the nave is another picture of the nativity. A destructive fire, a few years ago, greatly damaged these and also the fabric of the church. Careful repair, however, has to a great extent restored the building to its original condition The altar consists of a seventeenth century tomb. The old font was taken away to St. Saviour’s Church, but has been very properly replaced.
Brighton is not the best centre for the exploration of the central Down country. If a coast town is chosen Worthing is much better; from there the real country is quickly reached, although the hills themselves are farther away. But there are one or two excursions which obviously belong to Brighton, the most important being that to the Devil’s Dyke and Poynings. A rather dull walk of over five miles from the Steyne, retrieved during the last two by fine views on the left hand, will bring us to the old stone posts labelled “The Dyke.” This road passes an interesting Museum of Ornithology collected by the late E.T. Booth. Here are to be seen cases of wild birds in their natural surroundings planned with greatest care by Mr. Booth, who gave a lifelong study to the habits and environment of British birds. On the occasions on which the writer has visited the collection no other persons were present, and few residents seem to have heard of it.
Trains run at frequent intervals from Brighton Central to the Dyke and public conveyances from the Aquarium. The excursion should not be missed, though the visitor who is a stranger must be prepared for a regrettable amount of waste paper and broken bottles left about to mar what would otherwise be one of the finest scenes in the Downs. Refreshment stalls and tea gardens help to vulgarize the surroundings, though the added desecration of aerial railway across the Dyke has been removed.
The local legend is almost too well known to bear repetition. The Sussex native has a dislike, probably derived from his remote ancestors, to refer directly to the Devil, so the story has it that the “Poor Man,” becoming enraged at the number of churches built in the Weald, conceived the idea of drowning them by letting in the sea; he had half finished the great trench, being forced (like his remote prototype) to work at night, when an old lady, hearing the noise of digging, put her candle in a sieve and looked out of the window. The Devil took it for sunrise and disappeared, a very simple fiend indeed!
[Illustration: POYNINGS.]
The view from the edge of the escarpment with Poynings just below to the right is very beautiful; away to the south-west is an eminence called “Thunder’s Barrow,” probably Thor’s Barrow; at the lower end of the Dyke is the Devil’s Punch Bowl, here are two more barrows “The Devil’s Grave” and “The Devil’s Wife’s Grave.”
A visit to Poynings (locally “Punnings”) should be combined with this excursion; this is a really pleasant and, as yet, unspoilt village. One feels nervous for its future, but the good taste of the inhabitants, combined with the formidable barrier of the hills, will, it is hoped, prevent it ever becoming a mere congeries of tea gardens and like amenities. The fine cruciform church has a central tower and is Early Perpendicular; built by Baron de Poynings in the late fourteenth century it has many interesting details. Note the old thurible used as an alms box. The great south window was brought here from Chichester Cathedral. There is some good carved wood in the pulpit and rails. The ruins of Poynings Place, the one-time home of the Fitz-Rainalts, Barons of Poynings, may still be seen.
Newtimber Hill immediately east of the village is rarely visited and therefore is not rendered unsightly in the manner of the Dyke. The view is equally good and the Downs westward appear to even better advantage from this outlying point. A return could be made from Newtimber to Pycombe, once famous for its manufacture of shepherds crooks–“Pycoom Hooks.” The village lies in the pass by which the London-Brighton road crosses the Downs. The old church has a twelfth century leaden font and a double piscina and is one of the highest in Sussex, being situated 400 feet above the sea. This walk could very well be extended to include Wolstonbury Hill and Hurstpierpoint.
