Part 3 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: PEVENSEY.]
Pevensey sh.o.r.e is very trying for the pedestrian. The great expanse of s.h.i.+ngle is of that drifting variety which makes walking almost an impossibility.
Pevensey church is to the east of the castle; the interior is graceful and it has some interesting details. Note the case of local curiosities, t.i.tle deeds, etc. Westham, that part of the village nearest the station, was the overflow settlement from the walled town; this has a much finer church with Norman remains dating from the Conqueror's time, and the tower is n.o.ble in its ma.s.sive proportions.
Visitors should purchase the interesting little booklet shown on the table within the porch. The church has a fine oak screen in the south chancel and a stone altar with five crosses in the north aisle. Not far away is a large farmhouse known as ”Priest-house”; this was once a monastic establishment.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WESTHAM.]
Close to Westham is Pevensey Station, from which the traveller can proceed to Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea; this beautiful and interesting district of Suss.e.x is dealt with in Mr. Bradley's _An Old Gate of England_, and we must regretfully turn westwards. The return journey to Lewes may be made by the railway, though the Downs, for the unfatigued traveller, should prove the most alluring route. After pa.s.sing Polegate a good view may be had on the left of the ”Long Man of Wilmington” a figure 230 feet in length with a staff in each hand cut in the escarpment of Windover Hill; this is the only prehistoric figure on the Suss.e.x Downs. Its origin has never been satisfactorily explained. Lower has suggested that it was the work of an idle monk of Wilmington. This is most unlikely. The theory has lately been put forward that the ”staff” which the figure appears to be holding in each hand is really the outline of a door and that the effigy is that of Balder pus.h.i.+ng back the gates of night. Wilmington village has an interesting Norman Church with a very fine yew in the churchyard. Built into the walls of a farmhouse close by are some remains of a Benedictine priory.
Beautiful walks into the nearer woodlands of the Weald are easily taken from this pleasant village and the hill rambles toward Jevington are delightful.
Before leaving this district mention must be made of Hurstmonceux. The nearest station is Pevensey, from which there is a rather dull walk of four miles across the Pevensey Levels. The more picturesque route is from Hailsham, though this is longer and belongs more to a tour of the Weald. The only village pa.s.sed on the way from Pevensey is Wartling, beyond which a footpath can be taken across the meadows with a fine view of the ruins ahead. The present castle was built by Sir Roger de Fiennes in the reign of Henry VI. The name is taken from the first Lord of the Manor, Waleran de Monceux.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WILMINGTON GREEN.]
The outer sh.e.l.l is all that remains of what was once one of the grandest fortified mansions in England; it is now but a subject for artists and photographers, though at one time, since its dismantling, it made a good secret wine and spirit vaults. The colour of the walls is a surprise until it is realized that the building is of brick. The southern entrance, by which we approach, is the most imposing part of the ruin. We enter by a wooden bridge across the moat; this replaces the drawbridge. In the recessed chamber behind the central arch a ghostly drum was sometimes heard, and the supernatural drummer was supposed to guard hidden treasure. This legend was made good use of by the smuggling fraternity, the thumping of an empty keg being sufficient to scare away inconvenient visitors. Within the walls we are in a wilderness of broken brickwork covered with an enormous growth of ivy.
Notice the great oven, and the ruins of the private chapel on the north side. The circuit of the walls should be made as far as is practicable; the magnificent row of Spanish chestnuts is much admired.
The story of the demolition of Hurstmonceux is unhappy reading; the act of vandalism for which the architect Wyatt was officially responsible seems to have been prompted by family spite.
The church is of great interest. The Dacre chantry and the splendid tomb of Thomas Fiennes, Lord Dacre, must be noticed; also a bra.s.s of Sir William Fiennes, 1405. The a.s.sociation of the place with the Hares, who are buried under the yew in the churchyard, although of recent date is nevertheless of much interest. The property and the living, which pa.s.sed in 1855, came to the family through George Naylor of Lincoln's Inn, who bought them in 1708.
