spine. Do you know Alan Garners work, really amazing writer, integrates Arthurian legend into his stories along with local mythology, some of his work is quite haunting.

I am normally more of a purist when it comes to Arthurian legend, but Garner sounds interesting, I will check him out, thanks.