| Mitchell's Fold |
Fourteen stones remain of this circle which probably numbered about thrity when
it was built around 2000-1400BC. It sits on the ridge of Stapeley Hill, in view
of the Striperstones and the Welsh border. The circle is 27 metres in diameter
and is 330 metres above sea level. The remaining stones are fairly small, the
tallest being about two metres.
On a sandstone pillar at Middleton-in-Chirbury Church, Rev Brewster carved an
acount of the Mitchell's Fold legend in 1879. There are a few versions of the
legend but they all follow the same story line. During a time when food was
hard to come by, a magical beautiful white cow appeared at Mitchell's Fold.
This cow could be milked by anyone who came to her and would fill them a
single bucket. The cow had a seemingly endless supply of milk and the local
community were saved. Then a witch came along and milked the cow into a sieve, the cow ran dry and then vanished forever.
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One version has the cow kicking the witch, then running away when it realised it
had been fooled, and the witch was turned into one of the stones. Another
version has the cow becoming the rampaging Dun Cow of Dunchurch, which is then
killed by Guy of Warwick.
It is also associated with the tale of Medgelly's cow, where a giant kept a
magic white cow at Medgel's Fold which gave an unending supply of milk to the
good folk of the neighbourhood. But it was milked with a sieve by an evil
person and the cow disappeared.
A similar story is found attached to the Callanish Stone Circle on the Isle of
Lewis. It was a time of famine and a magic white cow came out of the sea and
allowed each local to take a single bucket of milk per night when they milked
her at Callanish. Then a witch came along and tried to milk her with a sieve.
She milked the cow dry and it vanished. |
| Map ref: SO304984 |
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