Devil's Dyke is a 100 metre (300') deep V-shaped dry valley on the South Downs in Sussex in southern England, 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Brighton.

In summer, the snowfields melted and saturated the top layer of soil, because the water could not permeate the frozen chalk underneath.

[4] The hills surrounding the valley rise to 217 metres (712') and offer views of the South Downs, The Weald, and – on a clear day – the Isle of Wight.

All the vegetation was scraped off the white chalk, leaving Devil's Dyke as an impressive monument to both attract and intimidate the populace.

In late Victorian times Devil's Dyke became a tourist attraction, complete with a fairground, two bandstands, an observatory and a camera obscura, all served by a branchline from Hove.

He therefore resolved to exterminate its inhabitants by digging a trench through the South Downs so that the sea would flood through and drown the people of the Sussex Weald.

He proposed a wager - if the Devil could complete the trench in a single night he could have Cuthman's soul, but if he failed then he would have to abandon the project and leave the people of Sussex alone for good.

At first Cuthman bided his time, but shortly after midnight he displayed a lit candle in his window while also startling a cock so that it would start crowing in alarm.