Crazywell Pool

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Crazywell, Classenwell, Classiwell, Clazywell or Claeywell Pool, call it what you wish, lies below Cramber tor, its dark waters are said to be bottomless. During one of his banishments from the royal court, Piers Gaveston is said to have hidden himself here until which time it was safe to return. His purpose for the visit was to consult the 'oracle of the pool' about his future, another version was that he consulted the 'Witch of Sheepstor who predicted that "his humbled head shall soon be high."  The pool holds a place in the folklore of the area for being dark and bottomless. It is said that the villagers from nearby Walkhampton (or Sheepstor depending on which version) decided to find out exactly how deep the waters were and so they took all the bellropes from the church, tied them together and lowered them into the middle. It was estimated that the ropes sank to between 80 - 90 fathoms (540ft) and still didn't find the bottom. People also talk about how the depth of the pool rises and falls with the tide at Plymouth.

At certain times of the darkest nights an eerie voice foretells who the next Walkhampton parishioner to die will be. Similarly, on Midsummer's Eve anybody who gazes into the waters will see a likeness of the next parishioner to die.

There is a fairly modern tale of how one night somebody was relating the legend of the pool in a local inn. Two young lads heard the story and laughed into their beers. A challenge was laid down that on the next Midsummer's Eve they would not dare to go to the pool. This bet was accepted and the boys duely went up to the pool on that fateful night. As it was quite a hike they decided to drive up on a motor cycle. Nobody knows what they saw or heard because on the way home the bike sped of the road and killed them both.

The pool was also used for military training purposes and several years ago a young marine tragically drowned there whilst on an exercise.

Crazywell Pool - P. Cann 2002.

The pool still sits below Cramber tor with its dark menacing waters. Although for many years the myth of it being bottomless has been dispelled. Page, 1895, p.150 writes how in the particularly dry summer of 1844, water was pumped from the pool into the nearby Devonport Leat. The resulting drop in depth revealed that the waters were only about 15ft (4.5m) deep. The pool lies at the top of a mining gert which indicates that it was not a natural feature but like so many of Dartmoor's pools, it is the flooded result of mining activities.

Crossing, 1987, p.86 tells of how the tale of Gaveston can be attributed to the Reverend John Johns who in the early 1800's wrote a poem entitled 'Gaveston on Dartmoor':

"Where lags the witch? she willed me wait

Beside this mere at daybreak hour,

When mingling in the distance safe

The forms of cloud and tor.

She comes not yet; tis a wild place -

The turf is dank, the air is cold;

Sweeter I ween on kingly dais,

To kiss the circling gold;

Sweeter in courtly dance to tell

Love tales in lovely ears;

Or hear, high placed in knightly selle,

The crash of knightly spears.

What would they say, who knew me then,

Teacher of the gay school,

To see me guest of savage men

Beside this Dartmoor Pool."

The witch doesn't appear but as Gaveston looks at his reflection it turns to that of the old crone. A rush in the pool then starts to write on the waters surface:

"Fear not, thou favourite of the king,

That humbled head shall soon be high."

Taking this to mean it would be safe he returned to court but eventually found himself infront of the executioner, the poem ends:

"Beside the block his thoughts recall

That scene of mountain sorcery -

Too late for high on Warwick wall

In one brief hour his head will be."

Bibliography.

Crossing, W. 1987, The Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor, Devon Books, Exeter.

Page, J. Ll. W. 1844 An Exploration of Dartmoor, Seeley & Co, London.