Rollright Stones

The Rollright Stones comprise three distinct prehistoric monuments spanning from approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC. The site has attracted ritual attention continuously from Neolithic times through Saxon pagan use to modern druid and Wiccan practice. Rich folklore, including the legend of a petrified king and witch, has accumulated around the stones over centuries.

No founding narrative survives from the people who built these monuments. What remains is the work itself, three structures raised across nearly two thousand years by communities who left no written record of their intentions.

The folklore that later filled this silence tells of a king marching his army across the Cotswolds, dreaming of conquest. A witch met him on the ridge and offered a challenge: take seven strides, and if you can see Long Compton in the valley below, you shall be King of England. On his seventh stride, a mound rose to block his view. The witch spoke again: 'As Long Compton thou canst not see, King of England thou shalt not be. Rise up stick and stand still stone, for King of England thou shalt be none. Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be, and I myself an eldern tree.'

The king became the King Stone, frozen forever looking toward the view he could not see. His army became the King's Men, gathered in a circle that can never be counted. His plotting knights, conspiring against him even as he marched, became the Whispering Knights, forever bent in treacherous conference. The witch became an elder tree, though which elder among the many in the hedgerows is no longer certain.

This legend, first documented in the 16th century though likely older, has been elaborated over time. The witch was sometimes identified with Mother Shipton, the mythical prophetess, perhaps because of nearby Shipton-under-Wychwood. The detail about cutting the elder tree to break the spell and bring the stones back to life appears to be a mid-19th century addition. The story continues to grow, as stories do around ancient stones.