The road running west from Poynings at the foot of the Downs would bring us to Fulking where is a memorial fountain to John Ruskin erected by a brewer. Another two miles along it is Edburton, an unspoilt village under the shadow of Trueleigh Hill; the fine Early English church has a pulpit and altar rails presented by Archbishop Laud and a leaden font of the early twelfth century. Nine miles north of Brighton by road, and about half-way between the two London highways, either of which may be taken, lies the large village or small town locally called “Hurst” and by the world at large, more romantically, Hurstpierpoint. The situation, with its wide and beautiful views over the surrounding country from Leith Hill and Blackdown to the ever present line of the Downs on the south, make it one of the pleasantest places in Sussex for a prolonged stay. St. John’s College is one of the Woodard schools in connexion with Lancing foundation (see page 103); it is a fine building with an imposing chapel. The church is modern and was designed by Sir Charles Barry. In the south transept is an effigy of an unknown crusader and another of a knight in the north aisle. A brass in the chapel commemorates the fact that the martyred Bishop Hannington was born and held a curacy here. There are a number of memorials to the Campions, local squires and present owners of Danny; one of them runs thus:–
“Reader, bewail thy country’s loss in the death of Henry Campion. In his life admire a character most amiable and venerable, of the Friend and Gentleman, and Christian.”
[Illustration: DANNY.]
Danny is a beautiful specimen of the Elizabethan mansion at its best; it is built under the shadow of Wolstonbury Hill, one of the finest in shape of the outstanding bastions of the Downs, on the top of which is a circular camp with several pits within the vallum. The twin woods on the slope of the hill are locally known as “Campion’s Eyebrows,” they are well seen in the accompanying sketch.
[Illustration: HURSTPIERPOINT.]
Hurstpierpoint may also be easily visited from Hassocks Station (2 miles), from which we may also start on the last stage of our return to Lewes. One mile east of the station is Keymer, a pleasant little place with an uninteresting church which has been practically rebuilt. Ditchling, a mile further, has a very fine Transitional and Early English church which will repay a visit. The nave is severely plain in the older style; the chancel shows some untouched and very beautiful workmanship. The east window is Geometrical, as are several in the nave, others are Decorated and, in the transept, Perpendicular. Note the old font which was evidently at one time coloured; also the aumbry, piscina and sedile. The chalk arches are finely worked. In the village are several old timber houses, including one said to have been inhabited by Anne of Cleves.
A walk of about two miles past Wick Farm or by Westmeston, over half a mile farther, brings the traveller to the summit of this section of the Downs–Ditchling Beacon (813 feet). Until more accurate surveys were made this was supposed to be the highest point of the whole range.
“This most commanding down is crowned with the grassy mound and trenches of an ancient earthwork, from whence there is a noble view of hill and plain. The inner slope of the green fosse is inclined at an angle pleasant to recline on, with the head just below the edge, in the summer sunshine. A faint sound as of a sea heard in a dream–a sibilant ‘sish, sish’–passes along outside, dying away and coming again as a fresh wave of the wind rushes through the bennets and the dry grass.” (Richard Jefferies.)
[Illustration: WOLSTONBURY.]
The views from Ditchling, though fine, are not nearly the best, for there is a tameness in the immediate country to the north. A glorious walk, however, can be taken by keeping along the edge past “Black Cap,” the clump of trees about two miles east, and then either over or round Mount Harry to Lewes. Those who must see all the settlements of men should proceed downwards to Westmeston, a beautiful little place embowered in trees, some of which are magnificent in shape and size, particularly the great ash at the east of the church which is literally overshadowed by the Beacon. The building is uninteresting and the mural paintings dating from the twelfth century, which were discovered about fifty years ago, have not been preserved. It was near here that Baring Gould speaks of seeing the carcasses of two horses and three calves hanging in a elm; on inquiry he was informed that this was considered “lucky for cattle.”
About a mile and a half north and two miles east of Ditchling village is the lonely hamlet of Street. The “Place” is a grand old house dating from the reign of the first James; behind the chimney of the hall was once a spacious hiding place and a story is told of a Royalist fugitive who _rode into it on his horse_ and was never again seen. The restored church has a number of iron grave slabs and a monument to Martha Cogger, who was a “Pattern of Piety and Politeness.”
