Doxey Pool, also written Doxy's Pool, lies on the top path of the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands. It keeps its level whatever the weather and has no visible inflow, which helped the tradition that it is bottomless and joined underground to the Atlantic or, by a shorter tunnel, to Blakemere on Morridge about three miles away. Blakemere has its own mermaid legend.
The pool's resident is variously called a mermaid and Jenny Greenteeth, who waits to drown the unwary. One version says she was a woman who strayed from the path in fog and drowned. Another account of the name says Doxey Cottage was named after the daughter of a highwayman called Bowyer of the Rocks and his wife Bess, whose daughter was carried off by strange men; her ghost is said to be the singing woman who walks the ridge at night.
In 1949 Florence Pettit, who lived nearby, went up early one morning to bathe in the pool. She said a strange water spirit rose about 30 feet into the air, made of weed and water, gave her a menacing stare and sank back. Years later she recalled a passing rambler telling her there was a haunted lake on top. The walking writer who retells the account notes that fog or a trick of light might explain it, and that there have been no further sightings reported since.
The 1949 report is the only dated witness account found, so the entry is tagged as traditional folklore. The pin is approximate.
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