The Devil’s Jump Stone is a small standing stone, only two feet high, , close to the lane running south from Marston Moretaine to Lidlington. A standing stone of any size is unusual in this part of England and this one is a natural erratic carried here in the Ice Age. Formerly one of three, it was later erected beside the road, possibly in connection with the many prehistoric sites now detectable only as crop marks in this part of the valley of the River Ouse.
According to local tradition, as reported by Laurence Meynell in 1930, the name of the Jumps Inn, south of the village, commemorated the time when, in a field nearby, a farmer was playing at ‘jumps’ (probably leapfrog) on a Sunday, when the Devil appeared, took a leap from the tower of the church, landed on what is now called the Jump Stone, and bore the man away. (This may or may not have been the time when the Devil was trying to steal the church tower, but found it too heavy and put it down, locally said to be the reason why it is now separate from the church.)
Henry Bett gives a different version of the legend in English Legends (1950). He says that the Jumps Inn, on the road to the church, was called that because on the spot where it stands three youths were jumping on a Sunday when a mysterious stranger joined them and offered to teach them how to leap. He made three marvelous leaps, the extent of which, says Bett, was still shown – presumably he is referring to the standing stone or stones (when there were 3). The terrified youths tried to escape, but the Devil seized them and they all vanished in a blue flame.