After all ths fuss about rock engravings lately , I took time out to visit some bona fide olden carvings done by early settlers to the area.
Having visited this spot on numerous occasions over the span of my life I have never noticed these , first I heard of them was via a member of the Elvina group which I joined recently.
They are located on the site of the old Ettalong Hall and are possibly the marks of James Webb and another unkown person.
The James Webb initials are portrayed like a cattle branding iron ( backwards ) , there may have been a 3rd letter that has fallen off over time.
The James Webb theory is just that , to me it looks like a definate T with a decorative curl , I have seen similar styles in lower case but never in upper case.
No one seems to know who PWS was , but you can see that the elaborate carving style is definately 1800's , James Webbs property was called Mullbong Farm and was about 40 acres taking up half of Blackwall Mtn and part of what is today Orange Grove.
He settled there in 1823 and set up a farm , in fact James Webb was the first land owner in Woy Woy.
*back from the dead*
ReplyDeleteAre the intials up on the rocks in the wee park with the exploration marker thingo and plaques? The one right next to The Rip Bridge.
geez ! Welcome back stranger
ReplyDeleteYep they are in that park , they were placed there by council a while back after someone found them in their backyard nearby , they were supposed to have rolled off the hill above , curious .....
Curious indeed. I have a link to a post of mine here with a picture at the end of a name carved into granite. It must have taken some work. Always an imagined journey back, to think about who carved it - and I wonder if it is men who carve initials into stone, as a genral rule? a thought
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah
ReplyDeleteI tend to think back in the old times it was second nature for most men to be able to work with wood and stone , basically you had to in order to survive , in this case these stones probably came from part of an old sandstone house that was nearby so they might be the names of various occupants , possibly important guests or the signatures of the stonemasons that built it
Over in Waterfall bay there are the names of female stettlers who used to visit the rockpools and do the washing back in the 1800's , another place on the visit list