Blowing Stone Hill, where 19th-century antiquarians thought King Alfred the Great's Saxon troops had camped, and that this was how Alfred summoned them for the Battle of Ashdown against the Danes in AD 871. Thomas Hughes' novel "Tom Brown's School Days" refers to it as the "Blawing Stwun" and calls the village "Kingstone Lisle". It is also one of the "sacred stones" mentioned in William Horwood's "Duncton Wood", the first book in his fantasy fiction series about a group of moles. Blowing Stone The Blowing Stone is a perforated sarsen at in Kingston Lisle, Oxfordshire (Berkshire until 1974). The stone is in
Battle of Khotyn (1673) Battle of Khotyn (1673) The Battle of Khotyn or Battle of Chocim or Hotin War was a battle held on 11 November 1673, where Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under hetman John Sobieski defeated Ottoman Empire forces under Hussain Pasha. It reversed the fortunes of the previous year, when Commonwealth weakness led to the signing of the Treaty of Buchach, and allowed John Sobieski to win the upcoming royal election and become the king of Poland. Polish-Lithuanian forces and Wallachian regiments were 30 thousand strong. The Turks commanded 35 thousand troops and 120 guns. In this battle rockets of Kazimierz Siemienowicz were