Merlin Price

The Witch of Rollright Merlin Price

The Rollright Stones, survivors from prehistoric times, stand near Long Compton. What are they? Why are they there? Legends surround them. One, enshrined in an old rhyme, explains their origin. The rhyme tells how, when England was many kingdoms, a pagan king heard a prophecy that: 'When Long Compton you shall see, You shall King of England be.' When the king and his followers were approaching Long Compton they were stopped by a witch who said: 'As Long Compton thou canst not see, King of England thou shalt not be: Rise up stick and stand thou stone, For King of England thou shalt be none. Thou and thy men hoarstones shall be and I, myself, an elder tree.' This story, set in the late 1970s, tells how a group of children become involved with the stones and with 'The Watchers' - sinister people who, with Mother Shipton, maintain the old traditions and practices of witchcraft. In the search for treasure, hidden hundreds of years before, the children have to face and overcome the forces and powers that Mother Shipton controls.