WHERE A KING WAS TURNED TO STONE

There are more than 9000 prehistoric stone circles in Britain, here we uncover a tangle of myths, witchcraft and legend.

A King and his army turned to stone by a wicked witch on a hill outside a sleepy Oxfordshire village…

Boulders that walk in the night, and the terrifying sounds that were heard when a villager tried to take one away…

Of all the prehistoric stone circles in the United Kingdom, few encompass as many myths and legends as the Rollright Stones twenty miles north west of Oxford.

Stonehenge and Avebury may be far more striking, and the Hurlers in Cornwall or the Callanish standing stones on the Isle of Lewis may have more impressive grandeur, but the Rollrights can claim this one sure distinction: their ominous appearance, especially in wet or misty weather, has helped spin a web of superstition down the centuries.

The Rollrights are really three sites, not one dating from the Bronze Age. They are called the King’s Men, The Whispering Knights and the King Stone, and are all accessible from the minor road linking the A34 and A44.

The King’s Men is a large rough limestone circle, 100 feet in diameter, consisting of dozens of stones all under four feet tall. Half a mile east stand the Whispering Knights, five large stones which once formed a burial chamber, seen in the mist they distinctly resemble a group of men huddled together conspiratorially.

Standing alone across the road is the King Stone, eight feet tall and five feet wide.

Once, say the legends, these stones were all human. A king and his army were crossing the countryside when a witch stood in their path and said, doubtless with a cackle:

"Seven long strides shalt thou take. If Long Compton thou canst see, King of England thou shalt be."

It seemed a simple enough challenge – take seven paces forward and admire the view of the village of Long Compton in the distance. Alas, a long barrow blocked the King’s view, permitting the witch to deliver her coup de grace:

"As Long Compton thou canst not see, King of England thou shalt not be. Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be and myself an eldern tree."

So she turned to stone the King and all his men, literally petrifying them, and made herself into a tree. The King became the King Stone, his men the large stone circle and his knights the group of five whispering to each other.

Another tale of the Rollrights concerns a public-spirited villager who felt no fear of the stones, and decided to use one of them in an improvement scheme. He needed 24 horses to drag it away and haul it downhill to its new resting place as a bridge; but the sounds emanating from the spot during the night were so fearsome that he was forced to take it back. The return journey needed just two horses – uphill!

The stones have further peculiar properties, according to another age-old story. When darkness falls, and the walkers and visitors have gone, they leave the spot where they have been rooted all day…and walk. Legend says they make their way at midnight to drink at the stream in Little Rollright spinney.

Nonsense? Of course, but it is surprising how strong a hold the stories about the Rollrights have had. For centuries soldiers going into battle would chip a piece from the King Stone to carry with them, a magic talisman to see them through the conflict.

Until fairly recently villagers had festivities at the stones which they believe had fertility powers, and even today rumours abound that modern witches perform rituals at night within the circles.

It’s difficult to sort fact from fiction in these beguiling Oxfordshire circles, but one story can be dismissed with certainty. It is said that the number of stones in the King’s Men is uncountable. Not true – there are 77 (I think).