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Legends of Chanctonbury Ring

Author(s): Jacqueline Simpson


Source: Folklore, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Summer, 1969), pp. 122-131
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1258464 .
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Legendsof ChanctonburyRing
by JACQUELINE SIMPSON
CHANCTONBURY RINGis a well-known Sussex beauty-spot and
landmarknear the village of Washington,about six miles north
of Worthing.It is a largeisolatedclump of trees crowningone of
the highest points of the Sussex Downs, visible for many miles
around.Properlyspeaking,however,the term 'Ring' is older than
these trees, and refersto a small oval Iron Age hill fort, enclosing
about three and a half acres, whose bank and ditch can still
be traced, though the trees have overgrownthe northern side
of it.
Nineteenth-centuryantiquarianswere aware, from stray finds
of tiles and tesserae,that there had been Romanoccupationof the
site; in 1909 men replantingthe centre of the clump uncovered
Romanmasonry,and a brief excavationfollowed.This revealeda
small building with a double-squareplan - a common type of
Romano-Celtictemple--which seems to have been chiefly in
use in the third and fourth centuries.' Other Roman structures
were found, but not identified; the presence of the trees is an
obstacle to further excavation.A Roman terracewayclimbs the
north face of ChanctonburyHill, linking this site to the Sussex
GreensandWay which runs parallelto the foot of the Downs.2
The famous trees themselveswere planted by CharlesGoring
(1744-1829), owner of Wiston House, whose estate included
ChanctonburyHill. While still a boy he decided to beautifythe
hill with a clump of trees, and he began the actual planting in
1760. Some trees have had to be replacedfrom time to time, but
the clump is still essentiallythe same as when it was first created,
and is probablythe most distinctiveand most cherishedfeatureof
the Downs. Such a spot is bound to attractstories,if only because
1
G. S. Mitchell, 'Excavations at Chanctonbury Ring, 909o', Sussex Archaeo-
logical Collections, LIII (19go), 131-7. Cf. E. C. Curwen, The Archaeology of
Sussex (2nd ed.), 1954, p. 228.
2 Ivan D.
Margary, Roman Ways in the Weald, 1965, p. x8o.
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LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

generationsof childrenhave been taken to picnic there, and it is


to these stories that we must turn.3

I. Tales Concerningthe Plantingof the Clump


Charles Goring's name and achievement is on the whole
accuratelyremembered,and is mentioned in many guide-books,
usuallywith the added detailthat wheneverhe climbedthe hill he
brought up a bottle of water with him, to water his young trees.
Oral traditionsometimessubstitutesa more cynical version: that
he sent footmenfrom Wiston House to climb the hill with buckets
of water every day.4Occasionallyhis name and status have been
forgotten,and one may be told that 'a poor villageboy' workedall
his life at carryingsaplingsand water up the hill.
More curious is a tale I heard as a child in 1938, accordingto
which the trees were planted by an unnamedman to please his
wife, an heiress from the West Indies. She, pining for her child-
hood home, would climb Chanctonburyevery evening to gaze
westwards;her husbandmade the Ring as a bower to please her,
but even so she soon died, broken-hearted.This story bears no
similaritywhateverto the facts about Charles Goring, who was
sixteen when he started the tree-planting,and whose eventual
three marriageswere to women from Sussex and Hampshire. I
suspect that this story springsfrom a confusedrecollectionof the
careersof two much earlierand more famous men whose family
seat was Wiston House: Sir Anthony Shirley (1565-1635), and
his brotherSir RobertShirley. Sir Anthony,amongother warlike
exploits, raided the Caribbeanin 1696-7 and landed in Jamaica;
Sir Robert took service with the Shah of Persia and married a
Circassianprincess,whom he broughtto Englandand to Wiston
on a visit in 1611. It looks as if Sir Anthony'sJamaicanraid and
Sir Robert'sexotic wife have become confused, and broughtinto
associationwith the Ring in a sentimentaltale. This may be the
result of distortedfolk-memory,but since the local recollections
of CharlesGoring are generallyso strong and accurate,I think it

3 I am grateful to the pupils of Sion Convent School and to other informants


in Worthing; to the staff of Worthing Public Library; to Mr P. C. Coltman, of
Steyning Grammar School, for information collected by him from his pupils;
and to Mr John Goring, the present owner of the site, who confirms that most
of the stories given here are known also to him.
4 Information from my father, ca. I938; two oral informants, 1968.
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LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

more likely that the 'Pining Wife' story was invented by some
long-forgotten novelist who knew the history of Wiston House and
its owners, and was determined to improve on it. I think it was
told to me in good faith, but my original informant is now dead,
and I have not heard the story since.

