The Rufus Stone Monument in the New Forest

An ironclad stone is installed alongside the A31 not far from the small New Forest village of Minstead.

Article 2 includes the statement: "One mile north of the village at Lowee Canterton lies the Rufus Stone, said to mark the place where in 1100 King William II (William Rufus) was killed by an arrow whilst out hunting."

The 3-sided replacement version is situated near an oak tree and was erected in 1841.

It has the following 3 inscriptions (laid out differently to the wording on the Stone itself):

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.

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.

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 Sturges Bourne, Warden.

NB

It appears that evidence from the chronicles point to the hunting accident taking place nearer to Brockenhurst, where there was a hunting lodge.

In particular, there is evidence that the hunting party hunted at Truham/Thorougham near Beaulieu.

Colin Bower
18 August 2024

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