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Photo by John Gray of Highworth.

It seems odd that a lump of rock can be considered a curiosity, however in Oxfordshire near the village of Kingston Lisle the local attraction is the Blowing Stone, which is basically, - a curious lump of rock.

The reasoning behind the name is that if you blow with sufficient force into one of the holes, a trumpet like sound may be heard. A word of caution though, as unless you have the trumpet blowing capabilities of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong it is best not to try.
Should you be brave enough to try, here is what it should sound like  .


King Alfred
The rock originally sat high up on the nearby Ridgeway and was supposedly used by King Alfred, in the distant past, to summon his troops to battle.
King Alfred of course being the local hero, born and bred in nearby Wantage, as the large statue to him in the market place will testify. 900 hundred years after King Alfred no longer had a use for his, 'trumpet', around the mid 18th century, it was moved to its present location as the centrepiece in the garden, of what was then the local public house.
When this closed and it was converted to a house, the rock, not un-surprisingly stayed.


A Literary Mention
Whilst it was in use as a public house it was known to the author Thomas Hughes, who was born in nearby Uffington. His most famous work "Tom Browns School Days", mentions the Blowing Stone thus :-

"Blawing Stwun, Sir" says the landlord, pouring out his old ale from a Toby Philpot jug, with a melodious crash, into the long-necked glass. "....... a square lump of stone, some three feet and a half high, perforated with two or three queer holes, like petrified antediluvian rat-holes."


The rock is actually a very hard local sandstone, and like a lot of rock of this type, the holes are probably where tree roots were when the rock was formed from mud.

Photo by John Gray of Highworth.

Visiting:-
Surely only the British could ask for money to see a lump of rock, but that is what the sign on the fence invites you to do. The proceeds though we are told do go to a worthy cause, that of the local church.

Co-Ords: 432400 187065 / SU 324870  

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