WOOD DEVASTATED
FIRE IN ENGLISH BEAUTY SPOT. Devil’s Hole Wood, Spirit Holes Wood, and the Headless Rider's Bridle Path, part of the woodlands of Coombe Valley, near Leek, England, were recently swept by a fierce fire which destroyed timber and wild life, and threatened to encircle the amateur firefighters. Coombe Valley is a favourite spot for ramblers, and the fire is believed to have been started by a carelessly dropped cigarette. The blaze originated beside a footpath and spread with great speed through the droughtparched woods. More than 200 acres were devastated. There are many legends about the locality. The Devil himself is stated to have appeared in the Devil’s Hole. The ancient Britons are said to have vanquished the Romans by dropping stones on them from the heights above the valley at Spirit Holes. The valley is 'also reputeed to be haunted by a ghostly headless rider, the spirit of a young man who jumped a gate overhanging the precipitous valley, and broke his neck in the fall.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19380723.2.15.6
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 July 1938, Page 3
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169WOOD DEVASTATED Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 July 1938, Page 3
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