- Janine Moore
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
By Frank E Earp
Nottingham
22nd June 2026
The folklore of Britain is full of stories of the Devil, like some petulant child, throwing stones. His intended target is usually a Christian edifice. In most cases, these satanic missiles miss their target and land - with varying degrees of accuracy - harmlessly in the landscape. Here, they remain, proudly shown by generations of locals as evidence of victory over the Devil.
Reasons for the Devil’s attack vary, but most common are his indignation at the building of a new church or that he is offended by the sound of the church bells. One of the reasons why church bells are rung, - other than to summon parishioners to service is to ward off evil spirits.
It is widely accepted by folklorists that such stories derive from the conflict between the early Christian Church and the native pagan religion it supplanted. Before the advent of the science of geology, these legends also served to explain the presence of such stones within the landscape.
The diabolic missiles generally fall into three categories: natural rock outcrops of local stone, - ‘glacial erratics', non-native stones deposited by retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago - and ‘worked stones’ such as the remains of an ancient cross or a prehistoric monolith.
Author Frank Earp at the Hemlock Stone in 2013. Photograph Credit: Joseph Earp.
A number of counties have their examples of a diabolical missile, but Nottinghamshire is unique in possessing three. Chief of these is the Hemlock Stone at Bramcote which falls into the first category. The other examples, at Hickling and Kinoulton are both glacial erratics.
The Hemlock Stone Legend
Our story starts not with the Stone or the intended target, but with the Devil in Castleton, Derbyshire. Castleton takes its name from the Norman Castle, standing high on a hill above the town. At the foot of this hill is a natural limestone cave known as ‘The Devil’s Arse’, because of the strange gurgling sounds that emanate from it after heavy rain. When this water flows from the cave, it is said to be the Devil urinating.
One fine summer evening - before the castle existed - the Devil emerged from the underworld via the cave, to take a stroll in the balmy evening air. He soon found himself at the top of the hill and here, he lay down to enjoy the cooling breeze. Free from the cares of Hell, he drifted off into a deep sleep.
Thirty miles to the south - at Lenton Priory near Nottingham - a venerable old monk could not sleep. Sensing that the Devil was abroad, he paced his tiny cell, wondering what he should do. Should he ring the chapel bell to alert his brother monks and the Father Abbot? Would they believe him? With a heavy heart he sank to his knees in prayer, asking for God’s guidance. Such was the piety of the monk, the power of his praying ran through the ground like an electric current. It travelled in an instant to where the Devil lay and, like a bolt of lightning, entered his body through his cloven hooves.
The Devil awoke in a powerful rage and jumped to his feet. Seizing an enormous rock, he threw it with all his might in the direction from which the current had come. The stone whistled through the air and came to rest on a hillside at Bramcote to the west of the Priory. The Devil had missed his target by over 4 miles.
It is said that from the moment the stone landed, the Devil has never slept and that the old monk fell into a deep sleep, never to awake.
Putting an accurate date and origin on folk legends of this kind is usually difficult if not impossible. However, the Hemlock Stone story may well be an exception. The authorship of the legend can be attributed to a monk of Lenton Priory, and the date can therefore be no earlier than 1102-1108 - the date of the founding of the Priory.
The Hemlock Stone, a massive natural pillar of local sandstone, stood on the side of Stapleford Hill in Bramcote for tens of thousands of years before the Priory. Over that time, it had become the centre of pagan superstition and worship. The annual lighting of a bonfire on the top of the stone on May Day, the pagan Beltane, continued well into the 17th century.
The stone was on or close to regularly used routes between Lenton and two other monastic sites - Beauvale Priory and Dale (Abbey) Priory - and monks from all three establishments would have been familiar with the stone. We can imagine that monks would cross themselves or avert their eyes whenever they passed what to them was an obvious pagan and frightening object. As the biggest Christian influence in the area at this time, the authorities at Lenton, would have needed to neutralise the pagan influences of the Hemlock Stone both on the monks and the local population. I believe that they achieved this in a tried and trusted way, by involving the stone in a story which demonstrated the power of the Christian Church over the old, the Devil.
