Arthur's Stone Long Barrow, Dorstone, Herefordshire, Welsh March, England, British Isles [Map]

Transactions of the Woolhope Club 1872 Meeting at Bredwardine. Meeting at Bredwardine. Friday, July 26th, 1872.

The party re-assembled at the cromlech, or so-called druidical monument known as King Arthur's Stone [Map], which is situated in the middle of an ancient road, probably British, leading along the ridge to Herbage Point, and thence to Clock-mill where it joins the road to Hay along the south bank of the Wye. Arthur's Stone has been so often described as to need little to be said about it, save that it is a true cromlech evidently of great antiquity. It consists of a superincumbent slab of old red sandstone, probably brought from a neighbouring quarry on the west or Dorstone slope of the ridge, which is now broken in two ways. The lower stratum has become detached from the upper, and has fallen partly to the ground, while the upper portion, which is about two feet thick, and is estimated to be about 40 tons in weight, is split across the middle. The stone, however, is still supported by the six smaller stones upon which it was originally placed. It is surrounded at about eight feet distance by a circle of stones of considerable size, which are now mostly covered with greensward. There seems to have been an inner circle of upright stones about four feet high, of which only four are now to be traced, the remainder having probably been broken up and carried off to mend the road, or for some other purpose. One of these stones, which is singularly marked as though with a gigantic thumb and two fingers, lies on the roadside, where it is shown by some relaters of local tradition as bearing the marks of King Arthur's knees, as he knelt down, while others declare that the marks are those of his thumb and fingers, when he was playing at quoits. The marks themselves seem to have been produced by water, and are analogous to those produced upon the edge of a bed of rock where the stream breaks into tiny cascades, such as are common in the bed of the Wye near Builth and elsewhere. How the stone reached its present position is of course a matter for conjecture, but it is probable that it was with the other smaller stones brought from the Wye.

On the Dorstone slope of the hill, and in the valley, some large travelled stones are found, which would seem to suggest that at one time there had been an avenue of stones marking the ascent to the cromlech.

It is much to be regretted that this interesting relic of a far-off time is left in its present state of utter neglect, a prey not only to the destructive action of the seasons, but also to the heedless ravages of mankind. It would require no great expenditure at least to clear the outer circle of stones of the earth which has accumulated upon them, and thus to lay bare to the observer the exact nature of the place, and it would be a trivial sacrifice of land to divert the road a little to the eastsward, so as to save that side of the circle from further destruction. It is possible that the excavation necessary for the purpose would be rewarded by discoveries of articles of interest, but in any case the diversion of the road would be an easy way of presenting this fine relic from casual or wanton damage. As the only monument of its class in the county, it merits some little care for its own sake, while such care would relieve the archaeologists of the county of some discredit which the present neglected condition of the stone justly throws upon them.

As the party were grouped around the stone, the Vice-Presidents and some other gentlemen present invited Mr. Edmunds to say a few words on its history.

Mr. Edmunds, in responding to the unexpected call, said that he was much in the position of Canning's knife-grinder, when asked for his story:

Story, Lor' bless ye, I have none to tell. Sir!

He had not been able to find any historical references to King Arthur's Stone, while the legends were few and imperfect, yielding no distinct ground even for plausible conjecture as to the person to whom or the time when that structure was reared. The name was rather patriotism than history. There is no reason for supposing that King Arthur ever ruled in this district. It is true that the existence of Arthur had been disputed, but the doubt seemed to the speaker an unreasonable one. There was certainly a real King Arthur who ruled the district now known as Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, and whose body was found buried at Avallonia in the reign of Henry II., but there is no reason for connecting him with this cromlech unless we take the name as a patriotic myth. As the great national hero, Arthur was to the Briton the symbol of the glorious past of their independence, and everything remarkable or interesting seemed to be consecrated by bearing the name of Arthur. Thus we have mountains, cromlechs, stones, and other objects in distant places where Arthur never ruled, as well as in his own little kingdom, named from the hero-king. Of course where nothing certain was known there was a fine field for conjecture (a laugh). The archaeologists had "ample room and verge enough" for theory. There were indeed some facts, very massive and imposing and undeniable; there was the huge table of stone, the crom-lech, or covering stone, its firmly fixed supports, the remains of a small inner circle, and the large outer circle covered with earth and greensward, and fragrant with purple thyme and other wild flowers, upon which the audience were seated. These were the facts, and all he could do was but to endeavour to explain them from other monuments of the kind which he had visited. The ground plan, for example, seemed to be a miniature of that of Stonehenge, which, however, had no central cromlech. He thought it was probable that the circle had been double, a passage being thus left all round, although only one of the inner ring of stones was left standing. The circular form was to his mind conclusive evidence of British work. The Briton's mind seems to have been full of the circle: the circle of the heavens, the circle of the sun, the circle of the moon, the circle of the seasons, seem to have suggested the idea, which the Briton carried out in his camps, his dwellings, his temples, his burial places. Just as the Roman founded all his works on the right line and always used the square or the oblong, a square and a half. In this case, he thought the cromlech was built first. Some great Silurian chief was brought thither with rude pomp and ceremony; his body was placed on the ground, covered perhaps with a little earth; the body of his favourite horse was laid at his feet, and his weapons by his side, and the huge Lech or covering stone was brought up an inclined plane upon rollers, and so placed by the strong arms of a nation as a memorial of their lost chief to future ages. All this would be done, as the old British phrase has it, "in the face of the sun and in the eye of light," and amid a band of white-robed Druids and bards, while the armed throng formed a reverent circle around. Then, too, at night, if we might follow some interpreters of the bards, the hollow place beneath the cromlech might be used in the initiation of neophytes. Lonely watching in the house of death has always been supposed to confer wisdom, and especially prescience, upon the watcher, who regarded it as the house of life to his spirit. Here he communed with the invisible world, and from hence he issued after his vigils (like the knight of mediaeval times) pledged to a new life. Perhaps he ought to apologise for detaining the audience so long with these theories and conjectures, but he had told them that he had little of information to give them; and they would all agree with him that when one has really little to say it sometimes takes a great many words to say it (applause).

