The Nine Maidens, being a circle of upright stones is also known as the Seventeen Brothers and marked on the Ordnance Survey map as the Nine Stones. There is a legend in which the circle is thought to have been a group of maidens who danced on a Sunday and were immediately turned to stone. For their punishment they were forced to dance every day at noon for the rest of eternity and it is said that to this day they can be seen moving at midday. Another version is that the assembled crowd were in fact seventeen brothers who were turned to stone for dancing which is the number of stones visible today. The Nine Maidens are a cairn circle which stands in an area of clitter (a scattered rockfield below a tor due to erosion). Today the circle comprises of sixteen stones, one has been uprooted outside the circle, one lies buried and two are almost leaning flat with just the tops visible. These stones would have encompassed a central burial cist or as they are known on Dartmoor kistvaen. It is estimated that originally the mound would have covered the burial kistvaen and stood as high as the stones.

Boddy Collection