{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Crazywell Pool | image = Crazywell pool 1.JPG | alt = An picture of Crazywell Pool on southern Dartmoor | caption = | image_bathymetry = | pushpin_map = Devon | pushpin_map_alt = The location of Crazywell Pool in Devon | caption_bathymetry = | location = [[Princetown, England|Princetown]], [[Devon]] | coords = {{Coord|50.51706|N|4.00150|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SX582705)|display=inline,title}} | type = | inflow = | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = United Kingdom | length = | width = | area = {{convert|3500|m2|acres|abbr=on}} | depth = | max-depth = {{convert|16|ft|abbr=on}} | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = | islands = | sections = | cities = | frozen = }} '''Crazywell Pool''' or '''Crazy Well Pool'''<ref>Also known as Clazywell, Classenwell or Classiwell Pool, according to Hemery (see below).</ref> is a large [[pond]] situated about {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Princetown, England|Princetown]] just off the path between [[Burrator]] and [[Whiteworks mine|Whiteworks]] on the western side of [[Dartmoor]], [[Devon]], England at {{gbmapping|SX582705}}. It is about {{convert|100|m|yards}} long and has a surface area of about {{convert|3500|sqm|acres}}.
The pool is thought to be the result of excavations by [[Dartmoor tin-mining|tin miners]],<ref name="Hemery">{{Cite book|title=High Dartmoor |author=Eric Hemery |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |year=1983 |pages=136–137 |isbn=0-7091-8859-5 }}</ref> and is either a [[flooded mine]] shaft, or a [[reservoir]]. The presence of tin workings downhill from the pool support this view. The valley of [[Newleycombe Lake]] has been extensively worked with many mining remains along its short length. The level of the pool never varies much from its mean—it is maintained by a hidden spring and by subterranean drainage at its lower end.<ref name="Hemery"/> Near to the pool is [[Dartmoor crosses#Crazywell Cross|Crazywell Cross]], one of the line of crosses that marked the ancient track between [[Buckfast Abbey]] and [[Tavistock Abbey]].
In 1998, Nathaniel Burton, a sixteen-year-old recruit in the Royal Marines, died in Crazywell Pool. He was taking part in a routine training exercise and drowned while crossing the icy waters of the pool.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Pharo | first = Chris | title = Marine lad of 16 dies in tragedy on moor | newspaper = [[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]] (London, England) | pages = 9 | date = 16 October 1998 | url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0F934A91D786C39C&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=5 }}. (Subscription required for online access)</ref><ref>{{Cite news | last = Woodward | first = Tim | title = Marines are not to blame for death of my son, says mother | newspaper = The [[Daily Mail]], (London, England) | pages = | date = 31 March 1999 | url = http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0F26DA19981717F1&p_docnum=7&p_queryname=8 }}. (Subscription required for online access)</ref>
==Legends== There are no natural lakes on Dartmoor, which may be one reason why Crazywell Pool has attracted more than its share of local legends. It was once believed to be bottomless, and according to local legend the parishioners of [[Walkhampton]] (or [[Sheepstor]]) brought up the bell ropes from the parish church to test its depth. Even after tying the ropes together—a total length of over 500 feet<ref name=LD />—and weighting the end, it was claimed they were still unable to reach the bottom.<ref name="Crossing">{{Cite book| last = Crossing | first = William | author-link = William Crossing | title = Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor | publisher = David & Charles | orig-year = 1912| year = 1976 | location = Newton Abbot | pages = 99 | isbn = 0-7153-4034-4}}</ref> This legend was disproved in the dry summer of 1844 when the pool was almost completely pumped out by the Plymouth Dock Water Company to supplement the water supply of [[Devonport Leat]] which runs along the hillside not far above the pool.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Hawkings | first = David J. | title = Water from the Moor | publisher = Devon Books | year = 1987 | location = | page = 58 | isbn = 0-86114-788-X}}</ref> The reality is that the pool is about {{convert|16|ft|m|adj=on}} deep at the western end and considerably less at the eastern end.
[[Image:Crazywell cross 1.JPG|thumb|left|The ancient cross next to the pool]] Crazywell Pool is the subject of other Dartmoor superstitions. The [[water level]] was said to rise and fall with the tides at sea,<ref name="Crossing"/> and it was claimed that at dusk the waters call out the name of the next parishioner to die and that their face can be seen in the surface of the pool at midnight on [[Midsummer]]'s Eve.<ref name=LD>{{Cite web |url=http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/crazy_well.htm |title=Crazywell Pool |publisher=legendarydartmoor.co.uk |accessdate=2009-09-02 |last=Sandles |first=Tim |archive-date=23 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423105448/http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/crazy_well.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The pool was also said to be haunted during the [[Middle Ages]] by the Witch of [[Sheepstor]], who gave people bad advice. Legend says she advised [[Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall|Piers Gaveston]], who owned the [[Forest of Dartmoor]] from 1308, and who was in hiding here after being banished from the [[Noble court|king's court]], telling him to return to court, predicting that "his humbled head shall soon be high". Instead, he was captured by the king's enemies and beheaded and his head was set up on high battlements.<ref name=LD /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dartmoor-crosses.org.uk/crazywell.htm |title=Crazywell Cross |publisher=Dartmoor's Crosses |accessdate=2009-03-08}}</ref>
More recently, two young men were said to have gone to the pool at midnight one Midsummer's Eve on a motorbike for a dare, but they never returned because on their way back the motorbike came off the road, killing them both.<ref name=LD />
[[Image:Below Crazywell pool.JPG|thumb|upright|Mine working below the pool]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/23372/Moor-s-weekend-of-fright-delights-in-Dartmoor Newspaper travel review]
[[Category:Dartmoor]] [[Category:Devon folklore]]