The ''Moonstones'' () are a set of nine carved

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

memorials to various members of the

Lunar Society The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 ...

. Made in 1998, and unveiled in March 1999, they can be viewed in the grounds of the

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

supermarket in Queslett,

Great Barr Great Barr is now a large and loosely defined area to the north-west of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Bir ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. They are visible from the highway, when travelling from Aldridge Road into Queslett Road, toward the Scott Arms, and face outwards from the supermarket. They depict nine members of the Society and attributes connected with their work, in order from Aldridge Road round to Queslett Road: *

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...

: portrait and three women from a

jasperware Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, it has an unglazed matte "biscuit" finish and is produced in a number of different colours, of which the most com ...

design * Erasmus Darwin: portrait and design for horizontal

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

* Samuel Galton: colour wheel *

William Murdock William Murdock (1720October 17, 1769) was a Scottish-born American statesman in colonial Maryland. During the tensions leading up to the American Revolution he was an important spokesman for the rights of the colonists. He was a delegate repr ...

: steam road locomotive *

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...

: medal with his portrait * James Watt: portrait and steam engine *

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

equipment *

James Keir James Keir FRS (20 September 1735 – 11 October 1820) was a Scottish chemist, geologist, industrialist, and inventor, and an important member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. Life and work Keir was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, in ...

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

s *

William Withering William Withering FRS (17 March 1741 – 6 October 1799) was an English botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and first systematic investigator of the bioactivity of digitalis. Withering was born in Wellington, Shropshire, the son of a surg ...

foxglove ''Digitalis'' ( or ) is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves. ''Digitalis'' is native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. The flowers are tubular in shap ...

, with words from his book ''An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses'' The stones also each have a phase of the moon carved on them, with the Watt stone being the

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...

. The designs are by Steve Field and were executed by two stonemasons, Malcolm Sier and Michael Scheurmann. The rear of the Watt stone includes a carved panel crediting the artists and sponsors.

Great Barr Hall Great Barr Hall is an 18th-century mansion situated at Pheasey, Walsall, on the border with Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has associations with the Lunar Society and is a Grade II listed building. It is, however, in a very ...

, Galton's home and a venue for meetings of the Lunar Society, is nearby. File:Moonstones at Queslett.jpg, Moonstones around edge of car park File:Lunar Society Moonstones 01 Wedgwood.JPG, Wedgwood File:Lunar Society Moonstones 03 Darwin.JPG, Darwin File:Lunar Society Moonstones 07 Galton.jpg, Galton File:Lunar Society Moonstones 10 Murdock.jpg, Murdock File:Lunar Society Moonstones 16 Boulton.jpg, Boulton File:Lunar Society Moonstones 19 Watt.JPG, Watt File:Lunar Society Moonstones 22 Priestley.jpg, Priestley File:Lunar Society Moonstones 25 Keir.jpg, Keir File:Lunar Society Moonstones 28 Withering.jpg, Withering File:Lunar Society Moonstones 13.JPG, credits

External links

Photos of the Moonstones on Flickr
{{coord, 52.5526, N, 1.9088, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SP062949), display=title Lunar Society of Birmingham Sculptures in Birmingham, West Midlands Tourist attractions in Birmingham, West Midlands Monuments and memorials in Birmingham, West Midlands Great Barr

See also

External links