Mushroom shaped stone

[pip24]

On clearing some of the undergrowth in the garden we uncovered a small mushroom shaped stone. It looks to be made of lime stone. I have seen some of these in other peoples gardens.

Does anyone know if this item once had a purpose in life or is it just an ornament deserted by the gnomes ?

[Bob T]

They were once used for darning knitted socks.

[tinabee]

I beleive they were used to raise a granary off the ground so as to deter the entry of rodents who would eat the grain. 

[Chas]

If the French use is the same as the English this link gives some info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staddle_stones

[JohnM]

Wow... looking at the size of the mushrooms, I'd hate to be the one using them to darn socks! (Yes, yes, I know, there are small mushrooms that are used for darning, I just liked imaging a huge par of socks on one of those staddles).

[pip24]

Thanks for the replies. The staddle stones on the link are very similar but larger. A previous owner of our property had said part of it was once used as a grain store so that would fit in with the staddle stone.

I had looked at the stone pondering what it could be used for. My thoughts were that it had been used to beat copper jam pans or shape leather or darning sacks or cloth like Bob suggested. The stone would probably look the size of a sock darner from the view he gets flying over!