Rollright Stones: An ancient prehistoric site in central England

 

Rollright Stones, Cotswolds, England.

This evening, I am posting information on the prehistoric circle known as the Rollright Stones. This site is located in Oxfordshire, England, about 2.5 miles NNW of Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds region and about eighty miles NW of London.

The circle together with two other prehistoric monuments is located close to a prehistoric trackway at the edge of a ridge which overlooks the village of Long Compton below.

Landscape view of Long Compton from the King Stone.

Rollright is a perfect circle built of local oolitic limestone. More facts:

  • The original circle comprised eighty pillars situated shoulder to shoulder except at the south-east where there is an entrance.
  • May date from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age (3000 BC to 1800 BC). No remains or archaeology have been discovered inside the circle.
  • The structure, including two outlying portals, creates an astronomical sight line very close to the rising of the southern moon at midsummer.

Associated Sites

Below is an image of the Whispering Knights, the rectangular ruin comprising five large slabs which are the remains of a portal dolmen facing south-eastwards. This site is located 1140 feet ESE of the main circle.

Whispering Knights, Rollright, England

Below is an image of the King Stone which is situated about 230 ft NNE of the circle. This is over 8ft high and could have been the marker stone for a prehistoric burial mound.Burials close to the King Stone have been dated at around 1800 BC and 1770 BC which suggests that the King Stone may have been erected about 1000 years later than the main circle.

King Stone, Rollright, England

Visiting

The site is open 24/7. Access by motor vehicle. Nearest railway station is Moreton-in-Marsh, about 5 miles away.

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