Portland Hand Quern

A stone hand quern stone was found in the Tout quarry area in August 2004, it was moved to the front of Portland Museum. Susann Palmer asked me (RC) to look at it and I was able to confirm that it was not a millstone from one of the windmills. The local Dorset Evening Echo article below explains more. This appears to have been a quern stone - hand operated and possibly dating from the Iron Age (a beehive quern). This was the "bed" stone and another lighter one was placed on top with an aperture through which grain was fed. As the article says, it could be very early. Another had been found in 1969 but it whereabouts is unknown.