Nearly two miles on the Lewes road is Plumpton, chiefly famed for its steeplechases which are held two miles away in the Weald and close to Plumpton station. The church is uninteresting. The “Place” is an old moated house, the property of Lord Chichester. The Leonard Mascall who lived here in the sixteenth century is said to have introduced the first carp from the Danube, the moat being used as their nursery. Notice the great V in firs on the face of the Downs; this is a memorial of the Victorian Jubliee; not particularly beautiful and leading one to speculate upon its permanence. A cutting in the chalk would probably recommend itself to the pious care of coming ages when the personage commemorated had either been entirely forgotten or had developed into a legendary heroine of fictitious character. That even cuttings are not always permanent is proved close by, for only occasionally can the cross cut to commemorate the great battle of Lewes be seen; the turf shows but a different shade of green at certain times and under certain atmospheric conditions.
The road to Lewes continues under the shadow of Mount Harry and eventually drops to the Lewes-London highway near Offham, remarkable as being the first place in the south where a line of rails was used for the passage of goods. A turn to the right and we soon reach Lewes near St. Anne’s Church.
CHAPTER V
SHOREHAM AND WORTHING
Public conveyances run from Brighton to Shoreham several times each day by Portslade and Southwick; the railway to Worthing also follows the road and little will be lost if the traveller goes direct to New Shoreham. Portslade and Southwick churches have some points of interest, the latter a one time church of the Knights Templar, but they are not sufficient compensation for the melancholy and depressing route. After passing Hove the road is cut off from the sea by the eastern arm of Shoreham Harbour, and there follows a line of gas works, coal sidings and similar eyesores, almost all the way to Shoreham town. However, the explorer will be amply recompensed when he arrives at the old port at the mouth of the Adur.
The original Saxon town had its beginnings at Old Shoreham, but, as the harbour silted up, the importance of the new settlement under Norman rule, exceeded all other havens between Portsmouth and Rye. The overlords were the powerful De Braose family, who have left their name and fame over a great extent of the Sussex seaboard.
[Illustration: PORTSLADE HARBOUR.]
King John is known to have landed here after the death of Richard, and Charles II sailed from Shoreham after the Battle of Worcester. The fugitive came across country accompanied by Lord Wilmot, and at Brighton fell in with the Captain Tattersell, whose grave we have seen there. An arrangement was made by which he was to leave Shoreham in the captain’s vessel; this was done the next morning and the King in due time reached Fecamp safely. At the restoration the gallant captain received an annual pension of one hundred pounds.
Shoreham is decidedly not the town to visit for an hour or two or for half a day. No one can possibly gain a correct impression of these smaller English towns by a casual call, as it were, between trains. A short stay, or two or three day visits (_not_ on “early closing” day) is the least one can do before claiming to know the place.
New Shoreham is almost certain to disappoint on first acquaintance. In fact it may be described as mean and shabby! Other and competent judges have felt the charm of this old Seagate and one–Algernon Charles Swinburne–has immortalized it in his glowing lines “On the South Coast”:–
“Shoreham, clad with the sunset glad and grave with glory that death reveres.”
Shoreham church is second only to the Cathedral at Chichester and Boxgrove Priory in interest. As will be seen by the fragments in the churchyard a nave once made the building cruciform, and its proportions then would not have disgraced a small cathedral. A movement has been on foot for some time to rebuild the nave on the old site and an offertory box for this purpose will be seen within the church.
[Illustration: SHOREHAM AND THE ADUR.]
The prevailing effect of both exterior and interior is of solemn and stately age. The upper part of the tower is Transitional with certain later additions. The base of the tower, the choir transepts, and the fragment still remaining of the nave are Norman and Transitional of very noble and dignified proportions.
The vaulting will be noticed. This is Early English, also the beautiful ornament on the capitals and the interesting mason’s marks on the pillars. The marble font is a very good specimen of the square type common in this locality. A brass in the nave of a merchant and his lady should be noticed, also a piscina with trefoil ornament and a modern window in the north transept to the infants who died between 1850 and 1875. There are a number of memorials to the Hooper family hereabouts. In this portion of the building the election of parliamentary candidates once took place.
