A rock in the middle of a road in a Buckinghamshire village will stay exactly where it is, after a suggestion that it might be moved caused ‘outrage’.
The stone is said to have been in the village of Soulbury for 11,000 years.
A spokesman for Buckinghamshire County Council initially told the BBC removing the stone was ‘an option’ after the driver of a new fangled motorised vehicle allegedly drove into it and sought compensation.
It was reported that the council identified the stone as ‘an obstruction in the public highway according to The Highways Act 1980’ and one that it was obliged to make safe.
‘Outraged villagers’ then found it necessary to have themselves photographed with chains loosely draped around themselves and the stone.
The rock in the road
Buckinghamshire’s cabinet member for transportation Mark Shaw then told the BBC that the rock was heart and soul of the village and that ‘to move it, or even discuss moving it... would be absolute madness’.
He said: ‘What we want to do is clearly make the road safe and secure for all drivers but actually it would be absolute lunacy to move that stone.’
Mr Shaw pointed out that ‘this is about one person who's crashed into this stone in over 11,000 years’, although it is not clear what his source was for this statistic.
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