Well, the name alone is enough to set the nerves jangling. Stiperstones. There’s more than a hint of menace here, and local Shropshire folk will tell you exactly what that menace is. They will say that when the mist settles on this ridge of strange and craggy outcrops, that the devil has come, returned to his quartzite throne to preside over a gathering of witches and evil spirits.
These photos were all taken on a summer’s day, though it’s hard to believe looking at them here. For more about that particular visit and more about the Stiperstones go here.
Lens-Artists: creepy Ann-Christine has set the challenge this week. She has posted some marvellously creepy images. Please take a look.
Tish Farrell 
The human presence adds wonderfully to these atmospheric photos, Tish 🙂 🙂
There were odd souls popping up among the rocks. Very handy of them. Some might have been Graham of course 🙂
Of course! My favourite pop-up 🙂 🙂
Ha! I think we’d best not explore that too far 🙂
“It is a wild and brooding place, …” it surely is – but beautiful as well. Though I can understand the old stories – not least when the mist rolls in. Thank you, Tish, for a creepy experience!
My pleasure, Ann-Christine. Thank you for the challenge.
Most atmospheric, Tish! I remember hearing of the Stiperstones as a kid, might have been one of Malcolm Seville’s Lone Pine books…..
Oh yes, Malcolm Saville. He was one of my favourites. He still has quite a following – Lone Pine Club-wise.
One of my favourite authors too as a child.
I read one of his kids’ Shropshire yarns fairly recently, and it still worked.
Well, I had completely forgotten him, until your Stiperstones image came up, and whether related or not I suddenly recalled ‘The secret of Grey Walls’, and looked up the author…. I remember being seriously disappointed that the book didn’t explain some mystery about grey walls per se, but rather that it was a novel with a house called Grey Walls at it’s centre…. 😳
Ah, me. Childhood disappointments: expectations not quite met and for not necessarily understandable reasons.
Precisely!
Definitely other worldly up there Tish, especially on a foggy winter’s day.
We were once there in late December snow, and it truly did seem like another planet.
I thought we did dark and brooding here in Lancashire – these are spectral.
I think it’s a lot to do with the quartzite. It seems to loom. Also the surrounding hills are all quite different – smooth and rolling so you can see too how the Stiperstones struck the locals’ imaginations. Lancashire brooding is pretty darn good too 🙂
A stunning place, but I didn’t know the devil had a throne on earth! I can see this would be creepy, especially at night or in bad weather.
janet
The devil appears to have been very active in Shropshire if the old tales are anything to go by, though sometimes similar yarns are told about a giant. Both involve dropping monumental piles of stones about the place.
I guess if that’s all he ever got up to, it wouldn’t be so bad.
There are parts of Arizona where lava poured out of the ground that looks like that.
It is a pretty strange area geologically speaking. In the valleys below there were lots of lead mines, some going back to Roman times. It’s hard to imagine now that this was once a highly industrialised landscape.
Very cool Tish – have never heard of these! I can see why they’re thought to be devilish
Definitely some very disturbing vistas.
It’s a side of Shropshire I have not seen . . . you could be in the Scottish mountains!
That’s an interesting comparison, Becky. We don’t quite have the same grandeur height-wise, though some v. striking geology.
It’s the unexpected wilderness
It’s brilliant that we still have it!
Indeed eerie landscapes which would be progressively more eerie during storms
Definitely more eerie, Abrie.
Wow!
Amazing, thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Lakshmi.
Wow! That is unsettling! Great post!
Cheers, Kendall.
Well, that mist must be lingering on the ridge for quite some time now. Given the current goings-on in the world, it makes me think the Devil and his minions have returned to earth and taken up permanent residence at their throne in the Stiperstones.
I think you’re right, Lisa. We are indeed bedevilled at every turn. I’m almost afraid of what particular iniquity I’m going to discover next.
The chilling backstory aside, the place seems fascinating from a geological point of view. What rocks are these outcrops made of?
It’s a quartzite ridge, Saurab. Formed 480 million years ago. When the ice sheets covered much of Shropshire during glacial periods the ridge remained exposed. Repeated rounds of freezing and thawing apparently caused all the fracturing.
Oooh interesting…
AS ALWAYS TISH, BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPHY, AND WRITING ABOUT PLACES IN ENGLAND THAT I GET TO SEE THROUGH YOUR EYES! 🙂
Hello, Mitch. Happy New Year to you. Tx