Hello /r/AskHistorians, I have noticed that a lot of old houses located at street corners and intersections often have large stones sitting right at the corner. Typically, these stones are oblong, and about half a metre tall. Do they have a name? What was their purpose or function?
See this example in the top picture right under the soldiers at the corner: https://i.redd.it/mwpsp130737x.jpg
Here is another picture.
Thinking about it now that I'm writing this, could it be to protect the house from the wheel hubs of turning carts and coaches? But they'd have to have been really bad drivers to warrant having those stones on so many houses...
Guardstones or chasse-roues, against bad drivers. You need to consider the difference between a car and a horse and cart. The driver of the car sits within the four wheels, and rarely does the vehicle's body overhang them much. It is a simple job to turn a corner. With a horse and cart, though, the horse is dragging the cart behind and doesn't see it ( especially if it has blinders) and the driver has to get the horse to turn when the horse has passed the corner some distance, in order to keep the cart from getting dragged up onto the curb.If the horse sees something in the crossroad already, it might balk a bit, turn early, in which case the cart will be dragged onto the curb and possibly into the building. Or, if the driver is not in full command, not good at driving, the horse is skittish or not trained, or the roads are clogged with other traffic, the same thing can happen.
Also, consider how many wagons might be loaded beyond the wheels, or extend over them, like a hay wagon or a gypsy vardo which could then get shoved higher into the corner of the building. Wheel hubs projected also over the rims. So, there was a fairly constant hazard for traffic damage. And for buildings using soft mortar and stone, or soft mortar and brick, that damage over time could become pretty severe, and stones or bricks could be pulled and knocked out of place.