II. Stories Concerningthe Romano-Celtic Temple


The excavations of 1909 really established no more than the
simple fact of the temple's existence, yet it is sometimes con-
fidently stated that the temple was dedicated to a goddess,
variously named as Venus, Diana or Flora.5 One writer also
states that 'there is tenuous evidence from local folklore that the
Roman or Romanized temple or chapel or shrine within [the Ring]
was consecrated by foundation sacrifice.'6 What this evidence may
have been I do not know; I have come across no other reference
to it. It may not have been 'local folklore' at all, but the outcome
of semi-antiquarian theorizings about Roman and, especially,
Druidic customs (cf. Section VIII).

III. The Eeriness of ChanctonburyRing


Though most people are fond of Chanctonbury Ring, there are
also many who feel strongly that it has a 'cold, evil feeling', and
will point out that 'no birds ever sing there'. Many refuse to go
among the trees or picnic near them, but give no specific stories
to account for their impressions. These can in fact be accounted
for quite easily. Chanctonbury is an isolated spot, only accessible
by a stiff climb or a fairly long walk; on a sunny day there is a
marked contrast between the warm open Downland, full of lark
song and buzzing insects, and the dim, chilly, silent clump where
the thick coverage cuts out all sound. The spot is also subject to
sudden mists and low cloud.7 All this may tend to induce experi-
ences such as that of a correspondent to the West Sussex Gazette
(18/7/68), who, while picnicking near the Ring many years ago,
was overwhelmed by 'a very uncanny feeling, and became stone
cold, with a sense of impending doom.'

5 G. Aitchison, Sussex, 1936, p. 22; information from my father, ca. 1938;


an oral informant, 1968.
6 H. J. Massingham, English Downland, 1936, p. 82.
7 Cf. a descriptive article, 'Picture of Chanctonbury', The Times,
23/9/59.
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LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

A highly dramatic account of this type appeared in print in


1935:

Naturallythe Ring is haunted.Even on a brightsummerday there is an


uncanny sense of an unseen presence, that seems to follow you about.
If you enter the dark wood alone, you are conscious of something
behind you. When you stop, It stops; when you go on, It follows. If
you stand still and listen, even on the most tranquilday when no breath
of air stirs the leaves, you can hear a whisperingsomewhereabove you.
No birds live in this sombrewood but a pair of yaffles,and occasionally
the silence is brokenby a loud, mockinglaugh. Only once have we been
so bold as to enter the Ring on a darknight. My wife and I went there
alone. We shall never repeat the visit. Some things are best forgotten
if they can be, and certainlynot set down in a book.8

IV. Circumambulatingthe Ring


There are numerous oral versions of this, the best-known tale
about the Ring; in contrast with the previous type, it is usually
told light-heartedly and received in the same spirit. It first
appeared in print (as far as I have been able to ascertain) in 1909,
in Arthur Beckett's The Spirit of the Downs, p. 3
i i:
If on a moonless night you walk seven times round the Ring without
stopping, the Devil will come out of the wood and hand you a basin of
soup.
Beckett's popular book, which went through eight reprints,
was presumably the unacknowledged source for several later
appearances of this story in print, characterized by including the
detail of the Devil's bowl of soup.9 Other printed accounts show
their independence by slight differences of detail. One states that
one must run three times round the earthwork of the camp (not
just the trees) at midnight, and the Devil will 'offer you porridge
from his bowl'; another corresponds closely to Beckett, but with
milk instead of soup.1' Yet another writer has a very simple

8 P. Gosse, Go to the Country, 1935, pp.


Io6-7.
Esther Meynell, Sussex Cottage, 1936, p. 96; Sussex County Magazine, X,
1936, p. 5, though this writer claims 'an old woman' as his source; L. N.
Cadlin, 'Folk Memory of Buried Treasure in the Sussex Hills', West Sussex
Gazette, 2/3/67.
10 R. Wyndham, Southeastern Survey,
1939, p. 41; D. Harrison, Along the
Sussex Downs, 1958.
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LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

version, learnt from gypsies or tramps, with no mention of food


or of circumambulation:
More than one of my vagabondfriends ... have told me that if I went
to Chanctonbury Ring alone and at midnight, I might meet the
Devil."