The church owes nothing of its stateliness to a past connected with priory or monastery, it has always been a parish church and is of additional interest thereby. That it always will hold this rank is another matter; in these days of new sees one cannot tell that the parish church of to-day will not be the cathedral of to-morrow. Certainly Shoreham would wear the title with dignity.
There are many quaint corners left in the town (which since 1910 has been officially styled “Shoreham by Sea “), but the individuality of the place is best seen on the quay where a little shipbuilding is still carried on; in the reign of Edward III it supplied the Crown with a fleet of twenty-six sail. The figure-head sign of the “Royal George” Inn may be noticed; this was salvaged from the ill-fated ship of that name which sunk in Portsmouth Harbour.
The Norfolk Suspension Bridge, still retaining its old-fashioned toll, carries the Worthing road across the river, at high tide a fine estuary, but at low a feeble trickle lost in a waste of mud. The view of the town from the bridge is very charming, especially in the evening light.
[Illustration: SKETCH PLAN OF OLD & NEW SHOREHAM.]
At Old Shoreham, a mile up stream, is another bridge which, with the church, is the most painted, sketched and photographed of all Sussex scenes; few years pass without it being represented on the walls of the Academy. This bridge is a very ancient wooden structure which has been patched and mended from time to time into a condition of extreme picturesqueness. The bridge leads to the “Sussex Pad,” a noted smuggling hostelry in a situation ideal for the purpose, and then on to Lancing and Sompting.
The sturdy and grey old church which has seen so many centuries of change and decay in the life around it, which has even seen the very face of nature alter in the haven beneath, has not changed in any essential since the great De Braose of the eleventh century built it on the foundations of its Saxon predecessor, whose massive walls still support a goodly part of the Norman building. Almost the whole of the upper part of the church is Norman, though the chancel appears to have been restored at a later date. Note the fine pointed screen and the rich moulding of the arches and door, also the carved tye-beam above the great arch which leads to the crossing. The nave is curiously dark, through the absence of windows; here may be seen the remains of the Saxon wall projecting beyond the line of the newer work. A low side window near the southwest corner has been variously described as a confessional, a hagioscope, and a leper window.
The few small houses to the south of the church are all that now remain to show where the one time port stood; though none of the existing buildings are contemporary with that period.
[Illustraton: NEW SHOREHAM.]
There is now a choice of ways. The direct route to Worthing goes across the Norfolk Bridge and then by South Lancing (“Bungalow Town “) and calls for no comment other than its fine marine views. The valley road to Bramber and Steyning we propose to travel presently, and we will now cross the old bridge by the “Sussex Pad,” lately rebuilt. Half a mile from the inn the Down road to the right leads direct to the prominent group of buildings on a spur of the Downs which have been constantly in view during the walk from Shoreham. St. Nicholas’, or Lancing, College was founded in 1849 by Nicholas Woodard, an Anglican priest. It is part of a larger scheme, other colleges in connexion being at Hurstpierpoint and Ardingly. The original school, established in 1848 at Shoreham, may still be seen at the corner of Church Street; it is now a laundry. The buildings are dominated most effectively by the great pile of the college chapel 97 feet from roof to floor. The general effect is most un-English and gives the west side of the Adur an air reminiscent of Normandy or Picardy.
Lancing is supposed to be derived from Wlencing, one of the sons of Ella. The church, originally Norman, has been much altered at various times and is mainly Early English. The remains of an Easter Sepulchre may be seen in the north wall of the chancel and at the door the mutilated fragment of a stoup.
[Illustration: OLD SHOREHAM.]
