The origin of standing stone obelisks such as that which became known as the Abbot’s chair probably dates back to Anglo Saxon times and the concept of the “moot” or meeting place at which justice was dispensed and the local community met to discuss issues. The unit of the moot was usually based around a “Hundred” the administrative unit into which all counties were split. Huntingdonshire, a relatively small county was split into just four Hundreds and the village of Somersham falls within the Hurstingstone Hundred.

What Professor Mawer concluded in his article (see below) was that the name of Hurstingstone came from the stone cross where the Hundred court was accustomed to meet. The stone became known as the Abbots Chair around the mid 17^th century when the cross was removed and the stone plinth upended so that it looked like a stone chair (see the picture above).

The stone lay next to what was known as the “Old Ramsey Road” just to the west of the road next to Wyton Airbase and was clearly marked on maps of the area right up until 1921. Eventually it was removed in the 1950’s when the Ramsey Road was closed to allow the runway at Wyton to be lengthened to accommodate larger bombers at the airbase. Today the stone can be found at the excellent Norris Museum in St Ives and there is a link to their website at the end of this piece. The stone is kept in the courtyard up against the wall of the museum.