Druids, Ley Lines, Stone Circles and a Village Takes Charge
On Thursday June 27, I met the tour I had signed up for at the train station in Moreton-on-Marsh. I had found it through the Get My Guide app and it was run by Go Cotswolds which leads guided tours in little vans. The group was a nice size, just ten of us, and the guide, Steve was hilarious and full of interesting knowledge to share. Our first stop was at the ancient stone circle called the Rollright Stones. The solstice had just happened a few days before, and there was evidence of a fire in the center of the circle with dried flower crowns. I had read that there were electromagnetic fields intersecting in a hexagon pattern between the stones and our tour coincided with another group which was given dowsing rods to hold. I wanted to linger and watch them while the rest of the tour went off to look at the Whispering Knights further away - another set of stones with mysterious symbolism. The guide had a spare pair of dowsing rods and asked if I wanted to try it, too, so I held them with thumbs up so that they could move and they did slightly as I moved around to different spots.
Then that group left and I noticed a man standing alone in the circle with headphones, intoning and looking as if he was trying to commune with the forces below the ground so I gave him some space since we were the only ones left there. He moved to the center where the fire had been and sat crosslegged in meditation then moved our towards the tree which had been hung with ribbons and other prayers. Eventually Steve came back with my group and we all crossed the road to look at the King’s stone. The legend is that the King met a witch and asked the witch if he would be king and the witch said that if he walked seven paces and could see Long Compton he would be king. He said of course he would be able to see Long Compton but when he walked the sixth step, a mound of earth rose up in front of him and he was turned to stone, along with his followers. Steve said that Shakespeare would have traveled by here from Stratford on Avon to London and that he would have known the legend. Maybe this gave him the idea for Macbeth? We need a legend about Watertown, MA. It would make it a bit more exciting to live there.
Steve also had an interesting theory on why so many older women were accused of being witches. He said that they were often living alone or widowed and that as people often do, they talk to themselves. I think it was fear of the unknown, superstition and misogyny all combined. But there are hundreds of books on this.
We then trundled into the van and Steve entertained us as he drove us towards Burford for a half hour stop to get coffee or window shop. I sat with a nice couple from Seattle and we talked about fear of flying. Apparently he loves to paraglide but hates to fly in a regular airplane. He also loves to bungee jump but is afraid of heights. He said you have to face your fears. There was a woman on the trip who was super friendly and energetic and is a fundraiser for Wheaton College and was fully enjoying some time off. She has an incredibly strong British accent but apparently has been living in Rhode Island for twenty years. We left Burford and Steve regaled us with little facts about the places we were passing through - David Cameron takes his friends to this pub in Swinbrook, JRR Tolkien ate with his brother here, Downtown Abbey was filmed here etc etc. We passed a beautiful little town high up overlooking Guiting Power called Windrush and I noticed artists with easels venturing out together and wished I could be with them. Maybe sometime I can come and do a day class with them here https://www.windrushartcourses.co.uk/courses.asp
After passing through Windrush, we came down into the small town called Guiting Power on the Windrush river which Steve explained had prevented itself from becoming like so many small towns in the Cotswolds - empty houses just for rent for tourists and devoid of people actually living there, going to school, working there -the airbnb phenomenon. Guiting Power Council created grants for people who wanted to actually live year-round in the village to make it possible for them to buy property. They also only promote sustainable agriculture there without using pesticides. For a fascinating website all about the Cotswolds and Guiting Power check out https://www.cotswolds.info/places/guiting-power.shtml While we were stopped there, I went into the post office to buy postcard stamps and was shocked to discover that a postcard stamp costs the equivalent of almost three dollars!!!!! The woman there said that one way to save money would be to send a batch of cards in one envelope and then have someone distribute them, send them to each person from the states. Um…..no.
The next stop where we had time to linger was Broadway. It was part of “Hidden Cotswolds” and yet clearly one of the most popular tourist destinations. One of the most interesting things he pointed out were these mushroom shaped stones in front of some of the old houses. They worked like a baffle similar to squirrel baffles, only they prevented rats from climbing up onto the platforms that were resting on these staddle stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staddle_stones Granaries were often build on top of four of these - one at each corner. I also discovered a few courtyards that had stairs to nowhere which must have been to help people get on their horses?
Steve told us that many artists including Singer Sargent, Frank Millet, and William Morris and others including JM Barrie used to rent the Broadway Tower and party together. Apparently William Morris enjoyed taking a bath on the top of the tower. I have no idea how they got the hot water up there but it gives me a new appreciation for William Morris. Below you can see the fountain over the top of the manor house, a doorway and path turned into a garden, thatched rooves, horses, swift nests under the eaves etc.
From Broadway Steve drove us to Stanway House to see the world’s highest gravity fountain which is turned on a few times a day in the summer and reaches over 300 feet high. It has an intricate baroque gate and a high wall that has ovals in it to let people see through? From ladders? From treetops?
After a photo flurry by all of us of the amazing gate and looking at the churchyard and trying to peer over one of the fences at the fountain (we hadn’t paid to actually go into the grounds), Steve pointed out a pair of swans with a cygnet that looked almost full grown and was soft and grey. It was like a living fairytale.
We then climbed on the bus which wasn’t so much like a fairytale and Steve drove us to the nearby town of Stanton, passing about fifty beautiful tawny colored cows lying together in the shade by the road with their calves. Stanton is straight out of a postcard, with ancient houses with roses and ivy growing up the sides, swifts nesting under the eaves, cats appearing out of the hedges, people on horses clopping slowly down the street and leaving (as Steve describes it) sheep landmines, or in this case horse landmines with a bit more texture than sheep. Bumpy landmines. Help me here.
And then we ended up back at Moreton on Marsh and I went to a pub for an early dinner and then back to my shepherd’s hut in the field with the “owl tree” and the sheep. A very full day and basically the tour I had wanted to take. Nothing could have been better! Thanks, Steve.
And to top it off, the barn owl was in the tree making soft noises. I recorded it snoring this morning. The Merlin app does it again!
