regrettable amount of waste paper and broken bottles left about to mar
what would otherwise be one of the finest scenes in the Downs.
Refreshment stalls and tea gardens help to vulgarize the surroundings,
though the added desecration of aerial railway across the Dyke has been
removed.

The local legend is almost too well known to bear repetition. The
Sussex native has a dislike, probably derived from his remote
ancestors, to refer directly to the Devil, so the story has it that the
"Poor Man," becoming enraged at the number of churches built in the
Weald, conceived the idea of drowning them by letting in the sea; he
had half finished the great trench, being forced (like his remote
prototype) to work at night, when an old lady, hearing the noise of
digging, put her candle in a sieve and looked out of the window. The
Devil took it for sunrise and disappeared, a very simple fiend indeed!

[Illustration: POYNINGS.]

The view from the edge of the escarpment with Poynings just below to
the right is very beautiful; away to the south-west is an eminence
called "Thunder's Barrow," probably Thor's Barrow; at the lower end of
the Dyke is the Devil's Punch Bowl, here are two more barrows "The
Devil's Grave" and "The Devil's Wife's Grave."

A visit to Poynings (locally "Punnings") should be combined with this
excursion; this is a really pleasant and, as yet, unspoilt village. One
feels nervous for its future, but the good taste of the inhabitants,
combined with the formidable barrier of the hills, will, it is hoped,
prevent it ever becoming a mere congeries of tea gardens and like
amenities. The fine cruciform church has a central tower and is Early
Perpendicular; built by Baron de Poynings in the late fourteenth
century it has many interesting details. Note the old thurible used as
an alms box. The great south window was brought here from Chichester
Cathedral. There is some good carved wood in the pulpit and rails. The
ruins of Poynings Place, the one-time home of the Fitz-Rainalts, Barons
of Poynings, may still be seen.

Newtimber Hill immediately east of the village is rarely visited and
therefore is not rendered unsightly in the manner of the Dyke. The view
is equally good and the Downs westward appear to even better advantage
from this outlying point. A return could be made from Newtimber to
Pycombe, once famous for its manufacture of shepherds crooks--"Pycoom
Hooks." The village lies in the pass by which the London-Bright