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The West Dorset Magazine, April 8, 2022
Down to earth
BEACHCOMBING with JO BELASCO BA Hons History of Architecture and Design
What can we find at Osmington Mills? I know there are hag stones and fossils there. I hoped to find some vintage corn utensils from the old mills or at least some crocks. Unsurprisingly, the glamour of pirates and smuggling seems to have eclipsed that of the miller and corn. I asked in the wonderful old 13th century (in parts) pub, The Smugglers and although the bar staff were very helpful, especially Holly – I drew a blank about where the remains of the old mill(s) were. Above the waterfall the stream looked like it had potential for antique bottles or crocks – but nothing! There is a registered monument of the Mill – 736817 ‘of two storeys and attics has a slated roof. None of the mill machinery remains’. How tantalising! However I had spent enough time searching and had to cut my losses. In The Smugglers Inn I had seen a huge fossil used as a door wedge. The skull of a pliosaur was discovered in 2009 at Osmington Mills and is now on display at Dorset County Museum.
The waterfall at Osmington Mills, left, and above, the wreck of the Minx provides a lookout for cormorants
An animal head hag stone
Burger bun stones
A hag-stone as a pendant on a seaweed necklace
Get your buns to Osmington
The fossils are mostly locked in the rocks and no hammering into the cliffs is allowed. Although, you are allowed to collect fossils from rockfalls which were in plentiful evidence. Zelda (my dog) and I gravitated to the type of beachcombing which is always available – photographs. It’s easy to see why Constable chose this hamlet to honeymoon in, with its subtle tones and silhouettes. I wanted to photograph the
old wreck of The Minx from 1927 and along the way found quite a few hag stones but only brought one home. Hag stones are thought to have magical qualities and be protective. They are stones which running water has bored a hole through. It was a common belief that magic wouldn’t work on running water and therefore the stones were used as talismans against evil. They were hung on bed posts to stop nightmares
and I remember in the show Vikings pausing the action to enjoy the hag stone interior design of just such a bed. Sailors also hung them from their masts as witches were thought to have power over the winds which the hag stones could negate. I remember at Burton Bradstock, in St Marys Church, hag stones being used on the door as part of a wind-block. These days they are mostly used as personal ornament.
