Blowing Stone

The Blowing Stone is a sarsen stone which sits below The Ridgeway near Kingston Lisle (Oxon), although it is thought to have originally sat on the hills near The Ridgeway. It can be seen from the roadside of Blowingstone Hill, at the end of a row of cottages.

Local legend has it that in 871 AD, a battle call was sounded for the local militia to join King Ethelred to fight the advancing Vikings by blowing into a hole in the stone. The battle became known as the Battle of Ashdown and the man who made the call later became King Alfred! The stone is sometimes known as King Alfred’s Bugle Horn and many people have attempted to make the mournful sound of legend ever since. There are stories and drawings of the stone when it was located outside the Blowing Stone pub (not the same as the pub with the same name today) with a wooden hatch padlocked over the hole to stop people disturbing the peace – unless a payment was made to the landlord! You can hear the musician Simon Chadwick sound the stone here.