The Rev. James Davies expressed the obligations of the meeting to Mr. Edmunds for his most interesting address, and added that if that was an instance of a person having little to say they all felt that Mr. Edmunds had said it extremely well (applause).

Mr. Lloyd also expressed the interest which he had felt in the address.

Mr. J. E. Smith said that some writers looked upon Arthur as the sun, and the legends regarding him as myths of the sun-worship. "Ar" was said to be a word meaning light.

Mr. Edmunds doubted the correctness of that theory. He knew the word ar as meaning land, and lux and cognate words as meaning light, in the Celtic and Teutonic tongues, but he knew nothing of ar as meaning light in those tongues.

Sir George Cornewall, who had arrived while Mr. Edmunds was speaking, expressed his regret that he had accidentally missed the address. What he had heard had greatly interested him.

The party then made their way to the beautiful "Clumps" above the village of Bredwardine, where they partook of lunch. Afterwards the club held an ordinary meeting, when some formal business was transacted.

Sir George Cornewall then announced that the only paper to be read that day was that of Mr. Edmunds and Mr. Curley, who had visited the scene of the destructive whirlwind of Sunday week. (See the succeeding page.)

Transactions of the Woolhope Club 1881 Golden Valley Meeting. "If my conjecture be right that of Herefordshire having more Remains of its Ancient Figure than any of the rest, is first to be described."

"Upon a hill west of the river Wye above Bradwardyn Castle, in the way toward the Black Mountains, is a flat, oblong stone, or a number of stones joined together, lying upon the pedestals of rude upright stones fix'd in the earth, after the manner of Rolle-Rich. A great part of the work is entire; the supporting stones being at the same distance from the verge of that they bear. The eastern point (as I remember it was eastern), is narrower than the rest as much as the eastern part of a gravestone. It seems to have increased in breadth toward the west, but the western end being demolished, as well the upper stones as the pedestals, neither the length of the whole nor the breadth of the western part can be determined. What remains (as I remember), was about six yards long, and two yards broad. The flat stone was then in three pieces, but the sides of those pieces answering one another, and not joining as they would have been made to do if they had been originally single, but indented like something broken, I take them to have been but one at first. From whatever quarry it was brought, or by whatever carriage, it hath the air of a natural stone, not of one put together with a strong cement. Its height from the ground was about twenty inches. I remember the sheep of the country, which are small, sheltered themselves under it from the sun. The name by which the country people call this, is Artil's Stone [Map], corrupted probably from Arthur's Stone. This may have been taught them by somebody that had a notion of Arthur's Round Table, thinking this erected with the same design. Or supposing this to be of the same age and design with Stonehenge, the memory of Arthur may be kept up by its similitude to the other, for Arthur, according to our Monkish History was a great man; and the honour attributed to Aurelius Ambrosius, who took upon him the government of the Britons when their affairs were desperate, after the departure of the Romans, Arthur is always allowed to share in. This might be from Arthur's being a Briton, whereas the other was half if not wholly of Roman blood."

Long Barrows of the Cotswolds. Arthur's Stone Long Barrow [Map]

Herefordshire, 31 N.E. Parish of Dorstone. 60*.

Latitude 52° 04' 55". Longitude 2° 59' 38". Height above O.D. about 930 feet.

This monument is under the protection of the Ancient Monuments Department of the Office of Works; the key is kept at Caeperthy Farm, 500 yards E.S.E. of the monument. It is clearly the remains of a chambered Long Barrow, the mound being still visible around the burial chamber and still distinguishable to the N.W., where it is crossed by the lane known as Arthur's Stone Lane. The northern hedge of this lane forms here the boundary between the parishes of Dorstone and Bredwardine. The remains consist of a large burial-chamber and capstone still covering it, with a short approaching "passage" of two upright slabs on the N.W. At right angles to this passage, to the N.W. of it and on the S.W. side of the mound, is another passage formed of two uprights on each side, the space between each of the uprights being filled with smaller stones of which vestiges remain. The capstone itself is very large, about 1 5 feet by 9 feet across the middle where it is broken across. It has also split horizontally and a large "flake" has become detached; this is due to the original "false-bedded" stratification of the sandstone of which it is formed. The capstone covers a chamber of polygonal shape formed by the uprights still in position (including one fallen). The plan of the chamber resembles that at Gwernvale (Brecknockshire), Hengwm (Merionethshire), and some of the Gloucestershire examples, but at Gwernvale the capstone is now gone. There is now a space of 2 feet or more between the uprights, filled originally, no doubt, by smaller stones built in, as in the S.W. passage. The orientation of the mound is from slightly W. of N. to E. of S., the chamber being at the southern end. At the south end, 10 feet south of the south end of the capstone, is an isolated upright slab (long axis East-West) with a fallen (?) stone lying at its side in contact with it. Possibly this may be the remains of the surrounding wall of uprights, of which there are no other traces; it is difficult otherwise to explain its purpose. At about 2 feet from the ground on the northern face of this stone, is a horizontal row of about a dozen "cup-markings," the size of a large finger-dint; no opinion is hazarded as to their age or origin. Higher up on the same face are names cut by visitors in 1912 and at earlier dates. The view from the spot is magnificent, especially southwards towards Abergavenny and across to the Black Mountains. Visited August 15th, 1921.