Near the church stands a fine fourteenth-century barn. The village is remarkable for a local industry--the making of ”trug” baskets for the carriage of fruit.
CHAPTER III
SEAFORD TO BRIGHTON
The direct route to Brighton for pedestrians is by a footpath which leaves Lewes at the west end of Southover Street; this leads to the summit of Newmarket Hill and thence to the Racecourse and Kemp Town. No villages are pa.s.sed and but few houses, and the six miles of Down, although so near a great town, are as lonely as any other six in Suss.e.x. The high road leaves the town by the Battlefield road past St.
Anne's church and follows the railway closely until the tram lines on the outskirts of Brighton are reached; this route pa.s.ses Falmer, north-west of which lies the beautiful Stanmer Park, seat of the Earl of Chichester.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BRIGHTON DOWNS.]
It will be best, however, to take the Newhaven road from Southover which hugs the foot of the Downs and in a short two miles reaches Iford. About half-way a turning to the right leads to the snug little village of Kingston with the hills rising closely all round. This place was once the property of Sir Philip Sidney. The remains of an ancient house belonging to the Priory at Lewes are to be seen in the old farmhouse named Swanborough which lies between Kingston and Iford. The architecture is Perpendicular, and Early English; permission should be obtained to examine the interesting details which, include a venerable oak table in the kitchen. Iford Church is a Norman building with a central tower and an Early English font.
A little over a mile farther is Rodmell with very fine Norman details in the church, which has the rare feature of a baptistery. The early Decorated screen is good; note also the squint with a shaft in the centre. Here is a bra.s.s dated 1433 in memory of Agatha Broke, on the back of which is another inscription to some one else of the seventeenth century. The church is surrounded by magnificent trees, and of especial note is the huge holm oak which overshadows the rest.
The village inn has on its walls a quaint and amusing collection of precepts for its habitues which might well be duplicated elsewhere.
Southease, the next village, has another of the three round towers of Suss.e.x, and Piddinghoe, two miles farther, the third. These towers are a matter of puzzled conjecture to archaeologists; all three, Lewes, Southease and Piddinghoe are on the western bank of the Ouse. The suggestion that they were originally beacon towers is not very convincing, though the Ouse at the time they were built was a wider and deeper stream, forming in fact an estuary haven. The more prosaic explanation is that lack of stone for the quoins, which every square flint tower must have, led the builders to adopt this form. In any case, a beacon fire from a square tower is as effectual as from a round one. Piddinghoe has many a.s.sociations with the smuggling days which have given birth to some quaint sayings, as ”Pidd'nhoo they dig for moons.h.i.+ne,”--”At Pidd'nhoo they dig for smoke,” etc., but we fail to see the point in ”Magpies are shod at Pidd'nhoo.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: NEWHAVEN CHURCH.]
Seven miles from Lewes stands the rather mean port of Newhaven. After many years of neglect and decay this Elizabethan sea-gate is once more of great importance in continental traffic. Much money and skill were expended during the latter half of the nineteenth century in improving the harbour and building a breakwater and new quays. Louis Philippe landed here in 1848, having left Havre in his flight from France in the steamer ”Express”; he was received by William Catt, who at one time owned the tide mills at Bishopstone; this worthy was a well known Suss.e.x character and is immortalized by Lower. Newhaven has little to show the visitor beyond the small Norman church which has a chancel apse at the east of the tower. This portion is interesting but the nave has suffered from ignorant tinkering under the alias of ”restoration.”
In the churchyard is a monument to those who perished in the wreck of the ”Brazen” sloop of war in 1800 off the harbour, and another to a local brewer of the one-time famous ”Tipper” ale, made from brackish water. The town was once called Meeching; this name is perpetuated in ”Meeching Place” where a descendant of William Catt still lives.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BISHOPSTONE CHURCH PORCH.]