Location notes - Bowerman's Nose

“On the very edge of the vast moorland, startling every eye, A shape enormous rises! High it towers, above the hill’s bold brow and seen from afar, assumes the human form; a granite god – to whom, in days long flown, the suppliant knee in trembling homage bow’d. The hamlets near have legends rude, connected with this spot, wild swept by every wind on which he stands, the giant of the moor”

Nicholas Toms Carrington – Dartmoor

Pareidolia. The phenomenon in which the brain sees meaningful patterns in everyday objects –  a face in the moon, animals in clouds, John Lennon on a slice of toast. For as long as there have been people on Dartmoor, they have seen shapes in the rocks – The Sphinx of Vixen Tor, the dogs head of Hound Tor or the stone sheep of Grey Wethers. But there is one granite stack that literally stands head and shoulders above them all - the giant of Hayne Down, Bowerman.

Situated about a mile north of Hound Tor, Bowerman (or Bowerman’s nose to give the stack its full title) stands alone on the crest of a hill, looking ever west across the moor. This location is so iconic, it’s hard to know where to begin, so I’ll start with the facts, then look at some of the more colourful theories about who he is and how he got in such a state, before turning to the lowdown on shooting him.

Bowerman’s nose is a weathered granite stack located on the slopes of Hayne Down near Manaton. He stands at around 40 ft tall. When viewed from certain angles, the stack has an undeniably human appearance – a body, a face and even a peaked cap. Perhaps he was sculpted by the countless millennia of harsh moorland conditions, or maybe his appearance comes from something far more esoteric entirely.

Some theorise he is old – very old. For it has been suggested that his name is a derivation of Maen Vower a term used by the Celts to mean “Great Stone”. Indeed, it is entirely possible to imagine the Celts or Druids worshiping at the foot of this granite idol – a God amongst an untamed landscape. However, this is much debated, with both Crossing and the Rev Sabine Baring Gould dismissing this notion out of hand - the latter writing “ ..had it [Bowerman] ever been venerated as such, the worshippers would surely have done something towards clearing the clitter away … so as to give themselves access to their idol and some turf on which to kneel in adoration!”. The author Ruth St.Leger- Gordon goes somewhat further, leaving her readers in no doubt on her views about Bowerman’s connections to Druidic worship “All that can be said about him [Bowerman] with certainty, is that Druids were in no way responsible for what has been fashioned entirely by nature”

So perhaps he wasn’t an idol to the Druids, but if that is the case, then who was he?  Well, we could look to folklore for our answers, but we really only have the oral tradition to rely upon so its almost impossible to tell with any accuracy. In her book “The Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor”, St.Leger-Gordon explains this nicely “Folklore, by its very nature is composed of inaccuracies…it is lore handed down through the centuries ..mainly from mouth to ear.. Anyone listening to a piece of village gossip retailed for the third or even second time only a few hours after the event will find themselves in possession of several different versions of the facts”. Because so many tales of Bowerman have been told over the centuries, it’s likely we shall never know who he really was, but one generally accepted tale has evolved and goes as follows.

In his seminal work on Dartmoor, William Crossing describes a person by the name of Bowerman who “lived at Hound Tor, nearby, in the Conqueror’s time. Legend tells us that Bowerman was a hunter, big in stature and popular with all. One stormy night (it’s always a stormy night in these tales!) Bowerman was out hunting across the moor. His blood was up and his hounds where in full cry. At some point, they caught the scent of some poor unfortunate animal and pursued it blindly up hill and down dale – Bowerman’s focus never wavering, and so keen was he, that he failed to notice a local witch coven holding its sabbath in a cluster of rocks. Bowerman drove his hounds on, blindly scattering the meeting, and sending the witches running for cover. So enraged were they, that they vowed revenge at all costs. Several nights later, Bowerman was out hunting again. Those wronged witches spied him and a fateful plan was conceived. A witch by the name of Levera took the form of a hare and Bowerman’s hounds soon caught her scent. She led him on a merry dance across the moor, heading for Hayne Down where her sisters lay in wait. As a now tiring Bowerman approached, they sprang from the rocks, raining spells down on the hunting party, instantly turning Bowerman into the great granite giant we see today – his hounds the boulders lying scattered at his feet. It is said that on a still night, when the moon is full (another classic trope!) that Bowerman’s hunting horn and the mournful baying of his hounds can still be heard drifting across the lonely moor.   

Whoever he was, photographing Bowerman can prove as challenging as working out where he came from. This is without doubt one of the most iconic locations on the moor - the granite stack is so recognisable and striking, that it almost always makes a stunning shot. The problem is that his face, indeed his whole appearance, only works from one angle and that really limits your options. Like all good optical illusions, Bowerman’s strength comes from perspective – when viewed from one direction his full features are revealed, but from any other angle he immediately becomes a rather non-descript pile of stones. Whilst this undoubtedly causes us a problem,  we can use this knowledge to compose our shot.