However, most popular writers on Sussex (e.g. Arthur Mee or


E. V. Lucas) have no knowledge of this or any other legend about
the Ring, nor does it appear in standard guide books; certainly it
has never become a commercialized stereotype like the legend of
the Devil's Dyke. Consequently, it is interesting to find that it is
widely known at the present day, and flourishes orally with many
variations, as will be seen from the following examples - all of
which, unless otherwise stated, were collected by me in Worthing
between September 1968 and March 1969; the ages of informants
are sometimes guesswork.
If you run seven times round ChanctonburyRing - or is it nine times?
- the Devil will come out and catch you. (Arthur, housepainter,
55.)
If you run round seven times while the clock is still strikingmidnight,
the Devil will come out. There's something about porridge, but I
cannot rememberwhat. (Mary, schoolteacher,
25.)
If you run round backwardsseven times at midnight, the Devil will
a
give you glass of milk. (John, 19.)
If you go round seven times at seven o'clock in the morning of Mid-
summer Day, the Devil appears.(Patsy, 16.)
If you run round seven times, the Devil comes out and chases you all
the way to - somewherea long way off, but I forget where. My aunt
told me when I was nine, and scared the life out of me. (Dorothy, 17.)
If you go round seven times at midnight on MidsummerEve, all your
wishes will come true. We all believed that when I was a girl. (Mrs S.,
teacher, 50.)
The subject also crops up from time to time in the Press:
It is said that if you walk twelve times round the Ring at midnight on
Midsummer Night, a Druid will walk over the earthworkto you. For
what purpose is not disclosed. (Anon, 'Picture of Chanctonbury',The
Times, 23/9/59.)
It is said that if you run round the Ring three times at midnight on
MidsummerEve, the Devil comes out from the trees and offers you a

11 Nancy Price, Jack by the Hedge, 1942.


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bowl of soup. (Anon, 'Perhaps it was the Devil Brewing his Soup',
West Sussex Gazette, 27/6/68.)
If one runs three times round the clump one sees a lady on a white
horse, and if you can manage to struggle round seven times, you are
rewardedby a sight of the Devil. (Letter from Miss Davey, of Chilgrove,
in West Sussex Gazette, 25/7/68, with reference to an experience in
1962.)
As is obvious, there is considerable variation as to times,
season, number and difficulty of circuits, the nature of the
apparition, and what, if anything, will ensue. My own recollection,
from ca. 1945, is of being told that the Devil appears after only
one circuit, at any time of day, and chases you to the Devil's Dyke
(about nine miles off).
The most intriguing feature of this legend is the basin of soup/
bowl of porridge/glass of milk; it is a pity that no version explains
whether one ought to accept it, or what will happen if one does.
In an article in the West Sussex Gazette, 2 L. N. Cadlin suggests
that it might come from folk-memories of some rite actually
practised in the Romano-Celtic temple on Chanctonbury centuries
ago in which the priest gave a ritual drink to the worshippers;
he points out that magic cauldrons recur constantly in Celtic
myths. One might add the argument that 'double-square' temples
consisted of an inner shrine and an outer portico which is thought
to have been used for processions; the seven circuits could be a
memory of these processions. Meat-broth, milk and porridge
might all be ritual foods; they are all present in the fantastic meal
prepared by the Fomorians for the Dagda. It is at any rate satis-
factory that the legend should have appeared in print as early as
1909, the same year that the building was found and one year
before the report identifying it as a temple was published; this
seems to rule out any possibility that the legend was influenced by
knowledge of the temple's existence.13
On the other hand, the idea that a supernatural being will offer
food or drink to passers-by at some prominent natural or man-made
12
See note 9.
1a The excavator himself writes as if he had believed at the time that the
buildings uncovered were for military purposes, and had been only later, and a
little reluctantly, converted by other archaeologists into recognizing them as a
temple. He is therefore most unlikely to have unwittingly fostered the spread of
supernatural stories.
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feature seems to be an international floating motif known else-


where in England.14 If one is to prove that a legend has preserved
for many centuries a memory of heathen ritual practised at a
particular spot, it would be desirable to show that the legend has
been exclusively associated with that spot for a considerable time,
and in this case the evidence seems too recent and too slight to
carry such weight. That the Chanctonbury Devil is a dim memory
of a Romano-Celtic god is an attractive hypothesis, but no more.

