Why is Gorleston called Gorleston? The Gull Stones and the Druids

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Gorleston and the Druids

Gorleston has one of the strangest names in a county of wierd and wonderful names. Why is it called Gorleston? What possible reasons could have inspired the name?

Gorleston: The Gull Stones

At approximately TM524035 is said to have once stood a stone circle, the only one known in East Anglia. These "ten huge stones, like unto those of Stonehenge", were situated in a field called either 'Stone-close' or 'Stone-piece', a site now covered by a housing estate. They were known as the 'Gull Stones', but this is probably a piece of folk-etymology. Here the Druids supposedly gathered to watch the midsummer sun rise out of the eastern sea. The stones were "removed by vandalistic bands" in 1768, the remains being used to form an early harbour pier.
 
C. J. Palmer in 1875 said "there is a tradition that the Druids had a temple at Gorleston, some remains of which existed down to a comparatively recent period. It is supposed to have stood on a field next the road to Lowestoft, upon what is called Great Stone Close; and it has been asserted that some huge stones remained standing until 1768, when they were destroyed by digging round their base and dragging them down by ropes. There are also two fields called Further Stone Close and Middle Stone Close, so that it is possible the Druidical circle, if it ever existed, may have had a wide extent". (A modern road still exists nearby by the name of Middlestone Close, but the rest of the area has been obliterated by the A12 Inner Relief Road).

Palmer seemed to infer that the 10 foot high stones may have existed solely in the imagination of W. E. Randall, who was editor of the short-lived 'Gorleston and Southtown Magazine' in 1831, and died in 1855. But at a meeting of the Yarmouth branch of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society in 1888, a painting of the 'Gull Stones' was displayed, then in the possession of Fred Danby Palmer.

Sources:

C. J. Palmer: 'Perlustration of Gt. Yarmouth' (George Nall, 1875), Vol.3, p.307.
R. H. Teasdel: 'A History of Gorleston' (Powell & Co, 1933), pp.6-7.
A. W. Ecclestone: 'A Yarmouth Miscellany' (private, 1974), pp.17, 31.
Gorleston: The Gull Stones - Hidden East Anglia

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East Anglia Stone Circles - Gorleston On Sea, Norfolk

More on an East Anglia Stone Circle that seemed to be located in Gorleston On Sea, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. It appears to have been destroyed by 1846 when the quote below was written and published by Alfred Suckling.

Many large stones, however, arranged in the form of a circle, which were removed from a field called Stone-close, in the year 1768, and three from a neighbouring enclosure, of a large size, and full ten feet high, attest in a great measure the truth of a tradition, that Gorleston was a spot selected by the Druids for the celebration of their mystic rites.
The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: volume 1 | british-history.ac.uk

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Gorleston Druid Temple or Stone Circle

Another quote on the ancient megalithic stone circle (Druid Temple) that was built in Gorleston On Sea, Norfolk. All the quotes may be built on each other though but the street names do or did exist.

The below quote is from the Perlustration of Great Yarmouth by Charles John Palmer (3 volumes printed in 1870, 1872, and 1874). These have been copied from the great site on Great Yarmouth's history by Mark Rumble called GreatYarmouthHistory.com

There is a tradition that the Druids had a temple at Gorleston, some remains of which existed down to a comparatively recent period. It is supposed to have stood on a field next the road to Lowestoft, upon what is called Great Stone Close; and it has been asserted that some huge stones remained standing until 1768, when they were destroyed by digging round their base and dragging them down by ropes. There are also two fields called Further Stone Close sail. Middle Stone Close(2), so that it is possible the Druidical circle, if it ever existed, may have had a wide extent.

2 Thought to be the site of the water works at Middleton Road.
Perlustration of Great Yarmouth by Charles John Palmer | greatyarmouthhistory.com