He is, however, dismissive of the story of the hermit’s dedication. Three hundred years after the hermit’s death a youth arrives at the chapel seeking knowledge. There he lived the rest of his life as a hermit and could be heard praying for the safety of those at sea whenever storms raged in the Bay. He then built a little chapel on the hill where he could see the spot where his ship was lost.
In thanks for his life being saved he decides to devote his remaining days to the service of God.
Though beacons were lit, the ship foundered with all the crew being lost except for one survivor who was carried to the Abbey and nursed back to full health. The canons rushed to the beach to find a ship illuminated by lightning flashes. Suddenly a man rushes in to announce that a vessel was drifting on to Abbey Sands. One night a terrible storm raged while Torre Abbey’s white-robed canons were praying. The story is related in the 1850 book ‘Legends of Torquay’ and is repeated in Arthur Charles Ellis’ ‘Historical Survey of Torquay’ in 1930. The folk tale inevitably involves a spectre, a beautiful maiden and a lesson in morality. Such stories were a good way of getting out safety messages.īut there is an older legend, that of the Hermit’s Ghost. For good practical reasons, forested and steep-sided areas are particularly thought of as being haunted or hazardous for the unwary, and by the twentieth century children were being told of murderous and predatory tramps living in Chapel Woods. We don’t know its real name, who built it, when they built it, and what it was for.Īs with many ancient places on the edge of communities, legends arise and over time become more elaborate as they are related by firesides and in taverns.
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