Rollright Stones

Near Long Compton

Deep prehistory, twenty minutes away

Of all the places we send guests, the Rollright Stones is the one people come back talking about. It sits on a quiet ridge on the Oxfordshire and Warwickshire border, near Long Compton and a couple of miles north of Chipping Norton, and it asks almost nothing of you: a short drive, a small donation, and the willingness to stand still for a while. We tend to go early, before the day fills up, when the circle is empty and the only sound is the wind coming off the fields. It is not a grand day out. It is a half-hour of something older and stranger than anything else within reach of the cottage, and it costs less than a coffee.

There are three separate monuments here, and they do not sit together, so it helps to know what you are looking for before you set off. The drive takes you along the high road past Great Tew and through Chipping Norton, with wide views across the Cotswold plateau most of the way. Park in the small lay-by, pay at the honesty box, and the King's Men circle is a few steps through the gate.

The three stones, and where to find them

• The King's MenThe main circle: around seventy closely spaced stones forming a rough ring some thirty metres across, raised in the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, roughly four and a half thousand years ago. They are human-scaled rather than towering, pitted and crusted with lichen, and you can walk right up to them, touch them, sit among them. That intimacy is what makes the place.
• The King StoneA single weathered monolith standing on its own about thirty metres away, on the opposite side of the road from the circle. Easy to miss if you do not know it is there. Cross carefully; it is a working lane.
• The Whispering KnightsA short walk east along the field edge, around four hundred metres from the circle, brings you to a cluster of uprights leaning together as if sharing a secret. They are the remains of an early Neolithic burial chamber, older still than the King's Men, and the walk out to them is half the pleasure.

What it is actually like to visit

The site is open access on most days and looked after by a small trust that keeps it beautifully low-key. There is an honesty box at the entrance for a modest donation, a few information boards, and not much else: no gift shop, no ropes holding you at a distance, and the toilets and tea are back in Chippy. Cash for the box helps, and there is a QR code on site if you would rather pay from your phone. We would not check exact hours in advance; the trust does occasionally close the site for events or maintenance, so if you are making a special trip it is worth a glance at the official site first. Otherwise, just go. A still weekday morning is the reward; on the solstices the stones draw larger crowds for sunrise gatherings, which have a quiet magic of their own if that appeals.

Making a morning of it

A stone circle is a short visit by nature, so we usually fold it into a wider loop. The obvious pairing is Chipping Norton on the way back, for coffee, lunch or a wander round the market town. If you would rather keep to the old and quiet, Chastleton House is barely ten minutes on, a Jacobean manor left almost untouched by time. And for a proper lunch afterwards, The Falkland Arms at Great Tew sits right on the route home, a thatched village pub that is worth the detour on its own. For more ideas within easy reach of the cottage, see our full guide to things to do in the area.

“Go early, on a still morning. Stand inside the circle with nobody else around and you feel the weight of all those centuries. It's one of those places that doesn't need to explain itself.”

Visit the official site →

Also nearby

• Whichford Pottery · Pottery · Whichford
• Chastleton House · House · 10 min
• Great Tew Cricket Club · Cricket · 15 min
• The Great Tew Estate · Village · 15 min