remote country, which once resounded with the clangour of the
forge, to Hadlow Down and Butcher's Cross and in seven miles
reaches Mayfield. The village street is according to Coventry
Patmore the "sweetest in Sussex." The half-timbered "Middle
House" nearly opposite the church is the best example of this
style of architecture in the south, it is dated 1575. Lower House
was built about 1625. The fine Perpendicular church is on the
site of the traditional building erected by St. Dunstan. This was
made of wood, and the Saint, finding that the orientation was not
quite true, set his shoulder to the wall and pushed it straight!
The visitor will note the fine effect of the raised chancel, the
roof of which is composed of a one time gallery. Note, among
other objects, the old screen and choir stalls; a squint; font
dated 1666; iron slabs in the nave to the Sands (1668 and 1708);
monument to T. Aynscombe (1620); chandeliers; and curious east
window; and, not least, the glorious view from the churchyard.
The Palace of the Archbishops is now a convent: it was restored
by Pugin after being in a state of ruin for many years. Certain
portions may be seen at uncertain times. In the ancient
dining-room are preserved the hammer, tongs and anvil of St.
Dunstan. The Saint's well is in the garden. It was hereabouts
that St. Dunstan had his great tussle with the Devil, holding the
fiend by the nose with his tongs; eventually the Evil One
wrenched himself free; making an eight mile leap he cooled his
nose in a pool of water, giving it for ever "a flavour of warm
flat irons" and making the fortune of the future Tunbridge
Wells. Mayfield has another claim to a niche in history, not a
quaint old tale like the above but a sombre fact:--

"Next followed four, which suffered at Mayfield, in Sussex, the