The Parson and Clerk Rock ([1850?])

Cresswell, Beatrix F. Dawlish and the estuary of the Exe. Dawlish: R. E. Cann ; London: The Homeland Association, 1902. pp. 29-30.Their legend takes many forms, the most popular being the story of the Dawlish vicar who with his clerk rode into Teignmouth to collect tithes. Returning when it was late and dark, they lost their way, and the parson somewhat unwisely expressed a wish that they might find a guide, "even if it were the devil himself." Scarcely were the words spoken, when, much to their surprise, they perceived a house with brightly lighted windows and a merry party within, one of whom invited them to enter. Here they stopped, joining in such a carousal as was scarce fit for a layman, and very unbecoming for a priest. At length they declared they must return to Dawlish, and their host volunteered to show them the way. But as they rode the water seemed to rise round the horses, the waves grew rougher, and in the gathering storm a bright flash of lightning showed them they had ridden out to sea, while on the cliff overhead sat their host, none other than the devil himself, jeering at their distress. In the morning the horses were found straying on the beach, and the drowned bodies of the parson and clerk on the rocks which now bear their names, or as a more marvellous version of the tale asserts, the only traces of the parson and clerk were the two rocks now so called, into which they were transformed by the evil One.[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]

Lithograph

148x237mm