Mayfield and Five Ashes founded by the Archbishop of Canterbury, St Dunstan, in 960 CE, and there are legends surrounding his connection with the village. Dunstan is supposed to have become an ironworker and run a small forge next to the church. The legend goes that he was confronted by the devil, either making offensive remarks, or disguised as a young woman. He then pinched the devil's nose with the tongs. The devil then fled to Tunbridge Wells and doused his burnt nose with the spring water. Some sources note that the story happened in Glastonbury rather than Mayfield, and that Dunstan may have
The Devil to Pay (Parkinson novel) "The Devil to Pay" refers to the task of caulking, or "paying", the deck seams with hot pitch. The outermost seam—between the deck and the hull—is the hardest to caulk. It is called "the devil". The full phrase is "The devil to pay, and no pitch hot"—more generally the phrase is used to refer to any urgent, desperate situation. However this has been disputed in numerous sources and WorldWideWords.com references the phrase as: This novel was the first Parkinson wrote. The next novel in the series is "The Fireship". Parkinson later went back and wrote a prequel, "The Guernseyman", set