The Blowing Stone is a perforated

sarsen Sarsen stones are silicified sandstone blocks found in quantity in Southern England on Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, and Hampshire. Geol ...

at in Kingston Lisle, which is in the traditional county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, but is currently administered as part of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. The stone is in a garden at the foot of Blowingstone Hill just south of the Icknield Way (B4507), about west of Wantage and about east of White Horse Hill. Blowingstone Hill is part of the escarpment of the Berkshire Downs, at the crest of which is The Ridgeway.

Notability

The Blowing Stone blow hole, Kingston Lisle - geograph

The stone is capable of producing a booming sound if someone with the required skill blows into one of the holes the right way. According to legend it could be heard atop White Horse Hill, where 19th-century antiquarians thought King

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

troops had camped, and that this was how Alfred summoned them for the Battle of Ashdown against the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

in AD 871.

Literature

Thomas Hughes' novel '' Tom Brown's School Days'' refers to it as the ''Blawing Stwun'' and calls the village ''Kingstone Lisle''. It is also one of the "sacred stones" mentioned in William Horwood's '' Duncton Wood'', the first book in his fantasy fiction series about a group of moles.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Anglo-Saxon archaeology Archaeological sites in Oxfordshire History of Berkshire Stone Age sites in England Stones Tourist attractions in Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse