Location

One mile north of Dorstone, near Hay-on-Wye, Shropshire, England.

Overview

Arthur's Stone is a splendid example of a late Neolithic burial chamber, which occupies a commanding hillside position in Shropshire's Golden Valley. Its name is derived from a legend which claims that the stones mark the site of one of King Arthur's battles, however it pre-dates his era by as much as four millennia and is believed to have been constructed some time between 3700 and 2700 BC. It could be that the monument was built by the people who inhabited the nearby Neolithic settlement on Dorstone Hill.

It is a multi-chambered tomb, probably used by a family or a community to honour their dead over a period of several hundred years. The tomb as it appears today would have looked very different in the time of its use. Many of the stones that formed it are now missing, having been removed in the 19th Century, presumably for use elsewhere. There has also been some damage: the great slab that forms the roof of the tomb, the alignment of which must have been a truly prodigious undertaking, has partially collapsed, as is apparent in the photographs below. These stones, however, would not have been exposed to exterior view, instead a large mound of earth was dressed over them, though due to erosion almost all trace of this has now been lost. The tomb was accessible by a narrow, roofed passageway leading through the mound; the sides that formed this entrance are still clearly visible, and give an indication of how large the earth mound, raised over the whole structure, must have been.

Photographs