Lunar Society Moonstones - Definition and Overview

The Moonstones are a set of eight carved memorials to various members of the Lunar Society. Made in 1998, they can be viewed in the grounds of the Asda supermarket in Great Barr, Birmingham, England. They are visible from the road, when driving up Queslet Road from the Old Horns roundabout toward the Scott Arms.

Working from Aldridge Road round to Queslet Road, they depict eight members of the Society:

• Josiah Wedgwood: Portrait & three women from a Jasper ware design
• Erasmus Darwin Portrait & design for Horizontal Windmill
• Samuel Galton: Colour Wheel
• William Murdock: Steam road locomotive
• Matthew Boulton: Medal with his portrait
• James Watt: Portrait & steam engine
• Joseph Priestley: Laboratory equipment
• James Keir: Crystals
• William Withering: 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 stone masons, Malcolm Sier and Michael Scheurmann.

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