The magical stones charged with legend

An Eerie corner of Gloucestershire lying between Stroud and Tetbury is noted for its monoliths, mounds and mysterious happenings. Here, near Avening, are to be found the best known standing stones in the county - the Long Stone and the Tingle Stone. Some notice a "charged" sensation in the vicinity of certain stones, and experience a tingling sensation when they touch them. Doubtless, this is why the Tingle Stone is so-called. It's on Princess Anne's land at Gatcombe Park, and has long been thought to be charged with electricity. It could be the remains of a portal dolmen connected with a long barrow. Local legend has it that, when church bells strike at midnight, the Tingle Stone and the Long Stone run aroundtheir fields.

They are also said to go to Minchinhampton to drink from a spring there. These are familiar stories associated with standing stones, and they indicate our ancestors' respect for them, even after the advent of Christianity. The Long Stone, a rough lozenge shape similar to some of the stones of Avebury, is famous for the two holes in it which, although created by natural weathering, have given rise to various folk tales. The stone was thought to have healing properties. People would pass their limbs through the holes for cures, and mothers would put their children through to keep them healthy.It may also have been associated with fertility rites, as couples would hold hands through the stone and pledge themselves to one another.A group of dowsers once registered a powerful pulse of magnetism from the Long Stone. They tried to "recharge" it by circling and laying theirhands on it, but were stricken by headaches and sudden tiredness.Another large standing stone, the Cobstone, stood due east of the Long Stone on the edge of MinchinhamptonCommonbutwasbrokenupfor building materials in the 1830s, and the Picked Stone once lay to the south.The Devil's Churchyard at Minchinhampton, as late as the 1950s, was avoided at night by people who thought it was haunted.Attempts to build a church there, on the site of a stone circle, foundered when the project was continually vandalised. Some said it was the devil's work and a new site was selected.Later, a clergyman ordered destruction of the stone circle, and the locality gained a reputation for evil. A ghostly rider sometimes put the wind up passers-by, and a grim spectre was seen following people in the lanes.And because of a phantom black dog at Woefuldane's Bottom, carters had to blindfold their horses when theypassed.......