Rollright Stones 2500BC - The Kings men in a circle panorama, Little Rollright, Long Compton, Warwickshire, England, UK, OX7 5QB

This ceremonial stone circle was erected around 2, 500BC. At present there are seventy-odd stones of heavily weathered local oolitic limestone (see Geology) set in a rather irregular ring about 31m across. They were poetically described by William Stukeley as being “corroded like worm eaten wood, by the harsh Jaws of Time”; they were said to make “a very noble, rustic, sight, and strike an odd terror upon the spectators, and admiration at the design of ‘em”. More recently, Aubrey Burl called them “seventy-seven stones, stumps and lumps of leprous limestone”. The number of stones has changed over the years. Legends refer to stones having been taken away (to make bridges and the like), and it is likely that this created most of the gaps now visible. The stones are famously uncountable, but originally may have numbered about 105 standing shoulder to shoulder. At the time the Stones were first protected as an ancient monument (1883) the owner was reported to have “replaced all the fallen stones in their original foundation.” In fact the restoration was far from exact: most of the stones that are known to have been standing in their present positions since the 17th century show that it was originally built as an accurate circle. THE FORM OF THE STONES Two stones immediately outside the ring (one fallen) mark the portalled entrance to the circle opposite the tallest stone. The Stones stand in a very low bank with a wide gap on the same side as the entrance, possibly resulting from the interior being levelled. This form of design with close-set stones, a portalled entrance and levelled interior is very characteristic of stone circles in the Lake District – such as Long Meg and her Daughters near Penrith, and, even more similar, Castlerigg near Keswick, and Swinside north of Ulverston. There are also a few in eastern Ireland. It is therefore likely that the people who built the King's Men came from one of those areas. When they felt the need to build a stone cir