Rufus Stone
The Rufus Stone is a standing stone in the New Forest in south-western Hampshire, placed close to the A31 south of Upper Canterton, a hamlet between Brook and Minstead (SU270124). It is claimed to mark the spot where King William II, known as William Rufus, fell when struck by an arrow out hunting.
William Rufus was a very unpopular king. His death was held to be a hunting accident, when an arrow shot by his companion Walter Tyrell glanced off an oak tree: it may not have been accidental though.
The claim that this stone is the location of the King's death appears to date from no earlier than a 17th-century visit by King Charles II to the forest.[1] At the time the most popular account of William's death involved the fatal arrow deflecting off a tree, and Charles appears to have been shown a suitable tree.[1] Letters in The Gentleman's Magazine reported that the tree was cut down and burned during the 18th century.[1] Later in that century the Rufus Stone was set up.[1]
Originally the stone stood five feet tall with a stone ball on top.[1] King George III visited the stone in 1789, along with Queen Charlotte, and an inscription was added to the stone to commemorate the visit.[1] It was protected with a cast iron cover in 1841 after repeated vandalism.[1]
The inscription on the Rufus Stone reads:
Here stood the Oak Tree, on which an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a Stag, glanced and struck King William the second, surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which he instantly died, on the second day of August, anno 1100.That the spot where an Event so Memorable might not hereafter be forgotten; the enclosed stone was set up by John Lord Delaware who had seen the Tree growing in this place. This Stone having been much mutilated, and the inscriptions on each of its three sides defaced, this more Durable Memorial, with the original inscriptions, was erected in the year 1841, by Wm [William] Sturges Bourne Warden.
King William the second, surnamed Rufus being slain, as before related, was laid in a cart, belonging to one Purkis, and drawn from hence, to Winchester, and buried in the Cathedral Church, of that City.[2]
