Bowermans Nose

Chris fastidiously collected Observer Books, clearly Observer Book no 10, Geology, got up Ronnie's nose!

Observer Book No 10 Geology

Observer Book No 10, Geology and all other editions after pictured a very distinctive rock formation, almost sculpture like, of Bowerman’s Nose on Dartmoor.  The description of the sculpture like formation on Jacket 4 states “Granite Tors:  “The Old Man of the Moor”, Bowerman’s Nose, near Manaton, Devon.”  Completely omitting that it is one of the famous tors of Dartmoor.

Bowerman’s Nose is more than just a granite tor, having attracted several myths and legends from centuries ago.  Bowerman’s Nose can be found on Hayne Down and is almost equidistant between two marked hut circles and not too far from Hound Tor with its cairn circle and cist and a site of a medieval village.

In the past it has been linked to the Druids holding ceremonies around it and the most famous story involves a witches coven.  The story tells of a huntsman or bowman, or as he is more often described, a moorman, John Bowerman, who was out hunting with his pack of dogs when he and his dogs disturbed a coven of witches conducting a ceremony, overturning their cauldron and disrupting their activities.  The next time he was out hunting one of the witches turned herself into a hare and then led Bowerman and his dogs into a bog.  She then turned them into stone, the dogs can be seen as a chain of rocks on Hound Tor not far away and Bowerman into the stone formation we see today.

Interestingly a John Bowerman lived in the area in the mid  17th century and is said to have been buried in North Bovey in 1663.  Many of the versions of this story say it happened in the 11th Century.

Written by Ronnie in 2020