The Three Spinsters Stone

The name drives from the local  legend of three spinsters living nearby, not spinsters 

as we know the term but 'spinsters' in the woollen sense...wool spinners. 

The tale goes that one morning the three women set out to take their baskets of spun 

wool to the local wool trader and stopped for a rest in the lane bordering 

the 'Three Stones' field. 

For some reason they decided to re-erect the three granite slabs then replace 

the huge capstone on top, hence the name Spinsters Rock!

Although in 1848 Samuel Rowe suggested the theory that the Three Spinsters is a link 

with the three Fatal Sisters, Urd, Verdani and Skuld of Norse Mythology  who lived 

at the base of Yggdrasil, The World Tree. 

They were said to weave the destiny of the world and would visit any newborn to 

determine its destiny.

The Spinsters Rock is a Neolithic chambered tomb, kown as a Dolmen or Cromlech, found on Dartmoor near Drewsteighton and  is the best surviving example in the county.

The word Dolmen is derived from the Celtic words daul, a table, and maen, a stone.

Originally covered by a mound of earth or stones. The capstone alone wighs 16 tons and is 3.65m long by 2.7 wide.

The tomb collapsed in 1862 after the surrounding field was ploughed during a very wet season prior to planting a crop of winter wheat, yes they had bad weather then as well! In fact the summer of 1860 and 1862 was recorded as being  the wettest and coldest across England since their records began.

There is divided opinion who was responsible for its restoration either local Vicar Rev W. Ponsford or a Mrs Bragg of Fulford.

We visited this site a few weeks ago , it quite an impressive Dolmen and the picture does not do it justice. It was being guarded by three malevolent sheep and later that night a fierce storm blew up, the wind howled and shrieked and I could hear 'fell voices on the wind' so I think we might have disturbed the three spinsters in some way!

The Doll-Elizabeth Andrews- Review

The Doll is the fourth in the Psychic Sisters series - Queenie and Sybil, the tea guzzling sisters who also happen to be witches.

Queenie has her peaceful Sunday afternoon interrupted by the arrival of the 

local Vicar, Paul Goodfellow. 

He has recently come into possession of a strange doll, the previous owner, a young women committed suicide in a most horrific way and her mother is convinced that the

 doll was in some part responsible. 

She begs the Vicar to perform an exorcism on the doll before leaving it with him. 

Paul, although he is very sceptical, agrees to take the doll. But the doll begins to 

affect his three young daughters and following the advice of one of his parishioners 

he decides to consult the local witch...Queenie.

What she finds worries her enormously; it is no ordinary doll, it has a killing 

curse attached to it. 

One that was never completed.

When the original owner of the doll, a powerful witch forces her way into 

Queenie's house in search of the doll so that she can complete the curse and wreak 

vengeance of the intended victim, Queenie realises that she is facing the 

most formidable adversary that she has ever met.

Although she has the help of her sister, Sybil and Paul to thwart the witch, her coven 

and the Hell Hounds that she sets against them Queenie has to dig deep and

 summon up all her knowledge of the occult to defeat this evil women.

Seventh Son. Joseph Delaney: Review

Just thought I would do a quick review of this book. I found a copy in the WHSmith discount store and thought I would give it a go as I had enjoyed the movie.

"This volume includes Book 1, Revenge of the Witch, and Book 2, Curse of the Bane, of the Last Apprentice series. Only the Spook has the knowledge and skill to face ghosts, bind witches, and bargain with boggarts. Now he needs an apprentice--Tom Ward, who is the seventh son of a seventh son. Other apprentices have come before. All have failed, or fled, or died. Will Tom learn what they could not? Can he trust anyone, even his one true love? He will find out--and soon, for the dark is getting powerful, and the Spook's time has come. Will Tom survive to carry on his master's battle? Will he be the Last Apprentice?"

It is very different from the film, the characters are the same but the story line has been changed drastically. I don't know they would have basically rewritten the book for the film as the novel is excellent...in fact the plot is better than in the film.
The characters are more rounded, you learn more about the history of the Spook, Alice and especially Tom Ward's mother as it explains where her powers come from and why she married Tom's father.
I'm just wondering if they will be keeping Alice around in the future  books as she seems to know a lot about magic, black or otherwise and I think they could use her help!
Just about to order the next in the series, so hopefully this will keep me going for a few weeks.
Apparently it is a book for young adults but hey who cares I'm young at heart!

Queenies Beresford's

Book of 

very useful 

Spells

Queenie is about to write her own useful spell book, nagged by her sister Sybil 

who thinks she should do it before Queenie gets too old. 

This will include spells to defeat dark souls, different recipes for tea ..of course, and 

anything  else Queenie thinks might be interesting and useful for witches  and mortals.

Hopefully she will be able to concentrate long enough to get it finished sometime soon...other adventures permitting!