Books, Prehistory, Folklore

The Rollright Stones [Map] and their folklore were the subject of an exhaustive paper by Mr. A. J. Evans, printed in Folk-Lore in 1894 (vi., 6-51), but the following items were collected quite independently, and may therefore have some value for purposes of comparison. It will be remembered that the stones consist of a circle, a ruined dolmen called "The Whispering Knights," and a single standing stone called "The King," which are popularly said to be an invading king, five of his knights, and his army, turned into stones by a witch. If they could have topped the hill on which they stand and looked down on Long Compton, which lies just the other side, the king would have become King of England. Mr. Evans (p. 19) quotes the traditional verses which embody this story. In my own copy of Dr. R. Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire, 2nd ed. 1705, are some MS. notes in a contemporary hand, and among them what is probably the earliest recorded version of these rhymes:—

"Said the Danish General,

If Long Compton I cou'd see

Then King of England I shou'd be.

But reply'd the ["British" erased] Saxon General.

Then rise up Hill & stand fast Stone—

For King of England thou'lt be none."

The stones are said to go down the hill to drink at a spring Evans, l.c. p. 24. It was formerly said [writes Carter] that they went down to the brook on New Year's Eve to drink at twelve o'clock. Now the saying is, that they go down when they hear the clock at Long Compton strike twelve.

Though often moved, the stones would always have to be brought back; Evans, I.e. p. 27. The old king that stands by himself on the side of the road was drawn by eight horses to Long Com. (i.e., Compton), and the people were so miserable, they were obliged to bring him back ; but the eight horses could not move him ; they tried more, but could not succeed, till they brought a white one, and then he was brought back.

A variant of this story is as follows: The stone was taken to Long Compton to form a bridge over a stream ; but they could not rest, and were obliged to bring him back ; but when they got to where he is, they were so frightened, they ran away, and left him standing.

The following story does not relate to the "King Stone," but apparently to one of the "Knights"; Evans, I.e. p. 27: They took one large flat stone to Long Com. (i.e.., Long Compton), to put over a ditch, and had to bring it back ; but no amount of horses could do it, so they left it in the field at the bottom of the hill.

The following relates to the difficulty of counting the stones in the circle twice alike; Evans, I.e. p. 26: A Charlbury man told me about a baker, who tried to count those stones at Long Com. ; he got over the difficulty by placing a loaf on each stone, and then counted the stones, and found seventy-two.

Bad luck would come to anyone who injured the stones; Evans, I.e. p. 23: A friend of mine, some years ago, broke a piece off one of the stones, and called at Chapel House (near Chipping Norton) to have some beer ; he showed the stone, when the landlady begged him to take it back, as there would sure to be something bad happen to him. — (1894.)

The Devil's Quoits [Map] at Stanton Harcourt are three large standing stones, which are all that remain of what was probably a circle considerably larger than that at Avebury, and which doubtless gave their name to the neighbouring village (Stanton = A.S. Stántún, the stone enclosure).¹ Beacon Hill is a very conspicuous landmark, just above Eynsham Bridge, on the Berkshire side of the Thames, about two and a half miles in a straight line from the "Quoits." It is very steeply scarped on three sides, and it has been suggested that it was the British fortress of Egonesham, captured by the Saxons under Cuthwulf in 571."²

The devil was playing quoits on Beacon Hill on a Sunday, and in a rage at being told it was wrong, he threw these three to where they are now.

One of the quoits standing in Walker's Field was once taken away, and put over a ditch called the "Back Ditch" in the "Farm Close" to make a bridge ; but it was always slipping, and although often put back, it would not rest, and they were obliged at last to take it back to where it now stands. Wheel marks can still be seen on it. — (From Chas. Batts, labourer, of Stanton Harcourt, aged 35, who had it from his father. January i, 1898.)

Mr. Akerman,³ in 1858, records a rationalised version of the same story, as follows : "There is a tradition in the neighbourhood that the northernmost stone was once removed by an occupier of the land, and laid across a watercourse, where it served as a bridge over which waggons and carts for some time passed, and that it was restored to its old locality at the request of one of the Harcourt family. A groove in this stone, eight inches from the top, seven inches in width, and about three inches deep, is believed to have been caused by the wheels of the vehicles when it lay prostrate."

Joseph Goodlake of Stanton Harcourt (now of Yarnton), aged 63, in March, 1901, gave me the following particulars which he had from his father: "When the war was in England, the fighting ended at Stanton by those stones, and from there across to Stanlake Dovvn by Cut Mill. Harcourt was the general; he was Emperor in England; he is buried in the church with his sword and gun and clothes." Further : "When the war was in England the officers used to hide behind them" (the Devil's Quoits) "from the bullets," and the men used to pick the bullets out of them when my informant was young.

The legend connecting the Quoits with a battle is confirmed by a story told by Tom Hughes:⁴ "An old man in that village" (Stanton Harcourt) "told me that a battle was fought there, which the English were very near losing, when the general rode up to one of his captains, named Harcourt, who was in the thick of it, and called out, 'Stan' to un, Harcourt, stan' to un, Harcourt,' and that Harcourt won the battle, and the village has been called Stanton Harcourt ever since."

Note 1. J. Y. Akerman, "Ancient Limits of the Forest of Wychwood," Archaeologia, xxxvii., 430 ; A. J. Evans, "Rollright Stones and their Folklore," Folk-Lore, vi., 10.

Note 2. J. Parker, Early History of Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc), p. 81.

Note 3. Akerman, I.c. p. 431.

Note 4. T. Hughes, Scouring of the White Horse (1859), p. 32. There are several monuments to the Harcourt family in the church, the most conspicuous of which are two altar tombs with effigies in full armour ; one to Sir Robert Harcourt, K.G., and his wife Margaret, 1471, the other to his grandson, Sir Robert, who was Henry VH.'s standard-bearer at Bosworth, and died some time after 1501. One of these two is apparently assigned to "the general."

The story of the fighting may well have arisen from the numerous discoveries of British and Anglo-Saxon remains that have been made in the neighbourhood. A tumulus close to the "Quoits" was destroyed by the grandfather of the present farmer, and on Stanlake Down many Anglo-Saxon burials have been found.