The Bridestones is a chambered cairn, near Congleton, Cheshire, England, that was constructed in the Neolithic period about 3500–2400 BC.

[1][2][3] The state of the site was recorded in the second edition of Henry Rowlands's Mona Antiqua Restaurata (published in 1766), based on a report by Rev.

The sides of the cave, if I may so call it, were originally composed of two unhewn free stones, about eighteen feet in length, six in height and fourteen inches thick at a medium.

And in the year 1764, several hundred loads were carried away for making a turnpike-road about sixty yards from this place, which laid it open for examination.The origin of the cairn's name is unclear.

One legend says that a recently married couple were murdered at the location, and the stones were laid around their grave.

[5] The largest single ransacking of the monument was the removal of several hundred tons to construct the nearby turnpike road.

[5] While the southern side of the main chamber was originally a single, 18-foot-long stone (5.5 m), it was split in 1843 by a picknicker's bonfire.

This was reputedly caused by an engineer from the Manchester Ship Canal, who used the stone to demonstrate a detonator.