THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE DEVIL'S CHANCTONBURY

Copyright Valerie Martin 2005

 

I witnessed a strange encounter in 2003 at the site of the re-planting of the Beech Trees on the summit of Chanctonbury Ring.    It was a comparatively calm day and a sudden mini-whirlwind caught a large tuft of dried grass and whirled it surprisingly and mysteriously into the air in a spiral in front of me.  It soared to about 12 ft.  It then dropped to earth and the clump disappeared.  If my feet were not so firmly planted on the ground, I could be easily convinced an unknown force had been at work.

 

 

7th October 2005

Hello Valerie,

Chanctonbury Ring

I was looking at your website and I just wanted to let you know that we witnessed a similar thing to you.

We were sitting on the top of the hill at Chanctonbury Ring. As we got up to leave, a pile of leaves started spinning in a spiral up to the sky.

There was a loud whooshing noise and it caught everyone's attention.

It was a baking hot day and there was no breeze.

It looked very strange. I think there's definitely something paranormal up there.

Regards,
Patricia Waterworth

 

 

 

8th October 2005

Hi Val,

In reply to Patricia Waterworth's mail about her spiral of leaves.  Forget the paranormal, this is quite normal, it's called a thermal and happens a lot on very hot days.

The hot air rises sucking in colder air from all directions, the air coming in hits the opposing air and begins to spiral and rush upwards, as it does it gathers the leaves and other detritus and forms a mini tornado, that was the noise you heard.

Nothing supernatural about natural phenomena, it's just a name we give to something we don't understand.

Have fun.
Neil.



Neil Farrell, Wavertree, Liverpool.

 

I still have to be convinced, Neil !

 

 

8th October 2005

Morning Val,

The Normality of Nature



 

I see you need convincing about spiraling columns, so here is a picture of it happening over water........a waterspout ........instead of sucking up leaves (a dearth on the open sea) it sucks up water, leaves are easier but nature has perfected the water trick (just like that) as the late Tommy Cooper would have said.

It does not have to be a hot day, it's all down to temperature differentials, waterspouts generally occur under cumulus clouds which produce the thermals that long distance glider pilots look for to enable them to gain altitude, it's all ever so natural.
Enjoy your weekend.
Neil.



Neil Farrell, Wavertree, Liverpool.

 

 

 

22nd October 2005

Hi

Chanctonbury Ring

the incident reported by Patricia regarding the leaves is strange. This is something which several people have experienced, and not always on the top of Chanctonbury.

Similar incidents have been reported on the track leading up to Chanctonbury - even when there is no wind or breeze and not particularly hot.

Actually many people have comented that it felt quite 'chilly' at the time. Very strange.

Charles Walker

 

 

Chanctonbury Ring is said to lie on a ley line between Devils Dyke to the east, and Barnsfarm Hill to the West of Washington.   What are Ley Lines you are asking?   I understand that many Iron Age and such sites can be connected with straight lines of mystic power.   So there you go!

 

 

1st December 2005

Hello Valerie Martin,

CHANCTONBURY RING

I have read your review on your experiences at chanctonbury and was wondering if u could give me a deeper insight into the place.

I went up there on Sunday afternoon with three of my friends and to say all of us got spooked by something would be a understatement.

We all saw numerous things up there and heard numerous noises as well although we never went into the ring. Since I have been up there I have felt nothing but a presence around me all the time.

From when I left there to dropping my friends off in Eastbourne then all the way home to croydon.

I really would like to discuss this place further but cannot go into too much detail at the moment due to this being a work email.

I was less than 12 feet away from what I can only describe as a dark figure in a cloak. but we also saw numerous other things. if you could give me any information at all I would appreciate it as this is deeply worrying me and playing on my mind.

Neil Oxlade.

 

 

 

 

3rd December 2005

Hello Valerie,

I have been having weird feelings ever since I read Neil's letter to you. When I was a young child my family went for a long walk up to Chanctonbury Ring when it was in its prime. That night at my grandparent Titheridges home in Froyle cottages,Kingston, I woke the whole house having a nightmare screaming

"I can't get out".

I felt that I was trapped inside of something evil. This was long before T.V. or the cinema could have influenced my dreams. I refused to go back.

I have not had a nightmare since.


Best wishes as always, Penny.

Penny Smith-Berkeley, Blair, Ontario, Canada.
 

 

As with other lonely wooded spots in the area, there are many stories and legends of ghosts and the Devil at Chanctonbury Ring.

 There are many stories of folklore connected with Chanctonbury, the most famous again being associated with the Devil. 

Legend has it that the he had a hand in the formation of the actual Ring.  When he discovered that the inhabitants of Sussex were being converted from previous pagan religions to Christianity he decided to drown them.

He began excavating a trench down to the English Channel from Poynings (I'm not quite sure why he set about this mission) but in the process sent huge quantities of earth in each and every direction all over Sussex.   One of these mounds became Chanctonbury.    

The Devil did not complete his task.  An old lady residing in a hovel nearby placed a sieve in front of a candle she had lit on her window ledge.  This disturbed a cockerel who just happened to be perching on her fence.  The Devil heard the crowing cockerel and, looking over his shoulder, saw what he mistakenly thought was the sun rising in the east.   He fled before completing his digging and did not bother to return to the scene of his excavations.

You can, it is rumoured today, raise the Devil at Chanctonbury Ring.   This can be done by walking (some say running) around the clump of trees seven times in an anti-clockwise direction.  I understand that some accounts say this must be done on a dark or moonlight night..... and one must not stop.  

Some stipulate
running backwards or anti-clockwise. 
One versions states it must be Midsummer Eve at 7 p.m., another May Day Eve, another at midnight.   Yet another states it to be during the time it takes a clock to strike midnight).  

If you are not utterly exhausted by then you will see that he has appeared.    He will (it is said) offer you a bowl of soup (some say milk, others say porridge!) in exchange for your soul (some say he will grant you your greatest wish).   It is up to you whether to accept or not.  

.  Some say that if you accept, he will take your soul or (perhaps better still) grant you your dearest wish. 

Another account is that if you walk or run around the ring twelve times on Midsummers Eve at midnight, the apparition of a druid will appear and move towards you.  On the other hand, you may be so exhausted that you can imagine anything!

I have not personally witnessed any of the above.

 

Laddie and Mandy Colbourne on the summit of Chanctonbury Ring in 2003.

 

 

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

 

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com