19
James Gray: The meet with hounds at Devil’s Dyke, on Saturday 2 May, 1936. The Dyke Hotel is just out of view, at the left. jgc_37_157
2019: The National Trust took over Devil’s Dyke from Brighton Council in 1995. The car park is free to members, otherwise the charge is £2 . The fees help to maintain the area. (Photographer: Jane Cheema)
James Gray: The gun was only a wooden replica of a 110 ton siege gun, but I have no idea why it was thought appropriate to exhibit it in this position. jgc_37_159
2019: There is no trace of the gun. Visitors to the Devil’s Dyke enjoy watching the paragliders. (Photographer: Jane Cheema)
James Gray: Devil’s Dyke in wagonette days. The first building, a wooden house was erected here in 1817, and a few years later the hotel, here shown, was built. jgc_37_181
2019: This area is now a car park which is very busy on sunny days. The small hotel shown in the original photograph was built in 1831. It was rebuilt in 1871 by Landlord Thacker and was then rebuilt twice more in the mid-20th century. (Photographer: Jane Cheema)
James Gray: I would dearly have loved to establish the location from which this late Victorian excursion to the Dyke was starting, but the effort is beyond me. The words ‘Wine and Spirit Merchants’ on the window do not help, for there were dozens of these places at this time, and there is no certainty that the building even exists today. jgc_37_184
James Gray: Another of the wagonettes which plied to the Dyke. Period about 1895. This wagonette started at Montpelier Mews, now 76/80 Dyke Road between Bath Street and Compton Avenue. Licence plate no. 18. Copied from a very battered plate glass plate. jgc_37_189
James Gray: View across the Weald from a point near to the Dyke Hotel in peaceful Edwardian days. Despite the passage of about 70 years the scene below is still little changed and the road still winds its way through Fulking village. jgc_37_186
James Gray: The Weald, with Fulking and Edburton, from the Dyke hills, period about 1895. jgc_33_186
James Gray: Four photographs [see also jgc_33_189, 191 and 192] all dating from before 1914. They need little comment though younger people may be puzzled by the springs and pool which were there before the 1939/45 War but not afterwards. View from the Dyke. jgc_33_190
James Gray: This one looks from the Dyke hills to Fulking and beyond, period unknown. The spot where the shearing was taking place in the previous photograph [see jgc_33_187 on The Street, Poynings page] can be identified here. jgc_33_188
2019: View looking west towards the telecommunication masts on Truleigh Hill (216m). The Devil’s Dyke is one of Europe’s finest sites for paragliding and hang-gliding. (Photographer: Jane Cheema)
James Gray: Two photographs (this and jgc_37_188) of October 1928. The Duke and Duchess of York unveiled the newly erected seat on their visit to Greater Brighton on 30 May 1928. jgc_37_187
2019: The seat, made of Clipsham limestone from Lincolnshire, offers wonderful views across the South Downs and the Weald. Pictorial information plaques have since been set into the three stone blocks. (Photographer: Jane Cheema)
James Gray: Two photographs (this and jgc_37_188) of October 1928. The Duke and Duchess of York unveiled the newly erected seat on their visit to Greater Brighton on 30 May 1928. jgc_37_188
2019: View looking east toward Newtimber Hill. The scarp – foot plantations of trees have matured and more shrubs such as gorse cover the summits. There is some additional housing in the village of Poynings, a spring line settlement. (Photographer: Jane Cheema)