V. Numbering the Trees


Nobody can count the trees properly, because there is some sort of
spell on them. If anyone did do it, it would raise the ghosts of Julius
Caesar and all his armies, because they passed that way when they
invaded England. (Elizabeth, 17.)
The same story was told to me by my father in about 1938,
and Elizabeth's information came from a schoolmaster. Presum-
ably this story, or at any rate the mention of Julius Caesar in it,
originated from someone who knew the Roman associations of the
site. Roman tiles and other small items were found on Chancton-
bury in the nineteenth century.
In contrast, Miss B. (about 25), was certain that there were
precisely 365 trees in the Ring, one for each day of the year; this
story must be widely believed, for Miss B.'s informant had been
a schoolmistress who often took parties of children to the Ring,
and always told them this, as a fact. Mr John Goring, the present
owner of Chanctonbury, and descendant of Charles Goring, has
kindly informed me that the trees were last counted in 1935, and
that there were then 230; some have since fallen and others been
planted, but there is no attempt to keep to a specific number.

VI. Ghostly Horses


According to a shopkeeper (about 50): 'You can hear horses'
hooves up there, but you never see anything.' A Steyning school-
boy wrote me an account of an incident in which campers heard
14 See the stories about Rillaton Barrow and
Willy Howe Barrow cited by
L. V. Grinsell, 'Barrow Treasure in Fact, Tradition and Legislation', Folklore,
78 (1967), pp. 12-13, and references there given. Mr A. W. Smith also kindly
tells me that if one goes round the oldest tomb in Helston churchyard, the
Devil appears and cries 'Fish!'.
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LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

galloping hooves by night, and saw a phantom rider in white.


'A lady on a white horse' is mentioned in the last version of the
Devil story quoted above.

VII. The Treasure-SeekingGhost


This tale did not originally belong to the Ring, but to a farm
at the foot of the hill. There, in i866, a hoard of several thousand
late Anglo-Saxon coins was ploughed up, and the archaeologist
who reported the find noted:
There is a singular tradition connected with the site of the discovery,
which has been handed down in the neighbourhoodfrom fatherto son,
that a very aged man with a long white beardis occasionallyto be seen,
towards the dusk of evening, poring on the ground as if in search of
hidden treasure; whilst another version of the same legend describes
an old man clad in white, without a head, hauntingthe spot.15
R. D. Blackmore adopted and modified this legend in his novel
Alice Lorraine (1874-5). According to him, the haunting used to
take place round Chanctonbury Ring itself, and caused people to
shun the spot, until, 'by a lucky stroke of the ploughshare', the
treasure was found, after which 'its spectral owner roves no more'.
The ghost, says Blackmore, was that of a Saxon killed at Hastings,
who had forgotten where his treasure lay.
The story, however, is not dead. One writer, Norman Wymer,
found it current in the 1940's, when people feared to go round the
Ring at night 'lest they should meet the old white-bearded ghost
that walks with bent head, seeking his treasure'. Wymer's in-
formants firmly believed in the ghost, but he himself thought the
story to be sheer fabrication by Blackmore.16 The truth, as the
archaeological report of 1866 shows, was more complex. The ghost
story had genuine local roots and antedated the finding of the
coins, but did not refer to the Ring; since then it has been trans-
ferred from Chancton Farm to the Ring, presumably under
Blackmore's influence, and has acquired the motif of circum-
ambulation by conflation with the Devil legend.

15J. S. Lucas, 'The Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Coins Found at Chancton


Sussex Archaeological Collections, XX, I868, 212-14. Farm,
Sussex',
16
N. Wymer, Companion into Sussex, 1950, pp. 147-8. W. A
Sussex Peep-Show, 1938, also mentions the treasure-seeking ghostWilkinson,
at the Ring,
presumably from oral accounts, as he does not mention Blackmore.
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In anotherversion sent to me by a young girl in Steyning, the


ghost was that of a Druid, in a long white robe and beard; it
appearedout of the mist to a woman picnickingnear the Ring at
mid-day, causinga sudden icy chill. I have also been told simply
that there is a ghost, without more detail.

