Lunar Society Moonstones
Encyclopedia
The Moonstones are a set of eight carved sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....

s to various members of the Lunar Society
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a 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 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...

. Made in 1998, they can be viewed in the grounds of the Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...

 supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

 in Queslett
Queslett
Queslett is an area of Great Barr, Birmingham, England.The name has been in use since the 16th century. The first part means a Wood Pigeon, the second comes from the Anglo-Saxon for a small valley....

, Great Barr
Great Barr
Great Barr is a large and loosely-defined area which straddles the boundaries of Birmingham, West Bromwich and Walsall , West Midlands, England...

, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. They are visible from the road, when driving up Queslett Road from the Old Horns roundabout toward the Scott Arms.

Working from Aldridge Road round to Queslett Road, they depict eight members of the Society and attributes connected with their work:
  • Josiah Wedgwood
    Josiah Wedgwood
    Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family...

    : Portrait and three women from a Jasper ware design
  • Erasmus Darwin
    Erasmus Darwin
    Erasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...

    : Portrait and design for horizontal windmill
    Windmill
    A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

  • Samuel Galton: Colour wheel
  • William Murdock
    William Murdoch
    William Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and long-term inventor.Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham, England.He was the inventor of the oscillating steam...

    : Steam road locomotive
    Road locomotive
    Road locomotive could refer to:* A type of traction engine, usually referring to those designed for heavy haulage on common roads...

  • Matthew Boulton
    Matthew Boulton
    Matthew Boulton, FRS 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 engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...

    : Medal with his portrait
  • James Watt
    James Watt
    James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...

    : Portrait and steam engine
    Steam engine
    A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

  • Joseph Priestley
    Joseph Priestley
    Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...

    : Laboratory
    Laboratory
    A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...

     equipment
  • James Keir
    James Keir
    James Keir FRS was a Scottish chemist, geologist, industrialist, and inventor, and an important member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham.- Life and work :...

    : Crystal
    Crystal
    A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...

    s
  • William Withering
    William Withering
    William Withering was an English botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and the discoverer of digitalis.-Introduction:...

    : Foxglove (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 Watt's being the full moon.

The designs are by Steve Field and were executed by two stonemasons, Malcolm Sier and Michael Scheurmann.

Great Barr Hall
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 is a Grade II* listed building. It is, however, in a very poor state of repair and is on the Buildings at Risk Register.-The Scotts:In the mid-17th...

, Galton's home and a venue for meetings of the Lunar Society, is nearby.

External links

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