At the third mile from Shoreham is Sompting, famous for its church and well known to Worthing visitors, who have a pleasant walk of about two and a half miles by shady road and field path through Broadwater. The church stands in a group of elms on the slope to the north of the village. The tower and part of the chancel are undoubtedly Saxon, the remainder of the church having been rebuilt in Norman and Early English times. Notice the characteristic bands of stonework which run round the tower and the long capitals of the central ribs. The gabled spire is almost unique in this country and will awaken memories of Alsace for those who know that land. A similar spire may be seen in another Down country, at Sarratt in Hertfordshire, and a modern example at Southampton. Between the north side of the tower and the nave are the remains of a chapel erected by the Peverells. The interior of the church is equally uncommon and interesting, and the distressing newness which follows most restorations is not seen here, the work of the restorer, Mr. Carpenter, having been most careful and sympathetic. The outline of the original windows may be traced in the chancel which is now lit by Perpendicular openings. Over the altar is a tabernacle, not very well seen. Notice the piscina with triangular arch, and a tomb, it is supposed, of Richard Bury, dating from the time of Henry VII; also the curious corbel face in the east aisle of the vaulted north transept. The south transept is below the level of the nave; here are two mutilated pieces of sculpture, representing Our Lord with a book and a seated bishop with his crozier. The font is placed in a recess which formerly held an altar. The church became the property of the Knights Templar and a portion of the manor was held by the Abbey of Fecamp; the adjoining manor-house being still known as Sompting Abbotts; this house was for a short period the home of Queen Caroline.
[Illustration: SOMPTING.]
Enjoyable rambles may be taken by any of the numerous by-roads which lead northwards into the heart of the Downs by Roman Ditch, Beggar’s Bush and Cissbury. It is proposed, however, to leave a more particular description of this country to that portion of our longer route to Worthing via Washington, for which we must return to Shoreham, and now to take the road which runs by the Adur to Upper Beeding. On the way will be noticed the little church at Coombe backed by the Downs; this has an unmistakable Saxon window in the nave, and a medieval crucifix discovered in 1877. Higher up the river is the little old church of Botolph’s, which may be Saxon so far as the chancel arch is concerned, Both these churches are very old and quite untouched by the restorer. At Upper Beeding the Priory of Sele once stood where is now the vicarage; the Early English church is of small interest and need not detain us.
[Illustration: COOMBES.]
Bramber (Brymburgh) Castle holds the same position for the valley of the Adur that Lewes does for the Ouse and Arundel for the Arun. The stronghold antedates by many centuries the great Norman with whose name it is always coupled. Some authorities claim Bramber to have been the Portus Adurni that we have already connected with Aldrington; however that may be, Roman remains have been discovered here in the form of bridge foundations and it is more than possible that a British fort stood either on or near the hillock where William de Braose improved and rebuilt the then existing castle; this, with the barony, was granted to him by the Conqueror, and the family continued for many years to be the most powerful in Mid-Sussex. After the line failed, the property went to the Mowbrays and afterwards to the Howards, in whose hands it still remains. It was through this connexion that the title of Duke of Norfolk came to the holders of Arundel. Thomas Mowbray was made first Duke in 1388, and when the line ceased and the property changed hands the title went with it. It is possible that the army of the Parliament destroyed the castle in the Civil War, though no actual records prove this. A skirmish took place here between the Royalists and their opponents and is described in a letter addressed to a certain Samuel Jeake of Rye by one of the latter:–
“The enemy attempted Bramber Bridge, but our brave Carleton and Evernden with his Dragoons and our horse welcomed them with drakes and muskets, sending some eight or nine men to hell, I feare, and one trooper to Arundell prisoner, and one of Captain Evernden’s Dragoons to heaven.” It was the scene of a narrow escape for Charles II in his flight to Brighton. The poor remnants of the Castle are now an excuse for picnickers who are not always reverent, in point of tidiness, towards what was once a palace of the Saxon Kings.
[Illustration: UPPER BEEDING.]
Bramber village is most picturesque and attractive; its size renders it difficult to believe that within living memory it returned two members to Parliament. Some amusing stories are told of the exciting elections in olden days, when as much as L1,000 were offered and refused for a single vote. This “borough” once returned Wilberforce the Abolitionist, of whom it is told that on passing through and being acquainted with the name of the village exclaimed “Bramber? why that’s the place I’m member for.”
[Illustration: BRAMBER.]
