MEMBERS of the Haslemere Initiative have recently been hard at work helping to restore the historic Sailor's Stone at Gibbet Hill, Hindhead. Henry Beltran, headmaster of Wispers School and Robert Serman, both members of the Haslemere Initiative, have been working on the Ordinance Survey triangulation point. The work is part of a larger scheme to enhance Gibbet Hill, the Sailor's Stone and its associated Celtic cross. The stone commemorates the events of September 24, 1786, when an unknown sailor, travelling along the old Portsmouth Road, was murdered by three assailants. He had befriended the men at The Red Lion Inn, at nearby Thursley. His hospitality was cruelly repaid. After leaving the ale house, the sailor was set upon by the men, James Marshall, Michael Casey and Edward Lonegan, who stripped him of his money and clothes and cut his throat. They were arrested some hours later at the Sun Inn at Rake where they were trying to sell his clothes. They were brought to Haslemere on a longcart and questioned by a local JP, Rev James Fielding, convicted and eventually hanged. Work has begun on the design and construction of information boards but the improvement of the survey pillar will form an important piece of preliminary work. The Initiative thanked Oliver Mason, manager of Brewers in Haslemere, and David Willoughby, manager of Jewsons, for supplying materials.
