A cyclist says he has been left stumped as to why a mysterious chair has been dumped in a field off a rural lane.

Ted Prangnell, from Kennington, was out riding in Goodcheap Lane near Hinxhill on Monday last week when he paused for a break.

He said: “I had stopped, and then looked over a gate when I saw the chair in the field. I thought ‘why would someone dump a chair like that?’

The chair spotted in a field near Hinxhill

“It is such an oddball thing to have seen. Usually things which are dumped are damaged, broken or old, but this doesn’t appear to be in bad condition.

“It has pulleys and loops for rope or chord on each side and at the back. I suspect someone out there knows what it is for, probably those who left it there know best.”

Ted out and about on his bike.

But what is the chair used for? In the newsroom it has provoked some dark suggestions from history.

One suggestion is that resembles the chairs used to restrain people in an electric chair before being executed for their misdeeds in the United States of America.

The method was first used in 1890, and was an option in as many as half of the states of the USA, but is now only used in eight states.

A witch's 'ducking stool'. Picture from Wiki Commons.

Another suggestion is that it could be a chair used to dunk witches in lakes and rivers to test to see if they floated during the 16th and 17th centuries.

What do you think? Email: kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk.