High on the lonely Fountains Earth Moor in Nidderdale sits these two stones. Across the valley is a small, but prominent hill that goes by the name of Dead Mans Hill. It gets its name because two hundred years ago 3 drovers were discovered buried there in the dark peat – minus their heads.

An old coaching inn was at the side of a road at the bottom of the hill and one night the three, plus a dog stopped for refreshment and a bed for the night. They were never seen alive again, but the dog sat on the hill whimpering and wouldn’t come down. Upon investigation the bodies were found and the landlady of the coaching inn, and her daughter were convicted of the crime and hanged.

Another legend says they were witches and were turned to stone, where they remain forever on the dark moors.