This has been our second year leading a storywalk as part of the Dartmoor Outdoor Festival, and these walks are always extremely popular. The focus for our walk this time was witches and the wild hunt, which are recurring folkloric motifs in Dartmoor stories, and we were treated to a suitably atmospheric and misty day to hear these tales told out on the moor. Our group was led by DPA Chairman, John Howell, who planned a route rich in archaeology and spectacle, and our storyteller was Comms Officer and author Helen Bruce.
Beginning from Swallerton Gate carpark, we climbed up to Hound Tor and then wound down through the bracken to the ruins of Hound Tor Medieval Village. At Hound Tor, we stopped to hear the tale of the hare witch of Tavistock, who transformed herself into a hare, and earned a living through her grandson taking money from huntsmen for the information on where a fine hare might be found. This worked well, with the nimble hare disappearing into the gorse and never being caught, until one day a huntsman shot the hare in the thigh and wounded it. The very next day, the old woman, who had long been whispered to be a witch, was found injured with a bullet wound in exactly the same place! We let the group choose if she would get a stiff telling off, or be burned at the stake, and they chose for her to be burned.
John told us that Hound Tor, on Houndtor Down, is unenclosed and freely open to the public, but it’s owned by three families and is not common land. Hound Tor is an ‘avenue tor’, where the central portion has been eroded to leave a wide avenue running between the remaining piles, and other examples of this include: Bellever Tor, Haytor, Rippon Tor and Pew Tor.
From the ruined village we walked to the nearby spectacular ring cairn, where we heard the tale of the Dark Huntsman. One of Dartmoor’s darkest pieces of folklore, it captures a blending of older pagan figures and the Christian notion of the Devil, turning a force which one collected lost souls into one which hunts unbaptised babies. It may have served as a warning for remote farming communities to baptise their children as soon as possible, despite a long walk across difficult terrain to the nearest church.
The ring cairn below Hound Tor is on a ridge overlooking the valley of the East Webburn River and made up of at least 19 granite stones with the remains of a stone cist in the centre. The cist is likely to have been robbed in the past and the cap stone is missing, but both end stones and the western side stone remain, marking out a box still large enough for a child to curl up inside. Ring cairns are found mainly in upland areas of England and are mostly discovered and authenticated by ground level fieldwork and survey, although a few are large enough to be visible on aerial photographs. They often occur in pairs or small groups of up to four examples. John explained that ring cairns are interpreted as ritual monuments of the Early and Middle Bronze Age, with excavation revealing pits containing either buried or cremated remains, with the preference on Dartmoor seeming to be cremation.
Leaving the ring cairn behind, we descended the hill and passed Swallerton Gate Cottage, formerly the Hound Tor Inn, until 1840, and before that the Green Dragon Inn. The metal bracket that once held a swinging pub sign is still clearly visible and, built into the wall of the cottage garden, is the head of an ancient cross. John told us that it was going to be used in the hardcore for the floor of the extension but Harry Starkey, a well known Dartmoor guide, pointed out that it was in fact Medieval and should be preserved.
From here we walked up to Bowerman’s Nose, a striking granite stack with human features and the official logo of the Dartmoor Preservation Association, first appearing on the October 1966 newsletter. We heard the tale of Bowerman, who was a dedicated hunter who provoked the wrath of a coven of witches. After riding straight through their gathering, and not apologising, the sisters vowed to have revenge upon him. To do this, one of them transformed into a hare and led Bowerman on a merry chase until he was led back to where the rest of the coven was waiting to cast a curse upon him. He was turned to stone on the spot, and his faithful hounds succumbed to the spell a short way away, becoming the rocks of Hound Tor.
We had a fantastic group of listeners for this storywalk and we’re very pleased to be able to offer opportunities like this to connect with Dartmoor and learn more about the rich tapestry of myth and history that help give the moor such an enduring appeal. There are many more free walks and events, open to both members and non members, listed on our website.
Images: John Howell