Frank Earp’s Illustration of the Hickling Legend.
The author of the tale displays a clear knowledge of all of the sites involved. The intended target of the Devil’s missile, the old monk, has his dwelling at the Priory and clearly stands for the power of the Church. Lenton Priory - for which there is evidence that it sits on a pre-Christian site - was founded by William Peverel. The site, from which the stone was thrown - the hill at Castleton in Derbyshire - appears not to have been randomly chosen. Not only does it have a legend of an entrance to the underworld, but the castle on the hill was also founded by Peverel. Perhaps this is a subtle reference or acknowledgement to Peverel’s lordship and his part in the defeat of Old Nick?
The Hickling Legend
Looking down from his lair on Hickling Standard, the Devil became increasingly angry as he watched the building of the church of St. Luke in the village below. When at last the church was complete, the priest began to ring the newly installed bell. To the Devil, this was the last straw. A plan formed in the Devil’s mind, and for weeks, he avoided his lair on the hill. On the next night of a full moon, clutching a large boulder, he flew towards the church, intending to drop the stone on the church tower and destroy the offending bell.
St. Peter, in Heaven, looked down on these events and decided that he must intervene. When the Devil was halfway between the church and Hickling Standard, he reached down and pulled the clouds over the face of the moon. Undeterred, the Devil flew on more determined than ever to destroy the bell. St. Peter waited until the Devil was close to his target and again reached down into the clouds. This time, he pulled the clouds apart, and the light of the moon shone straight into the devil's eyes. With a scream that could be heard for miles, the Devil put his hands up to shield his eyes. In doing so, he lost his grip on the stone and down it fell. Thwarted, he flew off into the night. Never again did he dare to return to Hickling Standard or to trouble the good Christians of the village.
Frank at the Hickling Stone
The village of Hickling lies in the beautiful Vale of Belvoir, around 3 miles north-west of the A606 Melton Road. The road into the village - Bridegate Lane, descends from the A606 past the hill known as Hickling Standard - a favourite haunt of the Devil. On the right-hand side of the crossroads between the Lane and Main Street is a curious boulder said to be evidence of the Devil’s presence. This wedge-shaped stone - around 2ft tall, 3ft wide and 4ft long - is in fact a glacial erratic. In 1848, a Methodist Chapel was built by the crossroads, but the stone was deliberately excluded from the churchyard. To this day, it lies only inches from the enclosing wall.
The Kinoulton Legend
Perched on the hill where Lincoln Cathedral now stands, the Devil watched in alarm at the building of Kinoulton Church. As day by day another course of stone was laid his anger grew. Finally, he could stand no more and he seized a large stone and with all his might threw it at the building. The stone missed its target by a matter of yards and landed on the north side – the Devil's quarter - of the churchyard. The failed sabotage did not deter the builders and church was completed. The Devil never again tried to demolish it.
The parish church of St. Wilfrid, Kinoulton, was built on a hill to the west, well outside the village. Churches built in such inconvenient places usually indicate that they were built on a pre-existing pagan site. The hill in question, overlooks the village to the east and the Roman Road the ‘Fosse Way’ to the west. On the southern slope of the hill, close to the modern road, maps indicate the presence of a ‘spa’ or healing spring. On the north side – the Devil's quarter - of the churchyard was a large stone, - probably a glacial erratic. Given all of these factors, it is reasonable to suspect that the site of the church was a pagan shrine or sanctuary, - possible the stone itself.
Hickling Stone
St. Wilfred’s Church was considered to be too remote from the village,, and by the late 1700’s it had fallen into ruin. The roof was removed, and it was finally demolished in 1792, shortly after the new red-brick church was built in the village. The Devil's missile was broken up and used for road mending.
Frank E Earp
1951 - 2025
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Re-published by Janine Moore, deputy editor, and Marysia Zipser, Founder & ACT Ambassador, Beeston, Nottingham. https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/ https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/blog
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