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: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1258464
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 Legends of Chanctonbury Ring
by JACQUELINE SIMPSON
CHANCTONBURY RING is a well-known Sussex beauty-spot and
landmark near the village of Washington, about six miles north
of Worthing. It is a large isolated clump of trees crowning one of
the highest points of the Sussex Downs, visible for many miles
around. Properly speaking, however, the term 'Ring' is older than
these trees, and refers to 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 overgrown the northern side
of it.
Nineteenth-century antiquarians were aware, from stray finds
of tiles and tesserae, that there had been Roman occupation of the
site; in 1909 men replanting the centre of the clump uncovered
Roman masonry, and a brief excavation followed. This revealed a
small building with a double-square plan - a common type of
Romano-Celtic temple--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 terraceway climbs the
north face of Chanctonbury Hill, linking this site to the Sussex
Greensand Way which runs parallel to the foot of the Downs.2
The famous trees themselves were planted by Charles Goring
(1744-1829), owner of Wiston House, whose estate included
Chanctonbury Hill. While still a boy he decided to beautify the
hill with a clump of trees, and he began the actual planting in
1760. Some trees have had to be replaced from time to time, but
the clump is still essentially the same as when it was first created,
and is probably the most distinctive and most cherished feature of
the Downs. Such a spot is bound to attract stories, 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

generations of children have been taken to picni

to these stories that we must turn.3

I. Tales Concerning the Planting of the Clump

Charles Goring's name and achievement is
accurately remembered, and is mentioned in m
usually with the added detail that whenever he cl
brought up a bottle of water with him, to water
Oral tradition sometimes substitutes a more cyn
he sent footmen from Wiston House to climb the h
of water every day.4 Occasionally his name and
forgotten, and one may be told that 'a poor villag
his life at carrying saplings and water up the hill
More curious is a tale I heard as a child in 1938
which the trees were planted by an unnamed m
wife, an heiress from the West Indies. She, pinin
hood home, would climb Chanctonbury every
westwards; her husband made the Ring as a bow
but even so she soon died, broken-hearted. This
similarity whatever to the facts about Charles G
sixteen when he started the tree-planting, and
three marriages were to women from Sussex an
suspect that this story springs from a confused rec
careers of two much earlier and more famous m
seat was Wiston House: Sir Anthony Shirley (
his brother Sir Robert Shirley. Sir Anthony, amo
exploits, raided the Caribbean in 1696-7 and lan
Sir Robert took service with the Shah of Persia
Circassian princess, whom he brought to Englan
on a visit in 1611. It looks as if Sir Anthony's Ja
Sir Robert's exotic wife have become confused, a
association with the Ring in a sentimental tale.
result of distorted folk-memory, but since the l
of Charles Goring are generally so strong and ac

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

in Worthing; to the staff of Worthing Public Library; to M
Steyning Grammar School, for information collected by hi
and to Mr John Goring, the present owner of the site, who
of the stories given here are known also to him.
4 Information from my father, ca. I938; two oral informa
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 LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

more likely that the 'Pining Wife' story was inven

long-forgotten novelist who knew the history of Wist
its owners, and was determined to improve on it.
told to me in good faith, but my original informan
and I have not heard the story since.

II. Stories Concerning the Romano-Celtic Temple

The excavations of 1909 really established no mo
simple fact of the temple's existence, yet it is som
fidently stated that the temple was dedicated
variously named as Venus, Diana or Flora.5 On
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 Chanctonbury Ring

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 appear

1935:

Naturally the Ring is haunted. Even on a bright summ

uncanny sense of an unseen presence, that seems to
If you enter the dark wood alone, you are consci
behind you. When you stop, It stops; when you go o
you stand still and listen, even on the most tranquil d
of air stirs the leaves, you can hear a whispering som
No birds live in this sombre wood but a pair of yaffl
the silence is broken by a loud, mocking laugh. Only
so bold as to enter the Ring on a dark night. My wif
alone. We shall never repeat the visit. Some things a
if they can be, and certainly not set down in a book.

