Crazywell Pool
Crazywell Pool or Crazy Well Pool[1] is a large pond, a little under an acre in extent, on Dartmoor in Devon. The pool is to be found about two miles south of Princetown just off the path between Burrator and Whiteworks, on the western side of the moor.
The pool is about 100 yards long and has a surface area of just under an acre. Local legend has it that Crazywell Pool is bottomless; geographers, with an annoying habit of rationality, say it is 16 feet deep.
The pool is thought to be the result of excavations by tin miners,[2] and is either a flooded mine shaft, or a reservoir. The presence of tin workings downhill from the pool supports this view. The valley (of Newleycombe Lake) has been extensively worked with many mining remains along its short length.
The level of the pool never varies much from its mean—it is maintained by a hidden spring and by subterranean drainage at its lower end.[2]
Near to the pool is Crazywell Cross, one of the line of crosses that marked the ancient track between Buckfast Abbey and Tavistock Abbey.
In 1998, Nathaniel Burton, a sixteen-year-old recruit in the Royal Marines died in Crazywell Pool. He was taking part in a routine training exercise and drowned while crossing the icy waters of the pool.[3][4]
Contents
Legends
There are no natural lakes on Dartmoor, which may be one reason why Crazywell Pool has attracted more than its share of local legends. It was once believed to be bottomless, and according to local legend the parishioners of Walkhampton (or Sheepstor) brought up the bell ropes from the parish church to test its depth. Even after tying the ropes together—a total length of over 500 feet[5]—and weighting the end, it was claimed they were still unable to reach the bottom.[6] This legend was disproved in the dry summer of 1844 when the pool was almost completely pumped out by the Plymouth Dock Water Company to supplement the water supply of Devonport Leat which runs along the hillside not far above the pool.[7] The reality is that the pool is about 16 feet deep at the western end and considerably less at the eastern end.
Crazywell Pool is the subject of other Dartmoor superstitions. The water level was said to rise and fall with the tides at sea,[6] and it was claimed that at dusk the waters call out the name of the next parishioner to die and that their face can be seen in the surface of the pool at midnight on Midsummer's Eve.[5]
The pool was also said to be haunted during the Middle Ages by the Witch of Sheepstor, who gave bad advice to her supplicants. Legend says she advised Piers Gaveston, Edward II's favourite and who owned the Forest of Dartmoor from 1308; he was hiding on the moor after being banished from the king's court, and the witch told him to return to court, predicting that "his humbled head shall soon be high". It was indeed: he was captured by the king's enemies and beheaded and his head was set up on high battlements.[5][8]
Location
- Location map: 50°31’1"N, 4°0’5"W
- Streetmap: SX582705
Outside links
- 'Moor's weekend of fright delights in Dartmoor': The Express
References
- ↑ Also known as Clazywell, Classenwell or Classiwell Pool, according to Hemery (see below).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eric Hemery (1983). High Dartmoor. London: Robert Hale. pp. 136–137. ISBN 0-7091-8859-5.
- ↑ Pharo, Chris (16 October 1998). "Marine lad of 16 dies in tragedy on moor". The Sun: pp. 9. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0F934A91D786C39C&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=5.. (Subscription required for online access)
- ↑ Woodward, Tim (31 March 1999). "Marines are not to blame for death of my son, says mother". The Daily Mail. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0F26DA19981717F1&p_docnum=7&p_queryname=8.. (Subscription required for online access)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sandles, Tim. "Crazywell Pool". www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk. http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/crazy_well.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Crossing, William (1976) [1912]. Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 99. ISBN 0-7153-4034-4.
- ↑ Hawkings, David J. (1987). Water from the Moor. Devon Books. p. 58. ISBN 0-86114-788-X.
- ↑ "Crazywell Cross". Dartmoor's Crosses. http://www.dartmoor-crosses.org.uk/crazywell.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
