Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling. There are two public houses, The Bull and The White Horse; two cafes, The Nutmeg Tree and The Green Welly; a post office, florist, delicatessen and other shops. Ditchling has community groups and societies, including the Ditchling Film Society and the Ditchling Singers. Location The village lies at the foot of the South Downs in East Sussex, but very close to the border with West Sussex. The settlement stands around a crossroads with Brighton and Hove to the south, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath to the north, Keymer and Hassocks to the west, and Lewes to the east, and is built on a slight spur of land between the Downs to the south and Lodge Hill to the north. Ditchling Beacon, one of the highest points on the South Downs, overlooks the village. Ditchling Common, north of the village, is one of jewels in the crown of the low weald and the source of the eastern River Adur. Etymology The earliest known appearance of the name is Dicelinga in AD 765, and was subsequently known as Dicelingas, Diccelingum, Dyccanlingum, Diceninges, Dicelinges, Digelinges, Dicheninges, Dicheling, Dichelyng, Dechelyng, Dichening(e), Dichyning(e), Digining, Dechenyng, Dichlinge, Dicheling, Dichening, Dychenynge and Dytcheling. The name took its current form in the seventeenth century. The root itself is uncertain. The Old English word dic - which means "ditch, trench or dike" would appear to be inapplicable as the town sits on a hill. It has been suggested as Dicleah but refuted. Dic may in fact be an example of epenthesis, with the original root being ichen as is found throughout southeastern Britain. Attributions to a non-historical founder named Dicul are examples of founding myths. The suffix -ing is a cognate of inge, an ethnonym for the Ingaevones said variously to mean "of Yngvi," "family, people or followers of" or a genitive plural form of an inhabitant appellation. History The place has been inhabited in some way or other for thousands of years. Above the village to the west is Lodge Hill () there is evidence of Mesolithic people in the form of their flint tools. The terrace of the Roman Greensand Way passes across its south flank. Though