For generations the Devil's Chimney has been popular landmark for locals and a destination for Sunday walks but it has defied all investigation into its origin. Numerous theories have been put forward over the years to explain the existence of this craggy outcrop. According to the legend, the formation rises straight from the bowels of Hell. Visitors would climb to the top and leave a coin as insurance against the wrath of the Devil, to protect the chimney from further erosion .

Devil's Chimney

People always tried to scale the Chimney and an unofficial record is held by a group of 13 people all of whom stood on top of the column at the same time. To avoid further erosion of the landmark, climbing has since been prohibited.

Another theory about the origins of this curiously shaped column assumes that the whole thing is practical joke dreamt up by bored quarry workers of the 18th Century looking for a way to immortalise their work. It doesn't seem likely, as the quarrymen didn't have much time spare during the working day and if they did, chiselling limestone would probably be the last thing they would amuse themselves with.

In his book Old Leckhampton David Bick suggests that the Devil's Chimney was commissioned to attract publicity for Cheltenham as growing spa and tourist town which would coincide with the fact that the name appeared in print first in 1803.

Yet another theory offered in the 19th century geologist S. Buckman. Mr Buckman believed that Devil's Chimney is actually a column of harder rock which has been left free-standing after many years of erosion of the softer rock around it. No matter where the truth lies, the Devil's Chimney is an enduring reminder of the days when Leckhampton limestone was quarried commercially from the eighteenth century up until the 1920s.