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At
a little under thirty miles from Ross-on-Wye
by road, Arthur's Stone, Herefordshire
is situated in Dorstone, not too far from the town of Hay on Wye.
Arthur's
Stone, is a burial chamber of the 'multi-chamber' variety of the
Neolithic Period and dates somewhere between approximately 3700
to 2700 BC. The 'Neolithic Period' or 'New Stone Age' was the
period of time during which people had begun to live in small
communities and farm the land but had not yet discovered the use
of metal. Tombs like this were used to bury the dead from such
communities and many spanned the generations. With only simple
stone tools available, the raising of the roof on Arthur's Stone
must have been a considerable feat! The
mound which once covered the tomb has now largely eroded away.
The roof has partially collapsed and some of the stones were removed
during the 19th Century.
The
tomb is named Arthur's Stone because, according to folklore, it
marks the spot of one of King Arthur's battles. This legend however
dates from thousands of years after the stone tomb was erected.
Arthur's
Stone can be located at National Grid Reference: SO 319 / 431.
The
film above shows some of the magical / spiritual places in the
Wye Valley and Forest of Dean. Beginning with a visit to Arthur's
Stone, a Neolithic burial mound in Dorstone, Herefordshire (not
far from Hay-on-Wye) it then moves on to Trellech to show Harold's
Stones, Tump Turret and the Virtuous Well before moving
on again to the Queen
Stone, the Staunton
Longstone and finally May
Hill. I shot the footage for this latest in the 'Wyenot' series
of short films over the month of May and the first two days of
June 2009.
Two
other people appear in the film. Dr Keith Ray MBE, the County
Archaeologist talks about Arthur's Stone. Also at Arthur's Stone
you may notice a young lady sitting near the stone. I don't know
her name. She was a nice young lady from near Peterchurch whom
I met whilst filming and have since affectionately named, 'The
X-Files Lady' as our conversation was about UFO sightings at sacred
places such as Arthur's Stone and Warminster.
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