Close up on Stones and Curve of The King s Men Stone Circle The Rollright Stones Oxfordshire England
The Rollright Stones are a group of prehistoric megalithic ceremonial monument thought to have been built creca 2500-2000 BC. According to legend the stones were created when a King with ambitions to conquer all England and his army were marching across the Cotswolds. They reach as far as the Rollrights when up popped a witch. According to some accounts she was Mother Shipton of Shipton-under-Wychwood (). She challenged the King with these words – “Seven long strides shalt thou take And if Long Compton thou canst see, King of England thou shalt be." Off went the King, shouting, "Stick, stock, stone As King of England I shall be known." On his seventh stride the ground rose up before him in a long mound sometimes known as the Arch-Druid's barrow. The witch laughed and declared, "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." And so it was that the King became the King Stone, his men the King's Men Stone Circle, and his treacherous and conniving knights the Whispering Knights, although some say that the knights were actually at prayer.
Size: 5120px × 3427px
Location: Kings Men Stone Circle, The Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire, England
Photo credit: © Septemberlegs / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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