Searching for Hag Stones on the Bay’s beaches is something of a local tradition.
Hag Stones are stones with natural holes, formed when water seeps deep into a rock and erodes it. They come in all shapes and sizes aren’t easy to find and so the challenge for children of all ages is to find a stone with a hole in and hold it up to spy the sea through.
Their actual age usually depends on the rock that the holes are in, some rocks taking longer to let water in and degrade, while in others the process occurs much more rapidly. Local limestone (Rock Walk, for example) is very hard, while Permian sandstone (Corbyn Head) is quite soft.
As for the name, a hag is a wizened old woman, often seen as malevolent and with supernatural powers. Hags are found in folklore and children’s tales such as ‘Hansel and Gretel’. The term appears in Middle English and was a shortening of ‘hægtesse’, an Old English term for ‘witch’. Indeed, Hag Stones are also known as Witch Stones.
It is this name that name gives an idea of the folklore, beliefs, and practices associated with Hag Stones’ discovery and use.
Hag Stones were believed to have magical properties and to be able to ward off witches and other evil doers. The belief in the power of holed stones goes far back into prehistory. Note the great holed Neolithic and Bronze Age stones of Devon and Cornwall.
Legends tell that, by passing or looking through the hole, you can see into or even be transported to another realm. Accordingly, if you want to see a Torbay pixie and gaze into the dimension they inhabit, look through a Hag Stone.
One idea was that only good things can pass through a hole, while bad luck and evil thoughts are too large and become lodged in the middle. This may also be linked to the old belief that magic cannot work on flowing water. As the hole in a Hag Stone was created by moving water, the stone then offers protection.
When worn around the neck Hag Stones can then act as amulets to protect against the ‘evil eye’, ensure good health, and heal any minor ills, a tradition that goes back at least 5,000 years.
To protect a home, hang a Hag Stone above your front door or over a window. In old Devon houses you may still find a holed stone hung by rope on the front door doubling up as a knocker.
Local witches had the propensity to cast spells on livestock, making cattle sick or spoiling milk. They would steal horses away at night and ‘hag ride’ them so hard that the next morning they would be useless for any kind of work. A Hag Stone would, when placed in a byre, dairy, or stable, protect all the animals inside.
Devon Fishing boats had a pair screwed just below the bow in the manner of Mediterranean fishing boats which have The Eye of Osiris painted in the same place. This would prevent witches clinging to the vessel, while a stone swinging in the wind would help break up storm clouds. 
A specific danger was a home visit from the Night Hag, a supernatural and malevolent shadow-like entity who could immobilise you in your bed. We get the word ‘nightmare’ from the Old English ‘mare’, a mythological creature who torments us with frightening dreams. Today, however, we recognise that sleep paralysis can take place just after falling asleep or before waking up, frequently involving hallucinations or a feeling of suffocation. Nevertheless, placing a Hag Stone by your bed may still protect you from a visit by the Night Hag.
Our ancestors were very familiar with holed stones and could only guess at their origin. One traditional belief was that the stones were snakes intertwined and turned to stone. Hence, other names are Adder Stones or Serpent’s Eggs.
According to the Roman natural philosopher Pliny (AD 23–79) in his ‘Natural History’, Adder Stones were held in high esteem amongst the Druids. Pliny described rituals the Druids allegedly conducted to acquire the stones, and the magical properties they ascribed to their possession. He wrote:
“There is a sort of egg in great repute among the Gauls, of which the Greek writers have made no mention. A vast number of serpents are twisted together in summer, and coiled up in an artificial knot by their saliva and slime; and this is called ‘the serpent’s egg’. I have seen that egg as large and as round as a common sized apple and worn by the Druids. It is wonderfully extolled for gaining lawsuits, and access to kings.”
The ‘Glain Neidr’ or ‘Maen Magi’ of Welsh folklore similarly hold the stones to be created by a congress of snakes, normally occurring in spring, but most auspicious on May Eve.
Even in the late twentieth century we haven’t forgotten the protective power of a Hag Stone.
Occultist and one-time Torquay resident Aleister Crowley spent his last years in Hastings where he died at the end of 1947 aged 72. Due to his reputation as “a traitor, deviant, drug fiend and a man in league with the Devil”, permission for his remains to be cremated in Hastings were denied. He was cremated in Brighton with few mourners and no service while his ashes were later shipped to the States and buried next to a tree on the New Jersey property of German Occultist Karl Germer.
In response to being snubbed by Hastings, local legend says that Crowley (pictured above) cursed the town, declaring that if you have lived in Hastings, you can never leave and if you try you will always come back. Crowley’s Curse can only be broken by taking a stone with a hole running through it from Hastings beach.
A Hag Stone found by Torquay’s Corbyn Head
So, do search for your very own Hag Stone on the Bay’s beaches, though there are rules. Only ever take one at a time. And be aware that the stone, to be of any magical value to their owner, must be natural. Human intervention is not allowed so you can’t just drill a hole in a rock.
You also cannot purchase one or be gifted a Hag Stone. This is because, you don’t find them, the stones find you. Hag Stones choose when to be found and by whom. Hence, they only work for the person the stone finds.
Happy hunting!
‘Torquay: A Social History’ by local author Kevin Dixon is available for £10 from Artizan Gallery, Lucius Street, Torquay, or:
https://www.art-hub.co.uk/product-page/torquay-a-social-history-by-kevin-dixon
