The Devil's stone

In the yard at the now-ruined Home Farm (near Fordley Hall) is a huge boulder where children were once in the habit of placing pins in the various cracks and holes, running round it as fast as they could, then putting their ears against it in the hope of hearing the Devil speak.

Underneath it there is said to be buried a hoard of treasure that no one can retrieve, as the stone is immovable. A local farmer once attached a team of horses to it, but failed to dislodge it. In addition, the stone was held to have been the meeting-place for a coven of witches.

Home Farm used to be on the site of the now Vale Farm but it was across the road near Fordley Hall where the stone was supposed to be.

Source:

Allan Jobson: 'An Hour-Glass on the Run' (Michael Joseph, 1959), pp.55-6.