The King Stone at the Rollright Stones (the Rollrights) is one of the most remarkable of all the megaliths in Ancient Britain. Mainstream archaeologists have claimed that the King Stone at the Rollrights has its funny shape because souvenir gatherers had chipped many pieces from it. What a foolish explanation, and how greatly lacking in actual observation of the stone. Many websites, books and news articles about the King Stone, the Rollright Stones and the Whispering Knights just gullibly repeat such foolish tales, showing a puzzling lack of critical judgment which is, however, necessary to have in order to view the King Stone, the Rollright Stones and the Whispering Knights objectively - or, for that matter - to view any megaliths.
Most likely is that some mainstream archaeologists have become psychologically confused by the name of the nearby inhabitations, "Chipping" Norton and Chipping Campden.
But of course the shape of the King Stone has nothing to do with people chipping pieces from it.
The shape of the King Stone megalith is intended to be in the basic form in which it is found today. The King Stone is carved in relief as birds of various kinds, depending upon the angle from which the King Stone is viewed. In fact, in spite of its great age (ca. 3000 BC), the King Stone is a masterpiece of Stone Age art.
As we have discovered, the King Stone at the Rollright Stones represents the star Deneb in Cygnus in the ancient survey of Britain by astronomy and the Rollright Stones represent Cygnus (our current constellation of the Swan) generally. This megalithic site is located on a line which runs through Midsummer Hill (the Center of Heaven - near Wynd's Point) to Arthur's Stone, Dorstone, which in turn marks the stars of Boötes [Arthur = Arcturus] on the other side of Heaven's center. When we wrote our book, Stars Stones and Scholars, there were no usable photos availabe of Arthur's Stone Dorstone, at least, I had none and found nothing useful online. Now, we see that there are good, large photos available at http://www.wyenot.com/arthurstn01.htm.
That group of stones clearly represents the stars of Boötes with the size (width) of the stones under the capstone perhaps showing the relative brightness of the outer perimeter of stars of that constellation. What is especially great about the Arthur's Stone, Dorstone megalithic site is that it is unusual in containing additional stones inside the outer perimeter, directly under the capstone. These of course are the prominent stars in the middle of the Boötes constellation, a rare phenomenon among the constellations. From the side, Arthur's Stone, Dorstone, looks to us like a bird on eggs (?), i.e. those stones in the middle directly under the capstone.
Midsummer Hill is right next to Wynd'sPoint (the Winding Point ?) and to Herefordshire Beacon, any of which potentially marked the center of the survey of ancient Britain, each perhaps in a different era (?), being separted from one another by just a few miles. I am currently in contact with someone who appears to be very good at surveying calculations and thus far Midsummer Hill is the closest to such a calculated central point. All three locations give evidence of having been important in ancient days.
To get the above figure, one merely has to place a compass on that central point in the map and run a circle with a radius at Land's End in Cornwall and this will cut Hadrian's Wall (Eridanus) exactly. If there was a direct line running from the King Stone (Deneb) at the Rollright Stones (Cygnus) to Arthur's Stone (Boötes), Dorstone, then the ancients at that time must have seen the center of heaven as marked by Draco, and indeed, as we have written in our book Stars Stones and Scholars at p. 113
"The top of Herefordshire Beacon is known as the iron age "British Camp" with its center at the 'Citadel' which as we have discovered marked the North Ecliptic Pole in the Neolithic Survey of Ancient Britain. The British Camp is the oldest such "camp" in Britain. At the south end of the camp is Clutter's Cav (6 feet wide, 6 feet high and 10 feet deep, hollowed out of volcanic rock), thought - erroneously - by mainstream scholars to be associated with solar worship. In fact, as we have discovered, Clutter's Cave marks the North Celestial Pole, i.e. the Pole Star...."
The drawing below is based on No Through Road, the AA Book of Country Walks, Walk 117, where an aerial view of the British Camp is presented 
Given that preliminary discussion, we can fully appreciate the magnificent art of the King Stone at the Rollright Stones, which must be about 5000 to 6000 years old, as we calculate a date of anywhere from 3800 B.C. to 2300 B.C. for the ancient survey, having provisionally selected 3117 B.C. However, dates back to 3800 B.C. have been suggested at the Rollrights by the archaeologists, which would also match some of the oldest dates suggested for the related site of Wayland's Smithy. The King Stone represents Deneb in the group of stars known today as Cygnus, the Swan. The ancients would not necessarily have seen groups of stars just as we do today, but their groupings would probably have been similar in many cases, since such groupings are guided by the brightest stars in the heavens, and these have surely not changed much.
Looked at from the thin side of the King Stone (the photo below), the thin wavy form of the King Stone megalith clearly shows the head and beak of a bird, we think it is a goose (see the "side view" in the drawing below - not likely to be a swan's head).
The beak shows upward at the top of the King Stone and has a typical bump like a goose's beak.
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Looked at from the wide side-front the entire King Stone megalith is carved as the head of an eagle and a smaller bird head can also be seen carved at the top.
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From the side-back (see the drawing above the photograph, at the small insert to the right), the King Stone megalith at the Rollright Stones represents a young chick. Moreover, the King Stone megalith, in addition to showing as cupmarks the carved main stars of Cygnus, which it represents in the geodetic astronomical system, it perhaps also shows the stars of Cepheus, Lacerta, Cassiopeia, Pegasus and Aquila carved into the stone.
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When we were at the Rollrights in 2002, we discovered that there are remnants of a circle of stones around the King Stone at the cardinal directions, marked in red in the above photograph of the King Stone (that is the author in the photo).
We also stepped off the distances to the degree that field conditions and in part imposing fences allowed and found the following triangulation (provisional result - the site should be surveyed properly to see if the triangulation is true):
In addition, the King Stone is 44 kilometers from Uffington Castle and the White Horse and the site of Wayland's Smithy nearby, which marks the stars of Andromeda in the ancient survey by astronomy of Ancient Britian.
See in this regard megaliths.net at Wayland's Smithy http://www.megaliths.net/wayland1.htm
We are not sure, however, whether the Wayland's Smithy megalithic site points to the Pole Star (i.e. the North Celestial Pole) or to the North Ecliptic Pole, something that could be determined by survey.
This knowledge is, in our view, the key to understanding the ancient survey of Ancient Britain.
Photographs copyright © 2002 by Andis Kaulins
Note that both "King Stone" and "Kings Stone" are variants in megalithic sources but that King Stone appears to have become the official name.
Go to
The Rollright Virgo Stone
The Probable Rollright Survey Triangulation
Fallen Stones at the Rollrights
The Circle of Rollright Stones
King Stone
Whispering Knights
Rollright Stones Entrance
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