Chanctonbury Ring

Friday 10th September 2021

Chanctonbury Ring is a prehistoric hill fort about 7 miles from Knepp. It has been abandoned for centuries. In 1760 the owner planted a ring of beeches around the perimeter - I think it must have looked beautiful like that. In the early 20th century his descendants decided to plant up the whole ring with trees. The storm of 1987 destroyed about 75% of them but they have been replanted since. I have wanted to go there since reading Robert Macfarlane's book The Old Ways - where he describes sleeping overnight at the the Ring. He heard human screams at the top of the trees that traversed around the treetops of the Ring stopping over his head then disappearing (at 2am - personally I would have run a mile!). Interestingly he had not known the folklore before going - which makes it kind of spooky - its the most haunted place on the Downs with many people feeling a presence there or hearing screams. It looked spooky when we went today - but only because of low cloud (which cleared after I took the picture!).