THE RIDDLE OF THE FLASHES. 

The Flashes is an area of heath and mire, marsh and moss tucked away in a corner of South-West Surrey.  It has an otherworldy atmosphere, especially at dusk. It is the only place in Southern England where all six indigenous British reptiles live.  

Local legend says that The Devil made so much noise jumping from hill to hill (known as the Devil’s Jumps) that he disturbed the God Thor who was resting at Thor’s Lie (Thursley). Thor threw the large boulders which now sit atop Stony Jump, which overlooks the Flashes. 

The boulders have magical properties. If a local person needed a domestic item, they could whisper to the fairies, who lived in a deep crevice between the boulders. When the person got home, they would find the desired item waiting for them. However, the item must be returned as soon as the fairies asked for it.  

A man borrowed a giant cauldron, but he did not give it back. As a punishment, the fairies animated the cauldron’s legs and it proceeded to follow him relentlessly. Wherever he went, he could never escape the cauldron. Seeking sanctuary, he ran to St Mary the Virgin, a church in nearby Frensham. When the cauldron caught up, the man died of exhaustion at the altar.

 The cauldron’s legs then transformed back to inanimate metal and visitors can see the enormous cauldron in the same place today – beside the altar at St Mary’s. 

The Flashes are also the scene of tragic tale from the 19th Century involving Richard Carrington, the man who discovered solar flares. Suffering from depression, he retired to a house on Middle Jump where he built an observatory. He married a younger local woman – but she died of an overdose of chloral, a common narcotic amongst middle class ladies of the day. When Richard found her body, he boarded himself in his room and was found dead by his house staff several days later. A verdict of ‘sudden death from natural causes’ was returned. 

Local children used to play in the tunnel to the observatory, but it was closed for safety reasons many years ago.  

In this print you will find snakes, lizards, toads, dragonflies, the Devil, a telescope, a 3-legged cauldron and a church. Together they help answer The Riddle of the Flashes.