Today was another day of big drives. Our first goal was Rollright, a circle of stones built between 3500 and 1500 BC. The site consists of three sets of stones - The King's Men (a stone circle), The Whispering Knights (Three stones leaning together) and The King Stone (a large singular stone).
The stones are natural limestone boulders that were found within 500m of the site.
The first was the King's Men Stone Circle. It was named this as there is a legend that Mother Shipton, a witch, encountered a King and his men and said:
Seven long strides thou shalt take, says she
And if Long Compton thou canst see,
King of England thou shalt be!
The King took seven steps forward as the troops gathered around to discuss the challenge. The rising ground blocked his view of Long Compton, so Mother Shipton said:
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 elder tree!
The King was turned into the King stone, his men into the King's Men Circle. As the witch walked off to turn into an elder tree she came across some of the King's knights whispering plots against the King. She turned them to stone as well - the Whispering Knights.
Originally it was a complete stone circle, but over time some of the stones have fallen and others have been hauled away for building materials. it is believed that the largest stone was taken to make a bridge over a stream (legend says it took 24 horses to pull it down the hill and then crops began failing so they pulled it back it took only two horses to return it).
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| King's Men |
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| Signpost |
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| The King's Men |
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| Panoramic view from the largest stone |
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| Panoramic 360 degree shot of the circle (click to enlarge) |
and another 360 series of shots: (see if you can spot the odd pink stone)
We got a few shots in front of the largest stone:
The stones are popular with pagans and several offerings of coins, shells and lavender were found placed in several of the cavities.
It is said that it is impossible to count the stones - each pass around the stones yields a different number - so the kids had to try:
Next stop was the Whispering Knights, 400m west of the King's Men:
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| Looking out at the Whispering Knights from just after the King's Men |
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| Whispering Knights |
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| Coins on the flat stone in Whispering Knights |
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| Wrapped plants and other offerings |
The final stop was the King's Stone. We have a photo at home of my Dad in front of this stone when he was about 12 or 13 and a shot of me when I was 15 so we wanted to get photos of us now and all the kids:
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| King's Stone |
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| Kris and Keir at the King Stone |
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| Me and the kids |
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| I've grown a bit since I was last here |
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| Cameron |
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| Tomas |
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| Alana |
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| Kristine |
Our next stop was the Upper Heyford Airbase where my grandfather was stationed (see the last post about the UK). We didn't get to enter the site, but we got to show the kids the outside and take some shots of the accommodation areas:
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| Looking out from Upper Heyford |
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| Street just behind the base |
While we were in the area we also decided to stop by at Banbury Cross:
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse,
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She will have music wherever she goes.
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| Banbury Cross |
After that it was back to Wales for dinner and a rest before the last rugby game
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