The rocks are linked to the legend of the Dawlish parson and his clerk who rode to Teignmouth to collect tithes. Returning to Dawlish in the dark, they got lost and the parson in his panic, unwisely wished for a guide "even if it were the devil himself". At that moment, they saw lights of a house, where a carousing party was in full flow. Unwisely, they joined in. Eventually, they decided they had better return to Dawlish, and their host volunteered to show them the way. But as they rode, a great storm blew up, the waves grew rough, the water rose around them, and a flash of lightning showed them they had ridden out to sea, while on the cliff, watching, sat their host - the Devil himself - laughing. Next morning their horses were found straying on the beach, and the only traces of the parson and clerk were the two rocks, into which they had been transformed by the Devil.

You can see their faces outlined in the rocks - both looking out to sea for ever more!