concerning stone maidens
The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our
wits to grow sharper - Eden Phillpotts.
Walk out of Belstone village on the western side, go through the gate
and out on to the moor, then make your way towards Belstone Tor. Near
the base of the Tor you will see a stone circle or cairn erected to
surround a round burial barrow from the Bronze Age, or kistvaen, as
they are named on Dartmoor. On the Ordnance Survey Map the stone
circle appears as Nine Stones, but it is more widely known as The
Nine Maidens.
A nineteenth century rambler, Samuel Rowe, gives this brief
description of the Nine Stones in "A Perambulation of the Ancient and
Royal Forest of Dartmoor and the Venville Precincts" dated 1848. His
chosen approach to Belstone Tor was from the East Okement valley to
the west:
... we shall mount the steep ascent towards Belstone Tor, and within
a quarter of a mile, on its western slope, we shall observe the
circle called in the neighbourhood Nine Stones, but which in reality
consists of seventeen stones, erect, the highest of which is not more
than two feet and a half from the ground.
Present day stone counters reckon there to be just sixteen stones,
though The Book of Belstone ups the tally to 20 if we include 'small
stones and five toppled or insecure temporary ones'. Issue 61 of
Notes and Queries published in 1850 reminds us of the propensity of
the stones to dance, according to legend.
The stone circles on Dartmoor, are said to have been made "when there
were wolves on the hills, and winged serpents in the low lands." On
the side of Belstone Tor, near Oakhampton, is a small grave circle
called "Nine Stones." It is said to dance every day at noon.
In The Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor by Ruth St Leger-Gordon,
the author quotes this poem from the Book of Avis trilogy by Eden
Phillpotts as supposedly inspired by this stone circle:
And now at every Hunter's Moon
That haggard cirque of stones so still
Awakens to immortal thrill
And seven small maidens in silver shoon
Twixt dark of night and white of day
Twinkle upon the sere old heath
Like living blossoms in a wreath
Then shrink again to granite grey.
So blue-eyed Dian shall ever dance
With Linnette, Bethkin, Jennifer,
Arisa, Petronell and Nance.
Hunter's Moon is usually the full moon in October, this being the
full moon after the Harvest Moon. In the poem Eden has taken a
generous poet's licence to transform the legend by changing the
dancing frequency from once a day to once a year, dropping a couple
of stones, and moving the dancing time from day to night. Perhaps, as
St. Leger-Gordon speculates, Eden's musings were based on his
recollections of a different stone circle?
It is time to pose a question. What is it that makes the number of
stones in a cairn total nine, regardless of the actual number?
The answer can be found in Ruth St Leger-Gordon's book, where the
mythological basis is given for the many examples in the UK of stone
circles associated with the dancing legend that are called Nine
Maidens, regardless of the actual number of stones in the circle.
The delightful
Legendary Dartmoor site has a good outline of this topic.
One well-known instance is the Nine Stones of Boskednan (aka Nine
Maidens) in the Penwith District of Cornwall where it is said there
are 22 stones in all, of which 11 are now standing upright following
a facelift in 2004. No such permanent
'restoration' work has been carried out at Belstone Tor, which may be
because local superstition cautions that disturbing the stones will
curse the perpetrator with grave misfortune. This prophesy seems to
have been fulfilled in 1985 when a local film crew added an extra
stone while shooting a mystery called The Circle of Doom. It is said
that the only copy of the film was subsequently lost in the post.
bibliography
The Book of Belstone by Chris and Marion Walpole, private
publication, 2002.
Mysteries and Folklore of Dartmoor by Ruth St. Leger-Gordon, Robert
Hale 1965; reprinted Peninsula Press, 1994.
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