Agglestone Rock, also known as the Devil's Anvil, is a

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

block of about 400 tonnes weight, perched on a conical hill, approximately from the village of

Studland Studland is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. The village is located about north of the town of Swanage, over a steep chalk ridge, and south of the South East Dorset conurbation at Sandbanks, from which it is ...

, south

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. Formerly an 'anvil' shape with a flat top, it fell onto one end and side in 1970, leaving the top at an angle of approximately 45°. Legend has it that the devil threw the rock from

The Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

with the intention of hitting either

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the P ...

Bindon Abbey Bindon Abbey (''Bindonium'') was a Cistercian monastery, of which only ruins remain, on the River Frome about half a mile east of Wool in the Purbeck District, Dorset, England. History The monastery was founded in 1149 by William de Glastoni ...

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury. The buildi ...

. "Aggle" was taken into the old Dorset dialect as meaning "to wobble".

Geology

The rock is an "eroded relic of iron-cemented,

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

sandstone, the Agglestone Grit". It used to be

anvil An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are as massive as practical, because the higher th ...

-shaped, but has since changed form due to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

and been toppled. Visiting the rock was listed by the

Dorset Echo The ''Dorset Echo'' is a daily newspaper published in the county of Dorset, England. The title publishes Monday to Saturday from editorial offices in Weymouth, and covers issues concerning south, central and west Dorset. The Saturday edition ...

as one of the "25 Things To Do In Dorset Before You Die".Dorset Echo - News, Sport, Homes, Jobs, Cars and Local Information in Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester

Mythology

In his 1927 book ''Downland Man'', H.J. Massingham wrote:

References

Landforms of Dorset Rock formations of England {{UK-geology-stub