The King Stone, Long Compton
The King Stone is a standing stone dating from between the Early Neolithic and the Late Bronze Age periods. It is located 850m south of The Hollows.
1 A large standing stone, 2.43m high and 1.52m wide, with a large semicircular notch on its E edge.
4 Various interpretations for the stone include: 1. Outlier of the stone circle as an astronomical marker; 2. Guidepost to indicate the location of the stone circle; 3. Remnant of a stone avenue; 4. Remnant of a long barrow immediately to the N; 5. Remnant of a ‘porthole’ entrance to the chamber of a long barrow; 6. Marking the position of a burial or cemetery. The long barrow interpretations are unlikely and the discovery of a nearby round cairn (PRN 2395) suggests that the megalith was possibly intended to mark the location of a cemetery. Records exist of the chipping off of fragments of the stone as souvenirs into the 20th century. This appears to have been the origin of the notch on the E side, which is not original.
6 Scheduling information.
7 Revision of the scheduling.
8 Small excavation of a hollow adjacent to the King Stone. No features of archaeological features were found.
9 Correspondence resulting from possible damage to the area around the stone. See 8.
10 Letter to the landowner 1982.
11 Surveys done in 1920.
12 Correspondence from 1984 about scheduling.
13 Correspondence from 1986-7.
14 Correspondence from 1995.
15 Plans.
- For the sources of these notes, see the
- Timetrail record
- produced by the Historic Environment Record.
Comments
A story says that a farmer called Humphrey Boffin took took the King Stone to either build a footbridge or dam a water course in his farm yard. It took either six or eight horses (according to one account they were sweating and terrified) to get it downhill to its destination and even then the traces broke. According to the story where he tried to build a bridge out of it, it would not stay in place and every morning was found on the grass by the bridge which it was meant to be a part of. After that he decided to return it. Despite the fact that the route back was uphill, it only took one horse to return it to its rightful place!
Sources: “Folklore of Warwickshire” by Roy Palmer
“Haunted Warwickshire” by Meg Elizabeth Atkins
“Folklore in Shakespeare Land” by J Harvey Bloom
It is said that people from the locality of Long Compton used to stand round the King Stone, up until the nineteenth century, on St. John’s Eve. Someone would make a cut in a nearby elder tree and it would bleed. At this point the King Stone would bow his head. The fact that no one in living memory could testify to this made no difference! Beware of doubting this though: an old story tells of a sceptical nobleman who thrust his sword into the elder tree to demonstrate to the locals that it was all nonsense. However blood poured from the sword thrust, the tree screamed and he went mad for the rest of his life. So be warned! It is thought that this may have originally been associated with some kind of ancient blood letting rite to ensure the fertility of the land. Although as time went by this original meaning was lost.
Source: “Haunted Warwickshire” by Meg Elizabeth Atkins
Add a comment about this page