IV. Circumambulating the Ring

There are numerous oral versions of this, the b
about the Ring; in contrast with the previous t
told light-heartedly and received in the sam
appeared in print (as far as I have been able to as
in Arthur Beckett's The Spirit of the Downs, p. i
If on a moonless night you walk seven times round
stopping, the Devil will come out of the wood and h
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 m

or of circumambulation:

More than one of my vagabond friends ... 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 o

E. V. Lucas) have no knowledge of this or any other legend abo
the Ring, nor does it appear in standard guide books; certainly
has never become a commercialized stereotype like the legend o
the Devil's Dyke. Consequently, it is interesting to find that it
widely known at the present day, and flourishes orally with ma
variations, as will be seen from the following examples - all o
which, unless otherwise stated, were collected by me in Worthi
between September 1968 and March 1969; the ages of informan
are sometimes guesswork.
If you run seven times round Chanctonbury Ring - or is it nine time
- the Devil will come out and catch you. (Arthur, housepainter, 55.)
If you run round seven times while the clock is still striking midnigh
the Devil will come out. There's something about porridge, but
cannot remember what. (Mary, schoolteacher, 25.)
If you run round backwards seven times at midnight, the Devil wil
give you a 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 a
the way to - somewhere a long way off, but I forget where. My aun
told me when I was nine, and scared the life out of me. (Dorothy, 1
If you go round seven times at midnight on Midsummer Eve, all yo
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 o
Midsummer Night, a Druid will walk over the earthwork to you. Fo
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 o
Midsummer Eve, the Devil comes out from the trees and offers you

11 Nancy Price, Jack by the Hedge, 1942.

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 LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

bowl of soup. (Anon, 'Perhaps it was the Devil Brew

West Sussex Gazette, 27/6/68.)
If one runs three times round the clump one sees a lady
horse, and if you can manage to struggle round seven t
rewarded by a sight of the Devil. (Letter from Miss Davey
in West Sussex Gazette, 25/7/68, with reference to an e
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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 LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

feature seems to be an international floating mo

where in England.14 If one is to prove that a lege
for many centuries a memory of heathen ritual
particular spot, it would be desirable to show tha
been exclusively associated with that spot for a co
and in this case the evidence seems too recent an
carry such weight. That the Chanctonbury Devil
of a Romano-Celtic god is an attractive hypothes

V. Numbering the Trees

Nobody can count the trees properly, because ther

spell on them. If anyone did do it, it would raise the
Caesar and all his armies, because they passed that
invaded England. (Elizabeth, 17.)

The same story was told to me by my father

and Elizabeth's information came from a schoolm
ably this story, or at any rate the mention of Ju
originated from someone who knew the Roman as
site. Roman tiles and other small items were foun
bury in the nineteenth century.
In contrast, Miss B. (about 25), was certain t
precisely 365 trees in the Ring, one for each day
story must be widely believed, for Miss B.'s info
a schoolmistress who often took parties of childr
and always told them this, as a fact. Mr John Go
owner of Chanctonbury, and descendant of Char
kindly informed me that the trees were last coun
that there were then 230; some have since fallen
planted, but there is no attempt to keep to a spec

VI. Ghostly Horses

According to a shopkeeper (about 50): 'You ca
hooves up there, but you never see anything.' A
boy wrote me an account of an incident in which

14 See the stories about Rillaton Barrow and Willy How

L. V. Grinsell, 'Barrow Treasure in Fact, Tradition and Leg
78 (1967), pp. 12-13, and references there given. Mr A. W
tells me that if one goes round the oldest tomb in Helsto
Devil appears and cries 'Fish!'.
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 LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

galloping hooves by night, and saw a phantom rider

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

VII. The Treasure-Seeking Ghost

This tale did not originally belong to the Ring, but
at the foot of the hill. There, in i866, a hoard of sever
late Anglo-Saxon coins was ploughed up, and the arch
who reported the find noted:

