Trains run at frequent intervals from Brighton Central to the Dyke and public conveyances from the Aquarium.  The excursion should not be missed, though the visitor who is a stranger must be prepared for a 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-Brighton road crosses the Downs.  The old church has a twelfth century leaden font and a double piscina and is one of the highest in Sussex, being situated 400 feet above the sea.  This walk could very well be extended to include Wolstonbury Hill and Hurstpierpoint.