Summary : A free standing portal dolmen which forms part of the Rollright Stones monument complex. The portal dolmen measuring approximately 1.8 metres square and comprising four vertically set stones 1.5-2.4 metres in height and a fallen capstone. It was thought to originally be covered by a long barrow. This interpretation seems most likely especially in view of Ravenhill's find of a human skull fragment within the chamber although Grinsell's suggestion that it was a 'cove' connected with the stone circle has not been fully refuted. Excavations around the stones in 1983, designed to locate traces of a mound and quarry ditches, showed that no substantial features remained. The east side showed traces of the original soil which contained Neolithic, Iron Age and Roman pottery. The occurance of the latter suggests that if there was a mound it may have been removed by the end of the prehistoric period. No evidence of any quarry ditches were recorded, however, there was ambiguous evidence for a round cairn or platform mound. Flints including a scraper and plano-convex knife have been recovered from ploughed land within the immediate vicinity of the stones. The portal dolmen is estimated to date to between 3800-3000 BC. |
More information : (SP 29933084) Whispering Knights (NAT) Burial Chamber (NR) (1)
Whispering Knights, the remains of a burial chamber, comprising of a group of stones, four set vertically to define a chamber about 6ft square and the fifth, a capstone, resting at an angle. No trace of the mound. dated to c. 2000 BC. (2)
Whispering Knights - Burial Chamber - no change. (3)
Struck flints including part of a plano-convex knife, a horse shoe scraper and a flake were found by R. Hughs in ploughed land within 10yds of the Whispering Knights. (4)
The Whispering Knights or Five Knights are generally thought to be the remains of a burial chamber, probably a portal dolmen approximately 1.8m square, comprising four vertically set stones 1.5 - 2.4m high and a fallen capstone, originally covered by a Neolithic long barrow. This interpretation seems most likely especially in view of Ravenhill's find of a human skull fragment within the chamber although Grinsell's suggestion that it was a `cove' connected with the stone circle has not been fully refuted. (5-6)
Trenches around the Whispering Knights in 1983, designed to locate traces of a mound, showed that no substantial features remain. Except on the east side on trace of the original soil survived - this soil contained Neolithic, Iron Age and Roman pottery. The occurance of the latter suggests that if there ever was much of a mound it may have been removed by the end of the prehistoric period. (7-9)
No evidence of any quarry ditches were recorded during excavations carried out in 1983 to indicate that this structure was part of a long mound. However, there was ambiguous evidence for a round cairn or platform mound. (10)
Revised scheduling. (11)
The Rollright Trust website has more details on the site. (12)
In October 2001 Oxford Archaeology carried out an archaeological watching brief at Whispering Knights, Rollright Stones. The work was commissioned by English Heritage to record and repair animal damage to the monument. The watching brief revealed two small holes in the surface of the cairn intruding 0.23m below the surface, beneath the fallen capstone. The animal activity had disturbed the soil covering the cairn, and some of the rubble of the cairn itself. The results from the finds suggested that this material had accumulated around the stones over a long period of time. (13) |