The River Path The River Path
Stories and Legends of the Stour
The Knowlton Bells
Legend has it that church bells lie in the river there having been hidden by people from Sturminster Marshall who had stolen them from the ruined church at Knowlton. The bells were dropped during the chase, but later, when the thieves returned for them, the bewitched bells kept slipping from their grasp and remain in the river to this day.
Knowlton bell is stole
And thrown into White Mill Hole
Where all the devils in hell
Could never pull up the Knowlton bell
Traditional folk song
Local musician Mark Pritchard has written a song around this legend, which was performed at White Mill, by the river near Sturminster Marshall, as part of Common Ground's Confluence project in 2000.
The Great Storm
On 28th June 1917, a fierce storm arose which washed away the dam at Gasper Lake near the source of the Stour in south Wiltshire. Water surged through Bourton Foundry, then making munitions for use in the Great War, and swept away many Mills Bomb cases. These became treasured trophies for local children, who were able to pick them up from flooded meadows as far downstream as Blandford.
Claimed by the Stour
Many country people kept clear of the river early in the year, for fear of being claimed by the river as a sacrifice to placate the ancient God of the river. This may have originated from the sadly regular deaths of people crossing thin ice at Sturminster or Blandford - the continuity of location being a sign of supernatural forces. These deaths were believed to assuage the 'spirit of the river' and make for safe swimming as the year progressed.
Transportation Bridges
A number of bridges on the Stour feature cast-iron plaques from the time in the 18th/19th centuries when transportation to Australia was still seen as a viable punishment for felons. The plaques read: "DORSET. ANY PERSON WILFULLY INJURING ANY PART OF THIS COUNTY BRIDGE WILL BE GUILTY OF FELONY AND UPON CONVICTION LIABLE TO TRANSPORTATION FOR LIFE BY THE COURT". The statute enabling this was repealed in 1857, and there is no evidence that it was ever called into service by the authorities.
The photograph at the top of the page shows Pegg's Mill Bridge over the Fontmell Brook.
King Alfred's Wells
Six Wells Bottom at the source of the Stour on the Stourhead estate, marks a legendary resting place for King Alfred and his army during his wars with the Danes. The legends relate how his prayers for water were answered by the appearance of the six pure springs.
Egbert's Stone, a 5 ft high lichen-covered monolith at the point where Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset meet at Bourton, is the place where, according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Alfred mustered his men on the eve of the Battle of Edington in 878.
