Devil's Jumps, Churt

The Devil's Jumps. Looking across Middle Jump to High Jump from the summit of the easternmost hill, Stony Jump

The Devil's Jumps are a series of three small hills near the village of Churt in the county of Surrey in southern England.[1] In the 18th century, the hills were known as the Devil's Three Jumps.[2] The Devil's Jumps are linked to a body of folklore relating to the surrounding area.[1] The highest of the three Jumps, lying to the west, is High Jump with an elevation of 413 feet (126 m). Middle Devil's Jump has an elevation of 328 feet (100 m) and once supported an observatory built by 19th century British astronomer Richard Christopher Carrington.[3] Stony Jump, the easternmost of the jumps, has an elevation of 394 feet (120 m).

The hills are outcrops of an ironstone variety of sandstone of the Folkestone Beds of Lower Greensand set among acidic heathland.[4] The three hills are formed of an ironstone known locally as carstone, marginally distinct from Bargate stone, strongly cemented with iron making it resistant to erosion by the elements.[5]

The summit of Stony Jump
Ironstone outcrop on Stony Jump

The first mention of the Devil's Jumps appears to be on a map by John Rocque, dating to 1765.[6] William Cobbett mentioned the Devil's Jumps in his Rural Rides, first published in 1830.[7] Of the hills he says:

At Churt I had, upon my left, three hills out upon the common, called the Devil's Jumps...in the shape of three rather squat sugar-loaves, along in a line upon this heath...[with] a rock-stone upon the top of one of them as big as a Church tower...

— William Cobbett, Rural Rides 1830, 2001, p.116.
  1. ^ a b "Home". weyriver.co.uk.
  2. ^ Westwood & Simpson 2005, p.713.
  3. ^ Churt Parish Council.
  4. ^ Gahan 2006, p.10.
  5. ^ Ashurt & Dimes 2004, p.62. Gahan 2006, p.10.
  6. ^ Smith 2005, p.60.
  7. ^ Cobbett 1830, 2001, p.116.