Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• stondinde stone 675 BCS 13th

• Standing stone 1609 LRMB

• Standing Stone Hill 1805 O.S.

Etymology

Mainstone Gate, Hill and Bottom. Cf. le Maynston 1369For , Maidstone 1605LRMB . The first element is probably OE  mægen , 'strength,' as suggested for Mainstone (PN D 228), the compound having the sense 'mighty stone.' Not far distant from here was a spot called Standing Stone, stondinde stone 675 (13th) BCS 34, Standing stone 1609LRMB , Standing Stone Hill 1805 O.S. This stone was at the junction of Chobham, Pirbright and Frimley. Mr Henry Curtis, in a paper very kindly communicated to us, notes that the Standing Stone was a block of iron-stone, marked Stone Pillar , due south of Peat Moor Pond (1816 O.S.).The Mainstone was a still larger stone on the north side of the Basingstoke Canal, near the site of the gun used in old days for testing gunpowder from Chilworth Powder Mills.