Fairy Rings in Sussex

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fairy ring

A marked feature of the chalk hills is the number of ‘fairy rings,’ sometimes called ‘hagtracks,’ and frequently occurring of very unusual size. The fairies themselves, although no longer taking much interest in the things of ‘middle earth,’ may still be occasionally heard of in the more ‘elenge’ (lonely) places of the Downs. They are locally known, however, as ‘Pharisees,’by which name it is supposed they are frequently mentioned in the Bible — a sufficient proof of their actual existence. ‘We’ll sing and dance like Pharisees’, is a line which occurs in an old harvest-supper song, indicating that, however, broad phylacteries may have been assumed by the ‘good neighbours’ of Sussex, their general habits continue much the same as those of their brethren elsewhere. Among the many flowers to be met with on the Downs are several species of orchis, and three of the gentians (campestris, amarella, and pneumonanthe), lovely enough, with their bright blue stars, to adorn the couch of Titania herself. Besides the fairy rings, barrews of all dates — Celtic, Roman, and Saxon — are found scattered over the Downs. A handbook for travellers in Kent and Sussex (1858), xxxii.

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