Simon Marsden
The rollright stones, Oxfordshire
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
41 x 31 cms
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
SM006
Literature
Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, Illustrated and text P.102-104
Inscribed with title and signature on the back. 'The Rollrigh Stones consist of three Neolithic monuments close to each other. The King Stone is a solitary standing stone, the Whispering...
Inscribed with title and signature on the back.
'The Rollrigh Stones consist of three Neolithic monuments close to each other. The King Stone is a solitary standing stone, the Whispering Knights are the remains of the burial chamber of a long barrow and the King's Men is a perfect circle of standing stones. They get their names from the legend of their formation, when a witch met a Danish king and his men who were seeking to conquer England. She turned them all into stone and herself into an elder tree.
The Whispering Knights look like a group of figures leaning conspiratorially towards each other, possibly plotting against the king, who stands in solitary splendor while his soldiers form their circle nearby.
There are many legends associated with the Stones. It is said that at midnight the King's Men come alive, join hands and dance in a circle. They then go down to drink at a spring in Little Rollright spinney. Witness to these events will go mad or die. It is also perilous to chip away at the stones. A man from Banbury took a chipping, and when he returned to his cart he found that the wheels had locked solid and he could not move. And a young soldier took a piece with him to India as a good luck charm; but it did him no good - he fell ill and died of typhus as soon as he arrived. The elder tree has its own tale. It is said to form part of a hedge between the King Stone and the King's Men and to bleed when cut. On Midsummer's Eve people used to gather round the King Stone, which was seen to move its head when the elder was cut.
There was once a farmer who decided to remove the capstone of the Whispering Knights to make a bridge over a stream. It took 20 horses to drag the stone down the hill, and two men died in the process. Once laid in place the stone gave him no peace: he continually heard weird noises and every morning he would find that the stone had turned over and repositioned itself on the bank of the stream. When he gave in and return it to its rightful place it took a single horse to drag it easily up the hill.'
Extract from Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, P.102-104
'The Rollrigh Stones consist of three Neolithic monuments close to each other. The King Stone is a solitary standing stone, the Whispering Knights are the remains of the burial chamber of a long barrow and the King's Men is a perfect circle of standing stones. They get their names from the legend of their formation, when a witch met a Danish king and his men who were seeking to conquer England. She turned them all into stone and herself into an elder tree.
The Whispering Knights look like a group of figures leaning conspiratorially towards each other, possibly plotting against the king, who stands in solitary splendor while his soldiers form their circle nearby.
There are many legends associated with the Stones. It is said that at midnight the King's Men come alive, join hands and dance in a circle. They then go down to drink at a spring in Little Rollright spinney. Witness to these events will go mad or die. It is also perilous to chip away at the stones. A man from Banbury took a chipping, and when he returned to his cart he found that the wheels had locked solid and he could not move. And a young soldier took a piece with him to India as a good luck charm; but it did him no good - he fell ill and died of typhus as soon as he arrived. The elder tree has its own tale. It is said to form part of a hedge between the King Stone and the King's Men and to bleed when cut. On Midsummer's Eve people used to gather round the King Stone, which was seen to move its head when the elder was cut.
There was once a farmer who decided to remove the capstone of the Whispering Knights to make a bridge over a stream. It took 20 horses to drag the stone down the hill, and two men died in the process. Once laid in place the stone gave him no peace: he continually heard weird noises and every morning he would find that the stone had turned over and repositioned itself on the bank of the stream. When he gave in and return it to its rightful place it took a single horse to drag it easily up the hill.'
Extract from Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, P.102-104
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.