"The King's Men is a stone circle 33 metres (108 ft) in diameter, currently composed of seventy-seven closely spaced stones. It was constructed at some point in history.
After undertaking limited excavation at the circle in the 1980s, Lambrick concluded that when it had been originally erected, it would have been a "more perfect circle" than it is today. He thought that each of the stones would have touched one another, creating a continuous barrier all the way around. He also speculated that the monument's builders intentionally placed the smoother sides of the boulders to face inwards. The outer facing sides are predominantly rougher in texture.
Resistivity and magnetometry surveys undertaken during the 1980s revealed four magnetic anomalies within the centre of the circle, possibly representing "pits related in some way to local ground surface undulations and the presence of localised burning." Lambrick noted that similar features could be found within the stone circles of Mayburgh, Stenness and Balbirnie. He said that it was a possible original prehistoric feature, although accepted it may equally have been the result of refuse deposited in the Romano-British period, or tree-planting holes.
Meanwhile, archaeological excavation revealed that there was "no indication" of there having been "a substantial ditch" either inside or outside the bank on which the stones were positioned.
Making an estimate of the time and manpower required for this project, Lambrick concluded that each of the King's Men could have been constructed by a team of ten or twenty (depending on the size of the stone) in about two-and-a-half hours. He noted, however, that the time could have been reduced if the workers had been divided into two groups for some of the smaller stones. Concluding his examination of this issue, he argued that "83 journeys by the whole team would have been required, giving an actual construction time of c 137 hours, or 3735 manhours." Adding to this "210 manhours" for digging the post holes for the boulders, as well as "40 manhours for cutting timber and making the shear-legs and sledges", and "another 40 for fetching and trimming the timbers", Lambrick concluded that a total of around "4035 manhours" would have gone into the construction of the stone circle. This would have been about three weeks' work for around twenty workers.
Since the late 19th century, the monument has been in part a reconstruction. In 1882, the owner of the site re-erected around a third of the stones that had previously fallen. Some were moved from their original positions. Using documentary evidence and lichen growth analysis, archaeologists have established that around that time, several new stones were added to the circle in order to fill in gaps where the original stone had been lost or destroyed. Lambrick doubted that more than two of those currently standing were modern additions. Four of the other, smaller additions were stolen by vandals in the 20th century."
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"This ceremonial stone circle was erected around 2,500BC. At present there are seventy-odd stones of heavily weathered local oolitic limestone set in a rather irregular ring about 31m across. They were poetically described by William Stukeley as being “corroded like worm eaten wood, by the harsh Jaws of Time”; they were said to make “a very noble, rustic, sight, and strike an odd terror upon the spectators, and admiration at the design of ‘em”. More recently, Aubrey Burl called them “seventy-seven stones, stumps and lumps of leprous limestone”.
The number of stones has changed over the years. Legends refer to stones having been taken away (to make bridges and the like), and it is likely that this created most of the gaps now visible. The stones are famously uncountable, but originally may have numbered about 105 standing shoulder to shoulder. At the time the Stones were first protected as an ancient monument (1883) the owner was reported to have “replaced all the fallen stones in their original foundation.” In fact the restoration was far from exact: most of the stones that are known to have been standing in their present positions since the 17th century show that it was originally built as an accurate circle.
The form of the stones -
Two stones immediately outside the ring (one fallen) mark the portalled entrance to the circle opposite the tallest stone. The Stones stand in a very low bank with a wide gap on the same side as the entrance, possibly resulting from the interior being levelled.
This form of design with close-set stones, a portalled entrance and levelled interior is very characteristic of stone circles in the Lake District – such as Long Meg and her Daughters near Penrith, and, even more similar, Castlerigg near Keswick, and Swinside north of Ulverston. There are also a few in eastern Ireland. It is therefore likely that the people who built the King's Men came from one of those areas. When they felt the need to build a stone circle for ceremonial gatherings, they designed it to be in the architectural form that was most familiar to them."
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