The Sisters’ Hammer

A poem printed by Hone, describing the view from Hydon Hill near Godalming, recalls a time-worn legend of the ruined chapel on St Catherine’s Hill and the chapel on St Martha’s Hill by Guildford. Catherine and Martha were said to be sister saints who raised the two chapels with their own hands, tossing one wondrous hammer from hill to hill as they worked. The same lines give a tradition that a Saxon king kept the rightful heir prisoner in a deep dungeon in Guildford castle.