The church lies close under the south wall of the castle; only the nave and tower remain of the original cruciform building. Although the arches are Norman and show the original frescoes, a claim was made by Dr. Green, Rector in 1805, that “in rebuilding the church at his own expense about twenty years before, he had no assistance except that the Duke of Rutland and Lord Calthorpe, joint proprietors of the borough, each gave L25, Magdalen College L50 and Mr. Lidbetter, an opulent local farmer, L20; but the Duke of Norfolk, Lord of the Manor, nothing!” This “rebuilding” refers to the re-erection of the tower arches, the space between being converted into a chancel. New windows in Norman style were inserted in 1871 to bring the east end into harmony with the nave.
[Illustration: ST. MARY’S, BRAMBER.]
St. Mary’s is the first house to be seen on approaching the village from the east. It is a beautiful specimen of a timber-built Sussex house; notice the open iron-work door with its queer old bell-pull.
Every visitor should inspect the quaint museum of taxidermy in the village street; here guinea-pigs may be seen playing cricket, rats playing dominoes and rabbits at school; the lifelike and humorous attitudes of the little animals reflect much credit on the artist.
Steyning is a short mile farther on our way (both Bramber and Steyning are stations on the Brighton Railway). This was another borough until 1832 but, unlike its neighbour, it was of considerable importance in the early middle ages and at the Domesday survey there were two churches here. The one remaining is of great interest; built by the Abbey of Fecamp to whom Edward the Confessor gave Steyning, it was evidently never completed; preparations were made for a central tower and the nave appears to be unfinished. The styles range from Early Norman to that of the sixteenth century when the western tower was built. Particular notice should be taken of the pier-arches which are very beautifully decorated; also the south door.
The original church was founded by St. Cuthman. Travelling from the west with his crippled mother, whom he conveyed in a wheelbarrow, he was forced to mend the broken cords with elder twigs. Some haymakers in a field jeered at him, and on that field, now called the Penfold, a shower has always fallen since whenever the hay is drying. The elder twigs finally gave way where Steyning was one day to be and here Cuthman decided to halt and build a shelter for his mother and himself. Afterwards he raised a wooden church and in this the saint was buried. The father of the great Alfred was interred here for a time, his remains being afterwards taken to Winchester when his son made that city the capital of united England, though the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle asserts that the King was buried at Worcester.
[Illustration: STEYNING.]
Steyning was once known as Portus Cuthmanni and to this point the tidal estuary of the Adur then reached. There are a number of fine old houses in the little town, some with details which show them to date from the fifteenth century. The gabled house in Church Street was built by William Holland of Chichester as a Grammar School in 1614; it is known as “Brotherhood Hall.” The vicarage has many interesting details of the sixteenth century and in the garden are two crosses of very early date, probably Saxon.
[Illustration: GRAMMAR SCHOOL, STEYNING.]
The bygone days of Steyning seem to have been almost as quiet as its modern history. A burning of heretics took place here in 1555; and the troops of the Parliament took quiet possession of the town when besieging near-by Bramber, but Steyning had not the doubtful privilege of a castle and so its days were comparatively uneventful.
[Illustration: OLD HOUSES, STEYNING.]
The main road may be left at the north end of Steyning by a turning on the left which rises in a mile and a half to Wiston (“Wisson”) Park and church; this is the best route for the ascent of Chanctonbury. The park commands fine views and is in itself very beautiful; the house dates from 1576, though several alterations have spoilt the purity of its style. This manor was once in the hands of the de Braose family, from whom it passed by marriage to the Shirleys, another famous family. Sir Thomas Shirley built the present house about 1578. It was Sir Hugh Shirley to whom Shakespeare referred in _King Henry IV_.
“Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like Never to hold it up again. The spirits Of Shirley, Stafford, Blount, are in my arms.”
His great-grandsons were the famous Shirley brothers, whose adventures were so wonderful that their deeds were acted in a contemporary play. One went to Persia to convert the Shah and bring him in on the side of the Christian nations against the Ottomans. On the way he discovered coffee! His younger brother, who accompanied him, remained in Persia and married a Circassian princess. The elder, after being taken prisoner by the Turks, was liberated by the efforts of James I and then imprisoned in the Tower by the same King for his interference in the Levant trade. Ruined in pocket and with a broken heart he sold Wiston and retired to the Isle of Wight. The estates soon afterwards passed to the Gorings, who still own them.
