 hammer in a public saleroom, would have filled our ancestors, could they have foreseen and understood such a contingency, with the same kind of horror we should feel if the same auctioneers were to offer Westminster Abbey to the highest bidder.
From an article in the Banbury Guardian, 30th June 1927.
This is the text that accompanies this drawing.
Beneath [the abbey at 'Einsham'], Evenlode a little river, arising likewise out of Cotteswald speedeth him into Isis; which riveret in the very border of the Shire passeth by an ancient monument standing not far from his banke, to wit, certaine huge stones placed in a round circle (the common people usually call them Rolle-rich stones, and dreameth that they were sometimes men, by a wonderfull Metamorphosis turned into hard stones). The draught of them, such as it is, portraited long since, heere I represent unto your view. For, without all forme and shape they be, unaequal, and by long continuance of time much impaired. The highest of them all, which without the circle looketh into the earth, they use to call The King, because he should have beene King of England (forsooth) if he had once seene Long Compton, a little towne so called lying beneath, and which a man, if he go some few paces forward, may see: other five standing at the other side, touching as it were, one another, they imagine to have beene Knights mounted on horsebacke; and the rest the army. But lo the foresaid Portraiture.
From Camden's 'Britain' (p374 in this 1610 edition).
Regarding the location of the witch or eldern tree, there is a stone figure in the porch of the church at nearby Long Compton which local tradition asserts is the figure of a witch. The figure is actually heavily eroded and almost looks like one of the rollright stones.
"The feet of the stone figure appear to be resting on an animal, perhaps a cat or fox.It may this that has led to suggestions that the figure is that of a witch who was turned to stone, her familiar resting at her feet. In his book Murder by Witchcraft Donald McCormick suggests this figure has a malevolent stare, and his implication that it fixes any onlooker has helped to cement the folklore".
"...in a field near the church can be seen some ancient earthworks. The field is called The Close. An old tradition is attached to it...It said a young man sold his soul to the devil there." Mark Turner, Folklore & mysteries of the Cotswolds.
"Belief in witchcraft and the power of witches features prominently in Long Compton's folklore.Rarely in fact does one find a village with such strong witchcraft associations." mark Turner.Folklore & Mysteries of the Cotwolds.

Other stones whisper too, at the Rollrights?
When living in that neighbourhood, this was my favourite resort. I have been there at all hours, in sombre moonless night, and in the brilliance of a full moon - at the hours of sunrise, noon, and sunset, enjoying the lovely prospect of a fertile valley winding below me in a tortuous course towards the range of the Cotswold hills.
..I may add that the surrounding fields abound in pieces of crystallized spar (though the Druidical stones are not at all of this nature) and I am told that the numerous rills of clear water which trickle down the hill possess a petrifying quality. This seems probable.
On my last visit to this hill I was rambling about the fields in my descent, when, about half way down, I found almost concealed, a large collection of rough stones, all of which had been broken down; and a beautifully pure spring issuing from among them.
I was carrying away a piece of the crystallized spar in my hand, and hurrying homewards, for it was becoming late in the evening, when a person came from his door, in Long Compton, and following me for some distance, begged me, if I valued my night's rest, not to steal any of the whispering stones. Having thanked him for his kind advice, I proceeded onwards, with about a dozen boys at my heels through the town.
"Egomet" clearly thought the man was bonkers. But why mention it, if he didn't have an uncomfortable suspicion that it related to the stone in his hand, not the whispering knights? or am I reading too, too much into it. Perhaps the man just thought he looked the type to go meddling with things.
From p476 of 'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction' v16, 1830 (which may be seen on Google Books).
The Witch-Elder still watches over the victims of her magic. As to the exact position of the tree, however, the tradition is shifting. According to some accounts it used to stand in the field not far from the dolmen called the "Whispering Knights." Some say it was near the circle, but was blown down not many years ago. Others say that it is to be found in the hedge by the road not far from the King-stone, or further in the field beyond the mound where an elder-bush that stood by a large stone was some years since pointed out to a friend as "the Witch."
The proof that the elder is a witch is that it bleeds when it is cut. And with regard to this I came upon a remarkable tradition, which an old woman, the wife of a man of eighty, told me she had heard many years ago from her husband's mother.
On Midsummer Eve, when the "eldern-tree" was in blossom, it was a custom for people to come up to the King-stone and stand in a circle. Then the "eldern" was cut, and as it bled "the King moved his head."
It is to be observed that this breaking of the spell by blood-letting itself fits on to a very widespread superstition regarding witches, of which I found many surviving expressions in the neighbouring village of Long Compton. They say there that if you only draw her blood, "be it but a pin's prick," the witch loses all power for the time.
For the "eldern-tree" to bleed it must be in blossom. The more sceptical spirits amongst the country people explain the matter by the catch, "If you cut the elder with your hand on it it will bleed," but among the children at least the more literal belief in the bleeding elder has not died out.
An old man of Little Rollright told me that some years ago he was up by the stones and a ploughboy asked him whether it was really true that the elder-tree bled if it was cut. "Lend me your knife," said the old man, and forthwith stuck it into the bark. "Won't you pull it out?" siad the boy. "Pull it out yourself!" was the reply, but the boy was too scared to do so. It was only at last, as they were about to go home for the night, that the boy, fearful that he would lose his knife altogether, approached the tree "tottering with fright and all of a tremble," and, snatching it out, rushed away without waiting to see whether the tree bled or not.
Bloxham's book also tells that the stones can never be counted. A victorian baker, determined to count them accurately, brought a basket containing a pre counted number of loaves and put down one in front of each stone. But he either had not included enough loaves or they mysteriously vanished because he failed in his task.
Another legend says that if anyone can count the same amount of stones three times in a row, they shall have any wish granted.
The witch is said to have changed herself into an Elder tree. A festival of cakes and ale used to be held on Midsummer's Eve, when the Elder was in bloom. People stood in a circle around the tree and as they cut the trunk it would weep red sap, resembling the witch's blood, (blooding a witch is said to rid her of her magical powers) and the King Stone would move his head and watch the spectacle.
The last tale retold in Bloxham's book tells of the Dowser Enid Smithett, who when dowsing at the site of the Rollrights, felt faint and dropped her pendulum in the long grass. Instead of flopping to the ground, it stood rigidly, for some time....
A Farrier from Hook Norton tells of how the King Stone got its unusual shape by saying an immoral king tricked Wayland Smithy into making enchanted armour for him, but upon wearing it he was twisted and deformed and turned to stone, for only the faeries could don that armour without risk of harm.
In the book 'Ghosts and Witches of the Cotswolds' J A Brooks tells how the Stones are supposed to go down to the stream to drink on New Year's Eve. There was no evidence of this the next day when I visited (01/01/2005ce) but an offering of Holly, Ivy and Misletoe had been made to one of the Stones.
J Harvey Bloom's book Folk Lore, Old Customs and Superstitions in Shakespeare's Land recalls how a farmer would shut his gates around the stones and would find them open the next day, even if fastened by padlocks and chains. He also tells of how a farmer tried to move a stone