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appreciated. The prehistoric entrenchment is filled with the beeches planted by Mr. Charles Goring of Wiston when a youth (about 1760). In his old age (1828) Mr. Goring wrote the following:—
"How oft around thy Ring, sweet Hill,
A Boy, I used to play, And form my plans to plant thy top
On some auspicious day. How oft among thy broken turf
With what delight I trod, With what delight I placed those twigs
Beneath thy maiden sod. And then an almost hopeless wish
Would creep within my breast, Oh! could I live to see thy top
In all its beauty dress'd. That time's arrived; I've had my wish,
And lived to eighty-five; I'll thank my God who gave such grace
As long as e'er I live. Still when the morning sun in Spring,
Whilst I enjoy my sight, Shall gild thy new-clothed Beech and sides,
I'll view thee with delight."
Chanctonbury must have had an overpowering effect on our ancestors; the correspondent quoted below perhaps saw the hill through one of the mists which come in from the sea and render every object monstrous or mysterious.
"Chanckbury, the Wrekin or Cenis of the South Downs, is said to be 1,000 perpendicular yards above the level of the sea; on the summum jugum, or vertex, is a ring of trees planted by Mr. Goring of Whiston, and if they were arrived at maturity, would form no indifferent imitation of an ancient Druidical grove." (Gentleman's Magazine, 1819.)
The descent from the ring is made past a pond whose origin is unknown; judging by its appearance it may well have supplied the men who first occupied the fortifications on the hill top. The white path below eventually leads, by a narrow and steep gully, very slippery after rain, directly to the village of Washington on the Horsham-Worthing high road. The church stands above the village in a picturesque situation, but is of little interest. With the exception of the tower, it was rebuilt in 1866. Here is a sixteenth-century tomb of John Byne from |
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