Moorland Ramblings

The story of Kitty Jay is a sad one. I’ll say at the start that there are themes of suicide within, so skip this story if you want to avoid that.

The tale of Kitty Jay takes us back to the 18^th century, when Dartmoor was a wild, foreboding landscape which offered a life filled with hardship in which many looked to eek their living through farming and / or exploitation of the natural resources which powered pre-Victorian industry. It was into this time that a pauper girl was born. An orphan from birth, she was taken to work in the Poor House at Newton Abbot. The custom at the time was for Poor House to assign a surname beginning with whatever had been progressed to (not too dissimilar with how we name our storms now) – a J. The Poor House settle on “Jay” as a surname, but this also happened to be slang for prostitute, so ever mindful of the sanctity of a poor orphan’s soul, the biblical name of Mary was given as her Christian name.

Mary Jay remained at the Poor House until she reached an age where she was seen as monetarily useful. She was sent to work at Canna Farm (which was just outside of Manaton) which was owned by a farmer of wealth. Here, she worked the fields and within the house. This was a life of true hardship, where warm clothes and a decent meal were fleeting and so when she started to receive the attentions of the farmer’s son, she gratefully returned these. She soon fell pregnant.

Being pregnant out of wedlock was not a good look in those days (no matter a woman’s status). Combining this with Mary’s (now known as Kitty) lowly station in society meant that the family of her lover did everything they could to distance themselves from her. In a situation that was all too common up and down the breadth of the country, in which servants were taken advantage of and then abandoned to their shame, the family spread the word that the “slut” Kitty Jay had coerced their son into the relationship and forced the impregnation. She was kicked out of the farm, and with it her shelter and employment.

Knowing that the prospect of finding further employment was slim to none (given the reputation she had been given) and too ashamed at the though of returning to the Poor House, Kitty took the only option she felt possible. She was found hanging from the rafter of one of the barns at Canna.

Until the Burial of Suicide Act that was passed in 1823 victims of suicide were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground. What’s more, in the superstitious minds of the day, it was believed that the spirits of those who had not been buried in consecrated ground would remain earthbound, to wonder and haunt. As such, they were often buried at a crossroads outside the boundary of the parish (in the belief that the choice of four roads would confuse the spirit into remaining where they were).

This was the fate of poor Kitty Jay, who was buried at the intersection of a road and a moorland track. The story of Jay’s Grave doesn’t end here however. There are numerous stories and sightings of a dark, hooded, spectral figure visiting the grave by the light of a full moon.

Adding to the mystique of the location is the second ghostly phenomenon, the daily appearance of fresh flowers at the grave site. Nobody is ever seen leaving them, but tradition says that the piskies of the eastern moor tend to the grave out of sympathy, ensuring it will be respectfully maintained for ever more.

Of all the legends the moor has given rise to, the story of Kitty Jay is perhaps the best known (even inspiring a song and album named Kitty Jay (2004) by singer Seth Lakeman. Today, the emotion evoked from the story, the dichotomous beauty of the surrounding moorland and the accessibility of the grave site has made it something of a tourist attraction, with the grave becoming a shrine with all manner of offerings. The story of my visit to the area can be read in a separate post “Hound Tor and Bowerman’s Nose Walk: Folklore, History, and Panoramic Views”.