A visit to the Agglestone Rock, approximately one mile (1.6 km) from the village of Studland, Isle of Purbeck, is listed as one of the twenty-five things (is that all?) to do in Dorset before you die. Well, I struck that one off my list decades ago as I've photographed it on several occasions before I even knew that.
The 400 tonne tertiary sandstone block on Godlingston Heath used to be anvil shaped, but it toppled onto its side in 1970 due to erosion, and has has remained that way ever since.
Local legend (isn't there always one?) has it that the devil threw it from The Needles at the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, with the intention of hitting either Corfe Castle, Bindon Abbey or Salisbury Cathedral. In any of those cases he proved to be a very poor aim as he missed by some margin.
Today's visit reveals the effects of a heath fire; something that was all too frequent during the summer heatwaves when heathland and forests became tinder dry through lack of rain. Whether through natural causes or deliberate action, the burnt areas are already beginning to recover.
© 2026