Wiston church, which stands in the park and close to the house, contains several monuments to the Shirleys and one of a child, possibly a son of Sir John de Braose; a splendid brass of the latter lies on the floor of the south chapel; it is covered with the words ‘Jesu Mercy.’ There are a number of dilapidated monuments and pieces of sculpture remaining in the church, which has been spoilt, and some of the details and monuments actually destroyed, by ignorant and careless “restoration.”
To the north-west of Wiston Park is Buncton Chapel, a little old building in which services are occasionally held. The walls show unmistakable Roman tiles.
Chanctonbury (locally “Chinkerbury”), one of the most commanding and dignified of the Down summits, rises 783 feet on the west of Wiston; the climb may be made easier by taking the winding road opposite the church. The “ring” which is such a bold landmark for so many miles around makes a view from the actual top difficult to obtain. The whole of the Weald is in sight and also the far-off line of the North Downs broken by the summits of Holmbury and Leith Hill with Blackdown to the left. In the middle distance is St. Leonard’s Forest, and away to the right Ashdown Forest with the unmistakable weird clump of firs at Wych Cross. But it is the immediate foreground of the view which will be most appreciated. The prehistoric entrenchment is filled with the beeches planted by Mr. Charles Goring of Wiston when a youth (about 1760). In his old age (1828) Mr. Goring wrote the following:–
“How oft around thy Ring, sweet Hill, A Boy, I used to play,
And form my plans to plant thy top On some auspicious day.
How oft among thy broken turf
With what delight I trod,
With what delight I placed those twigs Beneath thy maiden sod.
And then an almost hopeless wish
Would creep within my breast,
Oh! could I live to see thy top
In all its beauty dress’d.
That time’s arrived; I’ve had my wish, And lived to eighty-five;
I’ll thank my God who gave such grace As long as e’er I live.
Still when the morning sun in Spring, Whilst I enjoy my sight,
Shall gild thy new-clothed Beech and sides, I’ll view thee with delight.”
Chanctonbury must have had an overpowering effect on our ancestors; the correspondent quoted below perhaps saw the hill through one of the mists which come in from the sea and render every object monstrous or mysterious.
“Chanckbury, the Wrekin or Cenis of the South Downs, is said to be 1,000 _perpendicular yards_ above the level of the sea; on the summum jugum, or vertex, is a ring of trees planted by Mr. Goring of Whiston, and if they were arrived at maturity, would form no indifferent imitation of an ancient Druidical grove.” (_Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1819.)
The descent from the ring is made past a pond whose origin is unknown; judging by its appearance it may well have supplied the men who first occupied the fortifications on the hill top. The white path below eventually leads, by a narrow and steep gully, very slippery after rain, directly to the village of Washington on the Horsham-Worthing high road. The church stands above the village in a picturesque situation, but is of little interest. With the exception of the tower, it was rebuilt in 1866. Here is a sixteenth-century tomb of John Byne from the old building, and in the churchyard may be seen the grave of Charles Goring. Hillaire Belloc has immortalized the village inn thus:–
“They sell good beer at Haslemere
And under Guildford Hill;
At little Cowfold, as I’ve been told, A beggar may drink his fill.
There is good brew at Amberley too. And by the bridge also;
But the swipes they takes in at the Washington Inn Is the very best beer I know.”
A great find of silver coins of the time of the last Saxon Kings was made in 1866 on Chancton Farm; a ploughman turning up an urn containing over three thousand. This was an effective rebuke to those who laugh at “old wives’ tales,” for a local tradition of buried treasure must have been in existence for eight hundred years.
[Illustration: CHANCTONBURY RING.]
