Probably the most Romantic, or perhaps Gothic, of Dartmoor legends is the tale of Kitty Jay, the suicide buried by a crossroads near Manaton. Stories vary, naming the maid as variously Ann Jay and Betty Kay. Some later aspects of the tale, such as her being an orphan of the workhouse, echo themes of Thomas Hardy’s novels. See the Wikipedia article for more details.
On Roborough Down, at SX 5078 6905, is a small mound about 6ft long by 3ft wide by about 1ft high. There are many like it across the down and the most convincing interpretation I have is that they are brake-burn mounds, based on concentration of charcoal fragments revealed by animal burrowing. Brake-burning is a variation on swaling where the burned bracken and gorse is raked up for collection and spreading on fields. It was also associated with the mediaeval practice of bringing marginal grazing or waste into arable production for one or two seasons.
(Photograph, scale 1m)
This particular mound is different though in that daffodils emerge in the spring; as this is an open unsheltered location this does stand out. I’ve also noticed that cut flowers are sometimes placed on the mound, the most recent occasion being around Mothering Sunday.
Apologies for the quality of the picture but it’s still possible to see the emerging daffodils and the deposited tulips.
I’ve been wondering what’s going on here. Clearly it’s a place of pilgrimage or commemoration for someone. I don’t think that a group is involved, given the simplicity of the offering. Perhaps the ashes of a person or a pet werew scattered here; there are several memorials to pets across the Down and I have personally witnessed scatters of ashes. I did once see ashes spread to form the word “Mum”, which was a little disconcerting.
Another possibility is that some is trying to create a new legend, although I’ve yet to hear murmurs of this.
Or maybe it’s just pagans honouring a mini tumulus.