VIII. Witchcraftand Satanism


Four independentinformantshave told me that in recentyears
groups of 'witches'and Satanistsfrom variouscoastaltowns have
used ChanctonburyRing as a rendezvousand site for their rituals.
These informants consequently regard the Ring with fear and
disgust. One, a young man, also knew the traditionallegend about
the Devil, and his attitudetowardsit was markedlydifferentfrom
that of all other informants; he took it completely seriously,
declaredthat nothing would induce him to go round the Ring,
and deprecatedany frivolityor scepticismon the subject.
Obviously, a conspicuous hill with trees, a ring-fort, and an
authentic Romano-Celtictemple is a boon to anybodyin search
of a non-Christian 'Holy Place'. One prominent Satanist who
soon saw its possibilities was the notorious Aleister Crowley,
whose devoted disciple Victor Neuberg lived at Steyning, two
miles east of Chanctonbury.Apparentlyboth were convincedthat
it was 'a place of power', though their biographersare discreetly
silent as to whether they carriedout actual ceremoniesthere. At
any rate, Neuberg published poems about the mystic powers of
the spot, in one of which he describes a youth ecstaticallyunder-
going immolationin a Druidic sacrifice."7This kind of fantasy
probably accounts for the 'local folklore' about foundation
sacrifices mentioned in 1936 (see above, p. I24); the rumours of
witchcraftcurrentnowadaysreflectthe sensationalismof countless
recent novelists and journalists.
The activitiesof modern'covens'are a far cry from traditional
folklore.Yet their mereexistencewill eventuallyaffectthe develop-
ment of folklorein the samesort of wayas the existenceof modern
'Druids' has affectedpopularviews on Stonehenge.As they turn
their attention to sites whose natural or archaeologicalfeatures
suit their purposes, and as their activitiesbecome known locally,
17Jean Overton-Fuller, The Magical Dilemma of Victor Neuberg, x965,
pp. 78-8o; J. Symonds, The Great Beast, 1951.
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new stories will begin to circulate, possibly driving out authentic


ones, and basic attitudes may be sharply modified. This has
apparently not yet occurred in the immediate vicinity of Chancton-
bury, for Mr Goring tells me that he has never heard witchcraft
spoken of; nevertheless, it is possible to find an educated urban
youth seriously believing a legend which a countryman of his
grandfather's generation would simply have told for fun. This is a
fruitful source of new confusion in a field already only too liable
to confusion, and is yet another reason for the speedy recording of
genuine traditions before they are swamped by products of spurious
sensationalism.

IX. Flying Saucers


Folk traditions, archaeology and esoteric beliefs also sometimes
mingle in the views of those who believe in Flying Saucers. They
hold that these follow routes determined by magnetic forces, and
so are more frequently to be seen from certain sites; some claim
that the 'strong spiritual energy' of such places as Glastonbury or
Stonehenge is a cause, or an effect, of these phenomena.
In June 1968, a group of Worthing people spent a night on
Chanctonbury to watch for Unidentified Flying Objects.'8 They
chose the spot for its geographical prominence, it being a place
'where several force fields converge', 'a powerhouse of culmic
magnetic force'. Their vigil was rewarded by a sighting, but also
ended in an uncanny experience. Towards dawn they entered the
ring of trees, whereupon several felt sudden waves of intense cold,
a sensation as of electric shock, difficulty in breathing, and
stomach pains. It is clear from newspaper reports that the watchers
were already aware of the association of the Ring with the Devil
and with witchcraft; their leader has since told me that there is a
'Curse of Chanctonbury', but refuses to revive unpleasant
memories by further discussion.
Newspaper reports of this episode led to an article and corres-
pondence in the West Sussex Gazette (already quoted), in which
Beckett's version of the Devil and his soup was cited, and letter-
writers proffered their own experiences. Thus, by the two-way
traffic between old beliefs and new, tales still grow and spread.

18 Reports in the Worthing Gazette,


West Sussex Gazette, 20/6/68. x9/6/68; Worthing Herald, 21/6/68;

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