Bonus issue! I remember how the fields seemed to grow mellower in the May sun as we rolled southwards, to spend the night atop the escarpment under a carapace of stars. From the top of the ridge by the King Stone; the view north towards Shipston-on-Stour and the rest of Warwickshire. It must have been in my second year at university when I started to investigate the question of whether there had ever really been a Forest of Arden: rummaged through boxes of secondhand books outside shops in Stratford for obscure texts on local myths and history.
So it was that I came to learn of the Rollright Stones and the other strange landmarks at the south end of the county. So when I discovered a friend was in lockdown very close to the Stones we agreed to meet for a socially-distanced walk. A portal to another world. This was built around years before the actual stone circle, which is just one of a complex of monuments scattered atop the ridge: the limestone blocks gathered from the hilltop around.
The Knights are impressive tapering limestones that lean on each other, exactly like soldiers huddling in to conspire. The capstone of the tomb has collapsed; just a fragment of human left cheekbone was found inside. A little further along the ridge, along what may have been the prehistoric trackway leading to the stones, we arrive to find a character sitting outside his campervan, with stickers advertising spiritual healing.
You can see why the site attracts spiritual types. Compared to the awesome megaliths at Avebury and Stonehenge the stones feel almost intimate: little figures huddling in a perfect circle, as if for some ritual; focusing intently, the view of the valley stretching below.
Originally there would have been enough stones that they were back-to-back, without gaps: the witches also, apparently, prevented anyone from being able to count them correctly.
