MYTHS & LEGENDS

Kingley Vale: Who lies beneath Kingley Vale? Tales of hauntings in the dark and silent grove of ancient yews will come as no surprise to those who know this spot. But are the ghosts marauding Viking warriors, left to rot until the trees grew over their bodies, or do the gnarled trees take human form by moonlight?

Long Man of Wilmington: One local legend claims that the Long Man is a memorial outlining the figure of a giant from Windover Hill who fell and broke his neck. Another talks of a fight between the Long Man of Wilmington and another giant from Firle Beacon, which ended in the death of the tallest man to have ever lived in England.

Pharisees:  The old Sussex name for fairies. Once rife across the Downs, living in ancient earthworks and hill-forts, the fairies were most recently seen on Harrow Hill near Patching, with its flint mines and earthworks, which is said to have been their last home.

Chanctonbury Ring: With the remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts, a Roman temple and its distinctive ring of beech trees, Chanctonbury Ring is said to be the most haunted site in the South Downs. Stories vary, but walking widdershins (anti clockwise) seven times round the ring might summon up the devil, a druid, a lady on a white horse or Julius Caesar and his army.

Here be dragons: Legend says that the distinctive ridges curling around Bignor Hill were cut by a giant worm wrapping his enormous tail around the hill. Meanwhile a fearsome dragon guards his marvellous hoard of gold and precious stones in an underground tunnel near Cissbury Ring.

Bevis of Arundel: A giant so huge that his sword, Morglay, was longer than a man and Hirondelle, his horse, was taller than a house. As the gate-keeper for the earls of Arundel, he lived in a special tower with an allowance of a whole ox and two hogsheads of beer each week. On the eve of his death he threw Morglay from the tower window and asked to be buried where it fell. In Arundel Park there is a spot still known as Bevis’ Tomb.

The Golden Calf: Stories suggest that the South Downs hills are filled with magical riches. The Golden Calf on the Trundle was claimed to have been made by Aaron whilst Moses was on Mount Sinai. The Devil guards this prize jealously, keeping it well hidden from any treasure hunters.