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Devil's Jump Stone

Standing Stone / Menhir

Folklore

Burl mentions the site in his book about stone rows 'From Carnac to Callanish' - a man was playing leapfrog on a Sunday, and the devil turned him into stone by leapfrogging over him. You wouldn't think the devil would care about Sunday leapfrogging.
Whatever, it is very unusual to find a stone row in this part of the country -or even a single stone, in amongst the brussels sprout fields. Burl is quoting Dyer's Penguin book of Prehistoric England and Wales and doesn't mention what clues there are to this having been part of a row, but I'd like to find out some more. Maybe the idea of the row has got more to do with the game and the legend than any archaeological remains? Also, the stone is near Marston Moretaine, which has an unusual church with the tower separate from the rest of the building: this is blamed on the devil too.

see the legend at the 'Mysterious Britain' site at
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/bedfordshire/bedfordshire2.html

The map from 1892 shows the nearby pub called the 'Jumps Inn'.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
6th January 2003ce
Edited 14th July 2010ce

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