The Gaia Energy Centre in Cornwall is built on the site of the first commercial wind farm in the UK, which is at Delabole. As Delabole is also the home of the largest slate quarry in Cornwall, it is understandable that a new standing stone inscribed with the name \'Gaia\' is a piece of Delabole slate.

The 4.5-tonne monolith stands more than 4m high, with \'Giai\' spelt out in letters nearly 50cm high. On the reverse is the word \'synergy\' in letters 30cm high.

The letters were cut by Gabriel Hammerstone, whose workshop is at Great Torrington in North Devon, where his stock in trade is lettering headstones and house names, for which he often uses slate, including Delabole.

Gabriel offered to letter the stone for £300, somewhere to pitch his tent, and food and drink for the month it would take him to complete the work. He set to work with a 1.8kg mallet he had been given by Jim Donaldson, mason to the Duke of Northumberland, with whom he once worked. A local farmer set the stone in the ground for Gabriel to carve in situ.

Gabriel considers it his mission in life to bring the head and body back together, considering they were divorced when stonemasonry split with architecture. "I\'m trying to get back to the craft and above all focus on the stone," he says.

His work at Delabole coincided with an exhibition he staged at Plymouth University tracing the history of the carved letter in 56, A3 size photographs of examples of lettering dating back to 1595, which is believed to be the oldest inscribed slate in the West Country.

The Giai Energy Centre invites visitors to wear a headset to hear a recorded explanation of sustainable energy as they walk among the exhibits at the centre. It went into receivership earlier this year, but apparently a buyer has been found (although not named as we went to press) and the centre will continue to operate.