The Devil's Punch Bowl is a

visitor attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

and biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

situated just to the east of the village of Hindhead in the English county of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. It is part of the Wealden Heaths Phase II

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

. The Punch Bowl is a large natural

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

and is the source of many stories about the area. The London to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

road (the A3) skirted the rim of the site before the Hindhead Tunnel was built in 2011. The land is owned and maintained by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

as part of the "Hindhead Commons and the Devil's Punch Bowl" property. The highest point of the rim of the bowl is Gibbet Hill, which is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

and commands a panoramic view that includes, on a clear day, the skyline of London some away. The Devil's Punch Bowl was featured on the 2005 TV programme ''

Seven Natural Wonders ''Seven Natural Wonders'' is a television series that was broadcast on BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is t ...

'' as one of the wonders of the South.

Toponym

The name Devil's Punch Bowl dates from at least 1768, the year that

John Rocque John Rocque (originally Jean; –1762) was a French-born British surveyor and cartographer, best known for his detailed John Rocque's Map of London, 1746, map of London published in 1746. Life and career Rocque was born in France in about 1704 ...

's map of the area was published. This was 18 years before the murder of the unknown sailor on Gibbet Hill, so this event was clearly not the origin of the name. Prior to 1768, it was marked as "y^e Bottom" on a map by

John Ogilby John Ogilby, Ogelby, or Oglivie (17 November 16004 September 1676) was a Scottish translator, impresario, publisher and cartographer. He was probably at least a half-brother to James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Airlie, though neither overtly acknowl ...

dated 1675. The northern end of the Bowl is known as Highcombe Bottom which exists in different variants: Hackombe Bottom, Hacham Bottom, and Hackham Bottom.

Geology

This part of Surrey comprises a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

known as the Hythe Formation that lies above a

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

known as the Atherfield Clay Formation. The bowl's deep depression is believed to be the result of erosion caused by spring water beneath the sandstone, causing the upper level to collapse. The steep slopes are characterised by heathland, streams and woodland. The site, which has been designated a

, has abundant wildlife such as the lesser spotted woodpecker and common redstart. It has been known for the wood warbler, a rare summer visitor with the last documented sighting in 2009.

Roads

During the

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

in the 16th Century,

developed into a major naval dockyard, needing access to London. The steep gradients of the Devil's Punch Bowl and nearby Gibbet Hill made this difficult. As a consequence, there have been three phases of road construction through the Devil's Punch Bowl.

Earliest route

The Old Portsmouth Road is the oldest highway through the area. It is a ridgeway that skirts the Punch Bowl to the summit of Gibbet Hill before descending into Hindhead. The murder of an unknown sailor in 1786 on this route is commemorated by the Sailor's Stone. The route is still used by walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.

Turnpike

In 1748

Kingston-Upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

to Sheet Bridge Turnpike Company took over the management of Old Portsmouth Road. They installed mileposts, toll houses, gates and maintained the highway through the Devil's Punch Bowl. However, by the early 19th Cenutry increased pedestrian and horse-drawn traffic meant this steep section of highway between Portsmouth and London required major improvements. In 1826, the Portsmouth & Sheet Bridge Turnpike Road Trust began asking for tenders from bidders to improve the road. The winning bid resulted in a completely new highway through the Devil's Punch Bowl. Old Portmouth Road was abandoned in favour of a new

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the sca ...

below the ridgeline. By digging into the hillside at a lower height, the new road removed the steep ascents and descents of the summit over Gibbet Hill. The surveyed route had a gradient of no more than 5% which meant larger and heavier horse-drawn carriages could now use this section of the road. In the 1920s, this route became the A3 when road numbering was introduced by the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

with the advent of motorised transport. For almost hundred years, it remained a principal route from London to Portsmouth.

Return to nature

By the start of the 21st century most of the A3 had become a dual carriageway, leaving only the section through Hindhead and the Devil's Punch Bowl as

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation, central reservation/median strip to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road is a type of ...

. Due to daily traffic volumes, this section operated at or above capacity for much of the day and had an accident rate 40% higher than the national average for that class of road. As a consequence, the decision to bypass the route over the Devil Punch Bowl was taken. The Hindhead Tunnel opened in 2011 which passes directly under Gibbet Hill and the Punch Bowl. The 1826 turpike route of the former A3 was completely removed with the intention that it will revert to natural heathland.

Conservation

The Devil's Punch Bowl, along with Hindhead Common, was acquired by the

in 1906, making it one of the first open spaces acquired by the Trust. The beauty of the area and the diversity of nature it attracts resulted in the Devil's Punch Bowl being designated as a

on 30 April 1986. This ownership and status helped save the Devil's Punch Bowl from above-ground redevelopment of the A3 in the first decade of the 21st century. The National Trust co-operated with developers

Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the company is active ac ...

, who designed the alternative Hindhead Tunnel, running underneath the area. The tunnel preserves not only the area from the road widening originally proposed but also removes the heavy traffic congestion which previously affected this section of the A3 in peak hours. The National Trust provide car parking and a cafe at the Hindhead end of the Devil's Punch Bowl. A number of different footpaths, of differing length and difficulty, provide access to all parts of the Punch Bowl and surrounding area. The Hindhead youth hostel, run by the Youth Hostel Association, used to be located inside the bowl but closed in 2015.

In fiction

Punch Bowl Farm, at the northern end of the Devil's Punch Bowl, was the home of children's novelist Monica Edwards from 1947 until 1998. In her books she renamed the farm Punchbowl Farm. In

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' novel ''

Nicholas Nickleby ''Nicholas Nickleby'', or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'', is the third novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. The character of Nickleby is a young man who must support his ...

'', Nicholas and Smike visit the Devil's Punch Bowl on their journey to

. The third novel in the

Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films and radio and television programmes, and ...

series, '' Flying Colours'' by C.S. Forester, makes a one-line reference to the Devil's Punch Bowl in chapter eighteen as Hornblower is returning to London: "Even the marvellous beauty of the Devil's Punch Bowl was lost on Hornblower as they drove past it." The "Devil's Punch-Bowl in Surrey" is briefly mentioned in ''The Shining Pyramid'', a short story by

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen ( or ; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh people, Welsh author and mysticism, mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural ...

, and in "The Manhood of Edward Robinson", the fifth story in

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

's ''The Listerdale Mystery and Other Stories''. The area is the setting for

Sabine Baring-Gould Sabine Baring-Gould (; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 pu ...

's novel ''The Broom-squire''.

Local legends

According to a local legend the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

hurled lumps of earth at the god

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

to annoy him. The hollow out of which he scooped the earth became the Punch Bowl. The local village of Thursley means Thor's place. An alternative version of this story says that Thor threw the lumps of earth at the Devil, who was annoying Thor by jumping across the Devil's Jumps.

Legacy project

A lottery award from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

was made in 2012 for a project with young people from schools in the area, celebrating the landscape. Several sculptures marked the completion in early 2013 and a carving from a 3-tonne block of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

Jon Edgar Jon Edgar is a British sculptor of the Frink School. Improvisation is an important part of his reductive working process and developed from the additive working process of Alan Thornhill. Final works are often autobiographical, perhaps referenc ...

now sits on the spine of the former A3 near the visitor centre.

References

External links

Hindhead Commons and the Devil's Punch BowlA3 Hindhead Tunnel — Mott MacDonald Project PageHighways Agency — A3 Hindhead Improvement
{{Coord, 51.11689, N, 0.72887, W, source:placeopedia_type:landmark_region:GB-SRY, display=title National Trust properties in Surrey Geography of Surrey Parks and open spaces in Surrey Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey Surrey folklore Special Protection Areas in England