Among the ancient monuments and natural features that have been attributed to the prince of darkness in Jeremy Harte’s quirky study of English folklore and landscape is Devil’s Dyke in Sussex, a steep-sided valley in the South Downs near Brighton. But rather than being notorious for its demonic associations since time immemorial, it only became a fashionable destination for visitors “hungry for sea air and scenery” in the late 18th century. Local people at the time were keen to feed visitors with spooky tales about their district.
Its fame began to spread, and in 1810, William Hamper from Birmingham composed a verse based on a story he had been told in Brighton. Apparently “Old Nick” had become so outraged by the number of churches in the flat Weald countryside that he decided “to cut the lofty Downs in two”, creating a channel to the sea that would flood the countryside and its pious people.
