Obverse:

Bowerman's Nose - Dartmoor

Publisher:

Judges Ltd. Hastings

MNM#01-01316

A 21-foot granite tor, or stack of weathered rock on the slope of a grassy hill. The poet Noel Thomas Carrington mentions the rock in his 1826 book of poems about Dartmoor, with the erroneous romantic presumption that it was once venerated as an idol:

"On the very edge
Of the vast moorland, startling every eye,
A shape enormous rises! High it towers
Above the hill's bold brow, and seen from far,
Assumes the human form; a granite god, –
To whom in days long flown, the suppliant knee
In trembling homage bowed. The hamlets near
Have legends rude connected with the spot,
(Wild swept by every wind) on which he stands
The giant of the Moor!"

Other local folk tales claim the formation represents a hunter named Bowerman who was turned to stone by a coven of witches for disturbing their sabbath. The part of the formation which is the "nose" can be imagined in various ways: Some writers describe the top of the rock as a cap pulled down over a forehead, making the top protrusion the cap's bill and the lower triangular rock below the "nose".

N 50° 36.616', W 3° 46.846'