TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Coffin Stone Above Dartmeet, just south of the B3357, this split stone was a resting place for those that were tasked with carrying coffins over the moor for burial in Widecombe. On each face there are several crosses and initials cut, although only a few are visible today.  Sabine Baring-Gould regales a tale of the stone in "A Book of Dartmoor"; "The descent to Dartmeet by the road is one of over five hundred feet. Halfway is the Coffin-stone, on which five crosses are cut, and which is split in half-the story goes by lightning. On this it is customary to rest a dead man on his way from the moor beyond Dartmeet to his final resting-place at Widdecombe. When the coffin is laid on this stone, custom exacts the production of the whisky bottle, and a libation all round to the manes of the deceased."  "One day a man of very evil life, a terror to his neighbours, was being carried to his burial, and his corpse was laid on the stone whilst the bearers regaled themselves. All at once, out of a passing cloud shot a flash, and tore the coffin and the dead man to pieces, consuming them to cinders, and splitting the stone. Do you doubt the tale? See the stone cleft by the flash." 
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