I do like Mitchell’s Fold. Its wide wild views are fantastic. It has friendly horses sometimes too.
The Shropshire Tourism website (shropshiretourism.info/south-shropshire/mitchell_fold/) suggests King Arthur drew Excalibur out of one of the stones here. Apparently this was something recorded by William Stukeley [but see the comments below, perhaps this romanticism is more modern]. I guess it’s prime territory for Arthur, right on the border between England and Wales.
Here is some information about what else you may find around the circle, gleaned from the Shropshire sites and monuments record.
Mitchell’s Fold stone circle (also known as Medjices Fold and Madges Pinfold) is situated in a high saddle between Stapeley Hill to the north and Corndon Hill to the south. The stones were probably brought from Stapely Hill to the north west – they are all the same geologically.
It is thought there may be a central stone in situ below the turf. The interior of the circle is criss-crossed with lines – not all of them modern vandalism apparently, as the ridge is said to be the old coach route from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth.
Ninety metres SE of the circle is a 0.7m standing stone on a small bump. Immediately north east of this is is a low mound believed to be the base of a robbed cairn – several stones show through the turf covering it.
Rhiannon wrote:
> Apparently this was something recorded by William Stukeley.
Has anyone bothered checking this? I've seen it mentioned on the website of Graham Phillips and in literature associated with the Shropshire tourist board, authored by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman. I have yet to find it in Stukeley (not least because I don't know where to look!).
That's like a red rag to a bull. I'll see if I can find it. There's nothing like repeating hearsay is there.
Well here's something about MF by Stukeley. But no mention of Arthur.
archive.org/stream/familymemoirsre00knelgoog#page/n203/mode/1up
The reference to Stukeley seems to have vanished from Graham Phillips' website!
grahamphillips.net/Trail/4_Sword_and_Stone.htm
Seven years later Shropshire Tourism still says: "Local folklore also suggests that King Arthur drew Excalibur from one of the stones here to become king of the Britain’s."
[viewed 20th Oct. 2017]
shropshiretourism.co.uk/south-shropshire/mitchells-fold-stone-circle.html
Folklore from where?
Seven years later you'd think they might have sorted out the grammar (king of the Britain's indeed).
Folklore from the Shropshire Tourism department probably. It's in their interests, might garner a few more tourists.
The wikipedia page about Excalibur is very comprehensive. Seems the 'sword in the stone' motif first made its appearance in something written by a French poet (Robert de Boron) in French. So seems unlikely he was thinking about an obscure stone circle on the Welsh-English border.
But what the hell. It's a superb spot. Let's have it for Arthur.