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Spinster's Rock
Spinster's Rock is a Neolithic dolmen made up of three stone slabs supporting a capstone, originally covered with earth and used for multiple burials. Its name comes from the legend that three spinsters raised it one morning before breakfast. I bet they had their Weetabix. Spinsters in this case though could have meant people who spun cloth.
This monument fell over and had to be rebuilt in the 19th century; it is now a lot shorter than it was originally, due to the uprights being sunk deeper into the ground.
The Coffin Stone
As funeral processions wound their weary way across the moor to the nearest church the coffin would often be placed on rocks while the pallbearers rested.
One stone near Dartmeet had a coffin of a particularly evil person placed on it and suddenly a bolt of lightning struck it, cremating both coffin and body and splitting the stone in two.
Hangman's Stone
On the road between Exeter and Lyme Regis is a turning known as Hangman's Stone because of an event that happened over 200 years ago. A sheep thief named Norman had stolen a sheep and was on his way home. He was carrying the sheep on his back, with the animals legs secured by a strong cord which went around his own chest. Feeling tired from climbing up the steep hill he decided to sit on the boundary stone and rest awhile. As he sat down the sheep began to struggle and the cord around his chest slipped upwards to his neck and caught him round the throat. He fell backwards and the frantic movements of the frightened sheep caused the cord to tighten. Norman was found in the morning, lying dead by the stone, strangled by his ill-gotten gains. His body is reputed to have been buried in a nearby field that is still known as Norman's Grave.
Bowerman's Nose
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This formation is named after a bowman (archer) who lived near Manaton. He was also a fervent hunter and one day, with his pack of hounds was in hot pursuit of a hare when he disturbed a coven of witches in the middle of casting their magical spells. Furious the witches decided to punish him so the next time he went hunting one of the witches turned herself into a hare. The creature led him such an exhausting chase that he eventually fell from his horse into a bog. Before he completely disappeared the witch turned him to stone. The same fate befell his hounds and they became Hound Tor. |