The good news is that you really don’t need an expensive camera to take good shots of Bowerman, making this a great location for those new to photography. You can achieve some cracking images with just a smartphone and a bit of thought, making this a location for everyone.

He’s a giant, so you want him to be big in your composition. I’ve never seen him shot successfully from a distance so really you want to position yourself around 10m behind him (closer if you are using a wide angle lens) and make him the dominant feature of your image. Rules are there to be broken, and I personally hate the rule of thirds (an established photography principle for composition in which the subject is placed in the left or right third of the image rather than the centre), so don’t be afraid to place him slap bang in the centre of your shot for maximum impact. Because you really have to shoot him facing west to keep his shape, the landscape beyond remains important to your composition, with distant Hamel Down providing an ever-changing backdrop through the seasons. Even at his size, one of the problems with a detailed backdrop, is that he can get lost against the fields and valleys – his stature diminished and impact of your shot lost. So, it is usually best to get down really low and make sure at least his head remains above the horizon – the lower you can get the better. If your knees are as bad as mine, there are plenty of granite boulders (perhaps once his hounds!) that you can base yourself on so you don’t have to lie in the dirt!  

I’ve shot Bowerman at dawn and dusk and generally find the evening works best. Like with a lot of the more popular locations on the moor, it can get busy, so shooting at dawn gives you a better chance of having the site to yourself. If you are going at that time of day, don’t rush for sunrise as it takes a while for the sun to clear the hill behind you, and Bowerman looks surprisingly dull unless he has the sunlight on his rockface. Give some thought to the seasons too. To be honest, Bowerman himself never changes – you can shoot him any time of year, and the seasons wont affect him – but they really alter the landscape around him, and consequently your shot too.  A frosty morning can work well but the low sun and the late sunrises make the light conditions less than ideal. Early autumn gives the landscape beyond some great texture and colour as the bracken dies away and the berries come out and if you are lucky, you may get some mist in the valleys too. A broody, stormy sky gives Bowerman more of a sense of menace and that can work at any time of year. But my absolute favourite is a calm summer evening when the sky burns like fire and the granite glows like gold. To me, this is when the giant is reborn.

The easiest way to reach him, is to walk. It really is a lovely and relatively easy stroll through very quiet, deep Devon lanes which open up dramatically and suddenly to moorland. The moorland section is the part of the walk that takes you to the giant himself and is a moderate climb of about ¼ mile up hill, which should be suitable for most abilities. To get there, park in the Hound Tor car park and exit right to the Manaton road. At Swallerton Gate cross, turn right and then immediately right again onto a quiet lane. Follow the lane north past “Moorhayes” for about ½ a mile and through the five bar gate that opens onto Hayne Down. Look North East and you will see Bowerman standing defiantly on the rise of the hill. This area is steeped in some of Dartmoor’s finest folklore with Jay’s Grave just a further ½ mile as the crow flies, to the west. You can make your trip into a circular walk by heading back down the slope after visiting Bowerman, and then when you get back to the five bar gate you came in through, take the footpath west over Cripdon Down to Jay’s Grave – one of the most notorious locations of myth and legend found on the moor. The grave is the final resting place of Kitty Jay – a young, unmarried maid who took her own life after falling pregnant out of wedlock. As sad as this story is, it’s what happened next makes this tale so famous. For over the centuries that followed and right up to this day, a bunch of fresh flowers appears on her grave every night. Pixies and spectral figures are all said to have been seen at her graveside and yet no one has ever discovered who maintains the nightly vigil. After paying your respects, you can continue back along the road for about ½ mile to bring you back to Hound Tor where you started.

I guess we’ll never really know who Bowerman was. For my money, and against the wisdom of those far more knowledgeable than me, I think it is entirely possible that he was formed by nature, but that he also may have been worshipped as a deity by the early inhabitants of the moor. At a time when Gods were seen in the elements – the sky, the harvest, the moon – is it not likely that the sight of a stone giant standing defiantly on the hill, would stir the same feelings of divinity and worship? All I can say (and this may be my confirmation bias) is that when I’ve been out on Hayne Down, with just Bowerman for company in the early dawn light, I’ve never truly felt alone. I’ve genuinely felt watched - like someone else was there when clearly, they weren’t. I don’t think it is witches or hares or giants, I think it’s the weight of history and an energy that has existed at that spot a long, long time before people with nothing better to do were writing blogs about photography! Maybe it really is spiritual – I guess we’ll never know!