The Hell Stone is an example of a Long Barrow with stone interior; it was the entrance to a Neolithic long barrow burial chamber that was originally covered by a mound of earth and consists of nine upright sarsen stones supporting a single capstone. There are several other long barrows in the vicinity; these were used before the round barrows of which there are about four hundred in the Bride Valley area west of Dorchester.
As the centuries passed the burial chamber collapsed and on the 11th of June 1886 a team of men came from Portland to restore it, incorrectly it seems, and failed to reposition the massive capstone. This was placed in position three years later on the 14th of August 1869 when eight quarry men came and completed the task using screw jacks.
Hutchins in his ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset” says: “The common people call it Hellstone, and have a tradition that the devil flung it from Portland Pike, a north point of that island full in view, as he was diverting himself at quoits.” The opening of the barrow faces towards Portland. Hellstone is a local variant of the Old English ‘Heelstone’ or the Saxon word ‘Helian’ meaning to cover or conceal and refers to the capstone. The name has nothing to do with the Devil or his domain.
We have placed a photograph of the Hellstone in the photo area.
