Walked by Ben Lerwill
SOUTH EAST
4.7 miles/ 7.5km 3 hours Moderate 149m
The legend behind the Rollright Stones goes something like this.
A local warlord was patrolling a windswept ridgeline with his soldiers when a witch appeared. She presented him with a challenge, saying that if he strode forward seven paces and could see the village of Long Compton, he would become the King of England. So enticed, he took one pace forwards, only for a mound of earth to rise up in front of him. As the witch cackled, the warlord and his men were turned to stone. The unfortunate fellows remain there to this day.
The archaeological truth is no less stirring. The Rollright Stones are made up of three manmade groupings of boulders, weathered into outlandish shapes by millennia of wind and rain. All three sites are within a couple of minutes’ walk of each other. The best known is the King’s Men stone circle, thought to have been erected between 2500 and 2000 BC. This route from Salford leads through farmland, with the stones seen midway through.
1 START
Beginning at the green in Salford, bear left along a tree-flanked lane, past a sign for Rectory Farm. Continue ahead, as fields open up. Ignore the right turn-off towards a private lake, continuing instead to reach a small gate in a bend in the hedge.
2 0.7 MILES
Go through the gate and turn right. Keep the hedge on your right until seeing, on the left, a clear track through the field. Take this and follow it through more fields, sticking to the path as it kinks left and right and brooks a small stream before reaching a road.
3 1.4 MILES
Cross the road then continue ahead, following the path straight across the next field. Go through another gate and keep on the signed footpath as it climbs uphill. Stay on this until a gate in a gap in the hedge on the left, leading towards a farmhouse.
4 1.7 MILES
Passing through the gate, follow the field edge, then at the
