Lessons from Crummackdale: Moughton Whetstone

The only place on earth one may obtain this blue-grey mudstone with its unusual purple stripes is Moughton Fell in Crummackdale. The concentric bands may be Liesegang rings, a phenomenon found throughout nature when chemicals mix and concentric rings appear. Whetstone is very hard, which makes it an ideal honing stone and was much sought by the nineteenth-century razor manufacturers of Sheffield for the sharpening of their blades. Few things are less pleasant than shaving with a blunt razor, so these whetstones must have proved a most welcome tool of the trade. Although other whetstones are available the world over, Moughton Whetstone may only be obtained from Moughton at Crummackdale.

Proverbs 27:17 states:

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

Whereas Moughton Whetstone sharpens metal, Solomon here talks of one person improving another person. So one Christian 'sharpens' another; keeping company with the saints, especially one or two with whom we have particular affinity, keeps us alert, awake and accountable. They that hide away from fellowship, family and friendship will only find themselves rusting, blunting and dull.