The Saint’s well is in the garden.  It was hereabouts that St. Dunstan had his great tussle with the Devil, holding the fiend by the nose with his tongs; eventually the Evil One wrenched himself free; making an eight mile leap he cooled his nose in a pool of water, giving it for ever “a flavour of warm flat irons” and making the fortune of the future Tunbridge Wells.  Mayfield has another claim to a niche in history, not a quaint old tale like the above but a sombre fact:—­

“Next followed four, which suffered at Mayfield, in Sussex, the twenty-fourth of September 1556, of whose names we find two recorded, and the other two we yet know not, and therefore, according to our register, hereunder they be specified, as we find them:  John Hart, Thomas Ravendale, a shoemaker and a carrier, which said four being at the place where they should suffer, after they had made their prayers, and were at the stake ready to abide the force of the fire, they constantly and joyfully yielded their lives for the testimony of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Foxe.)

The scenery hereabouts is distinctly of Devonian character.  Rich and varied views reward the leisurely traveller who will make a side excursion to Rotherfield, passing, halfway the conical Argos Hill crowned with a windmill.  The village, though not so interesting as Mayfield, is well placed and has a fine Perpendicular church, the spire being a landmark for many miles.  Here is an east window by Burne Jones and several other good examples of modern stained glass which make fine splashes of colour in the old building.  A quaint saying in reference to the handsome presence of the Rotherfield women is that they have an “extra pair of ribs.”

The beautiful district between here and Tunbridge Wells deserves a chapter to itself.  Frant Wadhurst and Ticehurst belong more naturally to West Kent than East Sussex.  These three beautiful villages and the glorious Eridge Park could be combined in this excursion by the traveller who has unlimited time.

We may now follow the valley of the Rother through scenery of much quiet beauty to Burwash, 6-1/2 miles from Mayfield.  Here is an old church with a (possibly) Saxon tower and an interesting iron slab inscribed “Orate p Annima Johne Colins,” probably the oldest piece of local ironwork in existence.  The outline of the village is eminently satisfying to the artist, especially the house called “Rampyndens.”  Burwash is connected with the Rev. J. Cocker Egerton, to whom reference has already been made.  From the natives of this particular district was gleaned that record of rustic humour which makes the Sussex peasant depicted in his writings so real to those who know him.  The village has lately become the home of Rudyard Kipling, who lives at “Batemans,” a beautiful old house in an adjacent valley surrounded by wooded hills.  “Puck of Pooks Hill” is said to have been inspired by the locality.