There is a singular tradition connected with the site of the

which has been handed down in the neighbourhood from f
that a very aged man with a long white beard is occasionally
towards the dusk of evening, poring on the ground as if
hidden treasure; whilst another version of the same legen
an old man clad in white, without a head, haunting the spo

R. D. Blackmore adopted and modified this legend in

Alice Lorraine (1874-5). According to him, the haunt
take place round Chanctonbury Ring itself, and caus
shun the spot, until, 'by a lucky stroke of the plough
treasure was found, after which 'its spectral owner roves
The ghost, says Blackmore, was that of a Saxon killed
who had forgotten where his treasure lay.
The story, however, is not dead. One writer, Norma
found it current in the 1940's, when people feared to g
Ring at night 'lest they should meet the old white-be
that walks with bent head, seeking his treasure'. Wy
formants firmly believed in the ghost, but he himself th
story to be sheer fabrication by Blackmore.16 The tr
archaeological report of 1866 shows, was more complex
story had genuine local roots and antedated the find
coins, but did not refer to the Ring; since then it has
ferred from Chancton Farm to the Ring, presum
Blackmore's influence, and has acquired the motif
ambulation by conflation with the Devil legend.

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

Sussex', Sussex Archaeological Collections, XX, I868, 212-14.
16 N. Wymer, Companion into Sussex, 1950, pp. 147-8. W. W
Sussex Peep-Show, 1938, also mentions the treasure-seeking ghost
presumably from oral accounts, as he does not mention Blackmor
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 LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

In another version sent to me by a young girl i

ghost was that of a Druid, in a long white ro
appeared out of the mist to a woman picnicking
mid-day, causing a sudden icy chill. I have also b
that there is a ghost, without more detail.

VIII. Witchcraft and Satanism

Four independent informants have told me that
groups of 'witches' and Satanists from various co
used Chanctonbury Ring as a rendezvous and site
These informants consequently regard the Ring
disgust. One, a young man, also knew the traditio
the Devil, and his attitude towards it was markedly
that of all other informants; he took it complet
declared that nothing would induce him to go r
and deprecated any frivolity or scepticism on the
Obviously, a conspicuous hill with trees, a ring
authentic Romano-Celtic temple is a boon to any
of a non-Christian 'Holy Place'. One prominen
soon saw its possibilities was the notorious Al
whose devoted disciple Victor Neuberg lived a
miles east of Chanctonbury. Apparently both wer
it was 'a place of power', though their biographer
silent as to whether they carried out actual cerem
any rate, Neuberg published poems about the m
the spot, in one of which he describes a youth ec
going immolation in a Druidic sacrifice."7 This k
probably accounts for the 'local folklore' abo
sacrifices mentioned in 1936 (see above, p. I24); t
witchcraft current nowadays reflect the sensational
recent novelists and journalists.
The activities of modern 'covens' are a far cry f
folklore. Yet their mere existence will eventually af
ment of folklore in the same sort of way as the exis
'Druids' has affected popular views on Stoneheng
their attention to sites whose natural or archaeo
suit their purposes, and as their activities becom

17Jean Overton-Fuller, The Magical Dilemma of Victo

pp. 78-8o; J. Symonds, The Great Beast, 1951.
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 LEGENDS OF CHANCTONBURY RING

new stories will begin to circulate, possibly driv

ones, and basic attitudes may be sharply mod
apparently not yet occurred in the immediate vicini
bury, for Mr Goring tells me that he has never
spoken of; nevertheless, it is possible to find an
youth seriously believing a legend which a coun
grandfather's generation would simply have told
fruitful source of new confusion in a field alread
to confusion, and is yet another reason for the spee
genuine traditions before they are swamped by prod
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, x9/6/68; Worthing Herald, 21/6/68;

West Sussex Gazette, 20/6/68.
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