This is what is now called the Devil's Kneading Trough, in the Wye Downs. It is a combe (or coombe—originally a Welsh word, cwm), carved out of the chalk hills by the flow of mud and water as the ground froze and thawed during a glacial period. But, as with other dramatic rock formations around the world, it's natural to suspect that it was sculpted by someone with a strange sense of humor.