Devil’s Punch Bowl, Hindhead

The Devil’s Punch Bowl at Hindhead is a large natural hollow with several pieces of folk lore attached to Old Nick himself. In one version the Norse God Thor scooped out the earth at the Punch Bowl to throw at the Devil who was irritating him by jumping on the three hills in Churt known as the Devil’s Jumps.

Alternatively, it was the Devil who scooped out the Punch Bowl to throw the soil at Thor to try and annoy him some more.

It has also been associated with the story of the Devil’s Dyke in West Sussex. The Devil wanted to flood the Weald of Sussex with sea water and thus destroy the churches there. In order to do this, one night he set about digging a trench through the South Downs to divert the water. This trench is now known as the Devil’s Dyke. The Dyke was not however completed as he was tricked into believing morning had come early and he fled leaving his work unfinished. One version of the story says during his digging the Devil disturbed a rooster, which started to crow, hence making him believe it was dawn. It was the Devil’s Punch Bowl in Surrey into which he is thought to have fled after his digging was disturbed. This story is similar to that of another Devil’s Punchbowl by Letcombe Regis. The Devil fled into this hollow after digging out Grim’s Ditch across the Berkshire Downs.