Poynings
The Royal Oak pub in Poynings
A small village at the foot of the downs, about five miles north-west of Brighton. There is a parish church and a local pub, the Royal Oak.

On the hill above Poynings is the Devil's Hill, an Iron Age hillfort. Nearby is a steep-sided cleft called the Devil's Dyke, which runs along the crest of the South Downs from Poynings towards the sea.

An old legend tells that the dyke was created when the devil tried to drown the local inhabitants by digging a ditch to let the sea in.

In the Victorian period, the Devil's Dyke was a popular spot for viewing the surrounding downlands and the weald.