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WASHINGTON - CHANCTONBURY RING
Washington is not associated with the American President, but is derived
from 'Wasa-inga-tun', the settlement of the sons of Wasa. Just thought I
would make that clear for our American visitors in case they thought it
may have been visited or influenced by their noted coutryman.
A tradition existed here for centuries that a "treasure" was
hidden in the vicinity, and very often a ghost of an old white-bearded man
was seen wandering in the fields. It was supposed that this spectre was
the guardian of the fabled treasure that the locals thought was buried here..
Although Chanctonbury Ring is a well known landmark and a favourite spot
for picnics and days out in spring and summer, in years gone by this was
a lonely and forbiding place. It was imbued with terror of a wandering ghost
- an ancient ghost with a long white beard that roamed the area - even during
the daylight hours. It's head was bowed low as though in search of something
- a vain search of centuries.
On Chancton farm, close by, a remarkable find was uncovered. A pot of
Saxon coins was unearthed in 1866, but this was unearthed by the ploughshare
and not by any spectre of the fields. The vessel turned up by the plough
contained around 3,000 pennies of the reigns of Edward the Confessor and
King Harold.
A more interesting point of the find was that the coins were minted in
some fifty different parts of the kingdom. Even the now obscure mint at
Steyning had it's coins within the hoard and for a time, Saxon pennies were
cheap at Washington and enough to fill a half-pint measure are said to have
changed hands for a quart of "double X" brew.
Once this long sought hoard of treasure had been unearthed, the spectral
figure was seen no more and reports of it's presence faded into the minds
of the locals and slowly the story was consigned to the tomes of local history
and surfaced just to be told around the fire to scare the audience.
The spectre is supposed , with all the assumption required to make a certainty,
to have been a tenant of Chancton Manor, and, being slain at the Battle
of Senlac hill near Hastings when the Normans invaded England, was able
to guard his treasure in spirit only.
Wandering night after night over the lonely fields, century after century,
we can only guess that he was either trying to guard his hoard or perhaps
advertising it's whereabouts so that it would be uncovered.
Whatever the true facts concerning this particular story, it would be
fair to say that the truth is now lost in the mists of time and but for
renditions of the story such as this, who would give a thought to the lonely
spectre of Chanctonbury Ring!
