Whenever October arrives, I pick up a good spooky book to get me in the Halloween spirit, and Penelope Lively’s The Whispering Knights is ticking a lot of boxes for me this year—creepy witches and mysterious standing stones. But it appears fact is stranger than fiction as The Rollright Stones (basis of the novel’s premise) are just over an hour from Birmingham.
Tucked away in the Oxfordshire countryside is a complex of ancient megalithic monuments dripping in history and folklore. Made from natural boulders of Jurassic oolitic limestone, taken straight from the Cotswold hills, they span nearly 2,000 years of Neolithic and Bronze Age development. Local legend says otherwise…
What are the Rollright Stones?
There are three sections in total. The oldest, the Whispering Knights, is over 5,000 years old (from 3,500 BC) and is one of the earliest funerary monuments in Britain. Next is the famously uncountable King’s Men stone circle (from 2,500 BC), while the solitary King Stone is from 1,500 BC. Despite their different ages, one myth binds them together.
Legend says that when an Iron Age king met a witch in the Cotswolds, she promised to make him King of England if he could see Long Compton in “seven long strides.” But, mid-stride, a mound rose in front of the king, blocking his view of the nearby village, and she turned him, his knights and army into stone.
One myths claim that the witch became an elder tree that, if cut down, would break the spell. Another says that the stones come alive at midnight and drink from the nearby stream. It’s also believed that terrible things happen to anyone trying to remove the stones, while fairies have also been spotted at the Rollright Stones.
What are the UK’s spookiest walks?
With all this talk of witches and faeries, is it any wonder that the Rollright Stones has been named among the UK’s spookiest walks? The team at GO Outdoors analysed the number of Tripadvisor reviews which mentioned terms like ‘spooky’ and ‘ghost’ alongside reports of paranormal activity to identify the scariest walking spots across the country.
Coming 8th, 35.2% of reviews of the Rollright Stones mention ‘spooky’ keywords, while a total of 145 paranormal sightings have been recorded in the area. It’s not the only stone circle on the list, however, as the Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire finishes second place. Meanwhile, top of the list is Wistman’s Wood in Devon—the ancient oak woodland full of twisted trees and ghostly hounds.
The Spookiest Walks in the UK:
- Wood, Devon
- Avebury Stone Circle, Wiltshire
- Culloden Battlefield, Highland
- Greyfriars Kirkyard Walk, Edinburgh
- Pendle Hill, Lancashire
- Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
- Whitby Abbey & Clifftop Walks, North Yorkshire
- The Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire
- Hound Tor, Devon
- Highgate Cemetery, London