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One version of the local legend relates that a huntsman called
Bowerman lived on the moor about a thousand years ago. When chasing a hare he and his pack of dogs unwittingly ran into a coven of witches, overturned their cauldron and disrupted their ceremony. They decided to punish him, and the next
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With a little imagination, it is possible to see the profile of a human face in the rocky outline, but as John Page said in 1889: "If his nose bore any resemblance to the topmost layer of the pile, it cannot have boasted much comeliness." Other writers have seen the topmost layer as a cap, for
143:, saying that "it is easy to conceive that might have been pointed out to an ignorant and deluded people as the object of worship". He also said that from the higher ground to the south, its appearance was of a "Hindoo idol, in a sitting posture".
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that it was "nearly forty feet", but discounted the "rock idol" tradition. John
Chudleigh wrote in 1892 that from Manaton it looked like a Turk with a fez cap and mantle wrapped closely around his body. By 1907 it was still being described in
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time he was hunting, one of the witches turned herself into a hare, and led both
Bowerman and his hounds into a mire. As a final punishment, she turned them to stone - the dogs can be seen as a jagged chain of rocks on top of
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In his contemporary notes to
Carrington's poem, W. Burt stated that the rocks rise to more than 30 feet, and he also mentioned that it was generally considered as a rock idol, dismissing those who doubted that
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instance Ruth St. Leger-Gordon wrote in 1965: "With grey cap pushed well back from a face consisting mainly of the parrot-like feature which gives him his name...".
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Not only is
Bowerman's Nose a spectacular rock formation, which appears on many local postcards and calendars, but it is also the subject of Dartmoor
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The height of the stack was exaggerated by early writers, and it was also regularly described as an ancient object of veneration. For example,
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Another derivation, noted by Burt, was that
Bowerman was a hunter (a "bow-man") who lived in the nearby village of
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at the time of
William the Conqueror. However, Eric Hemery noted that a John Bowerman was buried at
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described it in around 1800 as fifty feet high, and in the 1820s
Carrington wrote of it:
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76:. It is about 21.5 feet (6.6 m) high and is the hard granite core of a former
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in 1848 reckoned it was rather less than forty feet tall and likened it to the
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register of 1772, so it is possible that the name is of no great antiquity.
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420:(Reprint of 2nd ed.). Tunbridge Wells: John Pegg. p. 8.
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445:(Reprint ed.). Newton Abbot: Peninsula Press. p. 78.
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who pointed out that the correct Celtic form would have been
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493:(4th ed.). Tunbridge Wells: John Pegg. pp. 21–2.
405:(4th ed.). London: Seeley and Co. Ltd. p. 220.
387:(2nd ed.). London: John Murray. pp. 87, 201–2.
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Various tellings of the legend exist. See for example:
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Stack of weathered granite on
Dartmoor, Devon, England
357:(Reprint of 2nd ed.). Devon Books. p. 140.
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Red Guide to
Dartmoor as "forty or fifty feet" tall.
294:. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. pp. 50–51.
292:Geology Explained: Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley
113:(Wild swept by every wind,) on which he stands—
107:To whom, in days long flown, the suppliant knee
103:Above the hill's bold brow, and, seen from far,
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474:. Exeter: Obelisk Publications. pp. 5–6.
403:An Exploration of Dartmoor and its Antiquities
418:An Exploration of Dartmoor's Antiquities 1892
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206:in 1663 and that the name also appears in a
166:The stack as seen from the top of Hayne Down
109:In trembling homage bow'd. The hamlets near
111:Have legends rude connected with the spot,
99:Of the vast moorland, startling every eye,
326:. London: Robert Hale. pp. 729–730.
443:The Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor
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105:Assumes the human form;—a Granite God!—
101:A shape enormous rises! High it towers
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33:A not very accurate depiction from
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353:(1985) . J. Brooking Rowe (ed.).
175:It used to be held that the name
470:Barber, Sally and Chips (1988).
401:Page, John Lloyd Warden (1895).
146:By 1889, John Page wrote in his
135:were associated with the moor.
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385:Dartmoor: A Descriptive Poem
179:was derived from the Celtic
123:Dartmoor: A Descriptive Poem
63:and close to the village of
472:Dark and Dastardly Dartmoor
355:A Perambulation of Dartmoor
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545:Rock formations of England
383:Carrington, N. T. (1826).
272:List of geographical noses
416:Chudleigh, John (1987) .
141:statues on Easter Island
47:is a stack of weathered
148:Exploration of Dartmoor
115:The Giant of the Moor.
491:After Dark on Dartmoor
290:Perkins, John (1972).
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322:Hemery, Eric (1983).
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512:. Legendary Dartmoor
251:50.61061°N 3.77932°W
489:Pegg, John (1987).
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256:50.61061; -3.77932
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121:N. T. Carrington,
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38:A Book of Dartmoor
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510:"Bowerman's Nose"
185:R. Hansford Worth
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351:Rowe, Samuel
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84:Descriptions
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204:North Bovey
153:Ward Lock's
137:Samuel Rowe
534:Categories
278:References
239:50°36′38″N
208:Dean Prior
242:3°46′46″W
228:Hound Tor
189:maen fawr
181:fawr maen
61:Hound Tor
540:Dartmoor
266:See also
220:folklore
200:Houndtor
193:Bowerman
177:Bowerman
171:Toponymy
119:—
73:SX742805
53:Dartmoor
65:Manaton
49:granite
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214:Legend
133:druids
40:(1907)
57:Devon
518:2012
495:ISBN
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447:ISBN
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