Dead Woman’s Stone

The stone is thought to have marked the burial of a suicide at the crossroads of a former junction leading south from Briantspuddle to Bovington. It was believed in the middle ages that this would confuse the spirit of the dead person hopefully stopping it from returning to haunt the village.

T E Lawrence, who lived nearby at Clouds Hill, originally found it and cleaned it but at the outbreak of WWII a group of Canadian soldiers discovered the stone and moved it to Briantspuddle for safekeeping. Left on the forecourt of the village garage run by Mr Ward it was used as a flower container and then on his retirement taken to his garden at No 1 Briantspuddle. After he passed away and the house was sold it seemed appropriate to place the stone at the Briantspuddle crossroads where it now sits alongside the Millenium Stone.