5th Mar 2023
At the edge of Clay Country lies the village of Roche. Its name derives from Norman-French1 evoking its most prominent feature. An otherworldly tower of tourmaline granite soars above the flat landscape.
On top of this 66-foot skyscraper are the fragments of a fifteenth-century chapel2. This spooky sight is not the result of an elaborate hoax or horror film set. Although no one really knows where it came from or why it was built. Shrouded in Gothic mystery and supernatural drama, Roche Rock has inspired stories across centuries.
LITTLE CHAPEL OF HORRORS
The idea that being closer to the sky brings you closer to God doesn't seem to apply here. For many years Roche Rock has been associated with the supernatural. Poet and novelist Jack Clemo supports this belief in The Clay Kiln with his unflinching condemnation of the place:
'Despite the ruined mediaeval oratory on the massive central rock, the atmosphere of the place at nightfall was entirely pagan.'
Here Clemo reveals the startling contradiction of Roche Rock. Even with a chapel dedicated to Patron Saint of Cornwall St Michael, its strange construction and eerie look has continued to invite anti-Christian interpretations. In calling it 'pagan', Clemo distances the place from his familiar Christian morals.
RUNAWAY GHOSTS
The famous folktale of Roche Rock is the story of Tregeagle becoming a squatter in the hermitage. He is said to have been a Faustian magistrate who sentenced innocent people for his own purposes. To save his sinner's soul, the priesthood set his ghost an impossible task. Tregeagle began emptying the bottomless Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor with nothing but a limpet shell with a hole in it.
But he is forced to flee and find shelter at the only safe place within miles. Smashing his head through the east window, Tregeagle seeks refuge at the chapel of Roche Rock to the shock of the hermit living there!
The monks and priests of Bodmin3 evict Tregeagle with a powerful spell and set him to work again. This time making ropes and trusses of sand in Padstow.
REST AND RECUPERATE
It is said that in medieval times the Roche Rock hermitage housed those who fell sick with infectious diseases. Sometimes you will hear of a father retreating to the hermitage with his sick daughter. Other times it is a daughter who nurses her father or even a whole family seeking refuge. Either way, in all versions, they use the chapel to isolate from their community and contain the illness they are suffering.
A COUPLE'S RETREAT
The seclusion of the sky-high hermitage is the perfect hideaway for two doomed medieval lovers. In one version of the tale, Tristan and Iseult4 - Cornwall's own Romeo and Juliet - supposedly sought sanctuary for a time at Roche Rock.
We may never know how Roche Rock and its hermitage came to be and who sheltered there across the ages. Yet one thing remains clear in this imaginative series of events. By design or accident, its mysterious and uncanny architecture sparks the imagination.
Notes
1 Roche in Norman-French simply means rock.
2 If you visit Roche Rock, please enjoy its beauty from a distance. Do not attempt to climb it as the rock is very unstable and dangerous.
3 Bodmin translates as monk's abode or dwelling.
4 There are many different spelling variations of their names. One is Tristram and Isolde.
Further Reading
Clemo, Jack. The Clay Kiln. Cornish Hillside Publications, 2000
Courtney, M.A. Cornish Feasts and Folklore. (1890) Books on Demand, 2018
Hunt, Robert. Cornish Legends. Tor Mark, 2021
"Roche Rock Hermitage." Atlas Obscura, 2022, www.atlasobscura.com/places/roche-rock-hermitage
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