Chipping Norton walk 01
Chipping Norton and the Rollright Stones walk
- Walk distance
- 8 miles
- Time
- 4 hours
- Route type
- Circular
This 8 mile walk starts from the lovely old market town of Chipping Norton, aka ‘Chippy’ to locals. This is a typical quintessential Cotswold town in the north of the region whose name means (would you believe) ’market north town’. The market is held on Wednesdays.
From here you will walk to the village of Salford and across open countryside and farm fields to visit the famous Rollright Stones.
These magical monuments are a collection of Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments close to the Oxfordshire village of Long Compton. Whispering Knights, a single chamber tomb or dolman, was the first to be built during the mid-Neolithic period. The second is The King’s Men, a stone circle built around the beginning of the Bronze Age following the design of other stones circles in England. The King Stone, a single monolith, is the most recent although its date of construction is unknown it is believed to be a grave marker. Note the variety of lichens on the stones, some are reported to be up to 800 years old! Amazing!
The Stones are on a site of large open skies and because of this have been given a stargazing award in recognition of its views of the Milky Way - the Dark Sky Discovery Award.
The walk continues on easy paths (where you can stop every now and then to admire the stunning views) to the pretty village of Over Norton. From here the walk continues back to Chipping Norton where, after your good leg stretch, you can be tempted by the range of shops, cafe’s and hostelries. Enjoy!
If you would like more information on the Rollright Stones - here is an excellent website:
https://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/stones/overview
There are car parks in Chipping Norton but if you find these full (especially on Wednesdays) then you could park on the roadside at Over Norton and pick up the walk from there.
