Gloucestershire is not very well known for its prehistoric remains. This is partly because there aren`t that many of them. However, the Long Stone at Hampton Fields near Avening is undoubtedly the best known megalith in the county. It is a rough oolite stone standing about 2.4m tall in an area packed with stones, long barrows, and the site of a former stone circle. It is naturally a rough lozenge-shape, reminiscent of the some of the stones at the Avebury Henge complex. The reason for its fame is the fact that it is pierced by two holes. One of the few holed stones that can still be seen.

Although the holes were created by a natural weathering of the rock, the stone has attracted a number of legends and folktales. Like the holed stone at Men-an-Tol in Cornwall, the Long Stone was said to have healing properties. People would pass their limbs through the holes to cure themselves of illness. Mothers would even pass their children through the hole to cure them of, or prevent them from getting, rickets, smallpox, whooping cough and "other infantile diseases". Julian Cope recounts an eyewitness account that this ritual has been performed within the last thirty years.

According to legend, when the local church bells strike twelve midnight, the Long Stone and its neighbour, the Tingle Stone, will run around their respective fields. It is also said to make the journey to Minchinhampton to drink from the spring there. These are not uncommon legends to be associated with standing stones, and reflect the reverence which people in times past had of these enigmatic sentries of stone, even after the widespread acceptance of Christianity in Britain.

The stone may also be associated with fertility rites. There is evidence that couples would hold hands through the stone and betroth themselves to each other.

In the late 1980s, a group of dowsers went to the stone and noticed a sudden, huge discharge of magnetism from the stone. The group attempted to recharge the stone by forming a circle around it and laying their hands on it. But the experiment was brought to a close when they all felt "headaches and fatigue".

Leslie Grinsell has suggested that the Long Stone may have formed part of a long barrow. This is based on the fact that there is a second stone nearby, only 1m tall and now with a modern drystone wall built over it. This seems to be rather scant evidence, particularly as there is no record of anybody having seen any hint of a mound. But on the other hand, the stone is surrounded by a number of long barrows, and if it wasn't part of a prehistoric structure, what could its function have been?

This part of Gloucestershire is fairly rich in prehistoric remains, unfortunately few of them are as impressive today as the Long Stone. It is a very mysterious structure, rich in legend and lore. And even though it is not situated on a lonely and windswept moor, buffeted by the wild elements, it is a very special place to be.

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