A motor-bus runs here from Worthing and then westwards as far as Storrington on the branch road to Pulborough. Storrington has almost the status of a small town and lays claim to fame as the birthplace of Tom Sayers, the prize-fighter, and of an equally famous prince of commerce in whose honour a metropolitan street has recently been renamed “Maple” (late “_London_”) Street. The church has been almost spoilt by “restorers,” but there are fine tombs by Westmacott and a brass of the sixteenth century. Near the church is a modern Roman Catholic Priory; the beautiful chapel is always open and should be seen. It is, however, for its fine situation opposite Kithurst Hill and its convenience as a centre from which to explore this beautiful section of the Down country that Storrington is important to the explorer of Downland. Within easy reach are the quiet stretches of the Arun at Pulborough and Amberley, and Parham (p. 191) is within three miles. The line of lofty hills on the south are seldom visited, most tourists being content with Chanctonbury. Near the Downs, about a mile south-east, lies the little church of Sullington under its two great yews, very primitive and at present unrestored; most of the work seems to be Early English. Here is an effigy of an unknown knight, also an old stone coffin. A footpath leads direct to Washington where we turn towards the sea, climbing by the Worthing road the narrow pass which cuts between the Downs and drops to Findon. This is another beautifully placed village with a Transitional and Early English church in an adjacent wood and, for strangers, rather difficult to find. In the chancel is a doorway in a curious position between two seats. A Norman arch, probably the relic of an older building, fills the opening of a transept on the south side. A former rector in 1276 must have broken all records in the matter of pluralities; besides Findon he held livings in Salisbury, Hereford, Rochester, Coventry, two in Lincolnshire, and seven in Norfolk, also holding a canonry of St. Paul’s and being Master of St. Leonard’s Hospital in York.
[Illustration: FINDON.]
Findon is noted for its racing stables; the hills and combes on the east forming an ideal galloping ground. The walks over Black Patch and Harrow Hill are among the best in the central Downs. East of the village a path leads to Cissbury Ring (603 feet). “Cissa’s Burgh” was the Saxon name for this prehistoric fortress which was adapted and used by the Romans, as certain discoveries have proved. Cissa was a son of Ella and has given his name to Chichester also. The foundations of a building may be seen in dry summers within the rampart; this is probably Roman. On the western slopes are some pits which may be the remains of a British village. But stone weapons, some of rude form and others highly finished, prove the greater antiquity of the camp. About sixty acres are enclosed within the trench, and approaches to it were made on the north, east and south. Cissbury is thus the largest entrenchment on the Downs and must have been one of the most important in the south. The views seawards are very fine and the stretch of coast is one of the longest visible from any part of the range Below the southern side of the fosse, on the slope that brings us down to Broadwater, is the reputed site of a Roman vineyard; the locality still goes by this name and certainly the situation, a slope facing south and protected from cold winds, is an ideal one for the culture of the grape.
Broadwater is now a suburb of Worthing. Here is a very interesting Transitional-Norman cruciform church, at one time magnificent in its appurtenances, no fewer than six chantry chapels being attached; the remains of these were done away with in the early nineteenth century. Note the old altar stone in the floor of the chancel, also on the exterior north wall a dedication cross in flints. In the chancel is a brass to John Mapleton, 1432, chancellor of Joan of Navarre, and there are two fine tombs, one of Thomas Lord de la Warre (1526) and the other of the ninth of that line (1554). John Bunnett, interred in 1734, aged 109, had six wives, three of whom he married and buried after he was 100! The church has a modern association which will be of interest to all lovers of wild nature; here in 1887 Richard Jeffries was buried. One cannot but think that the great naturalist would have been more fittingly laid to rest in one of the lonely little God’s-acres which nestle in the Downs he loved so well.
[Illustration: BROADWATER.]
Worthing until the end of the eighteenth century was a mere suburb of Broadwater; its actual beginnings as a watering place were nearly contemporary with those of Brighton. When the Princess Amelia came here in 1799 the fortunes of the town were made, and ever since it has steadily, though perhaps slowly, increased in popular favour. The three miles of “front,” which is all that fifty per cent, of its visitors know of Worthing, are unimposing and in places mean and rather depressing in architecture, but this is atoned for by the stretch of hard clean sands laid bare at half tide, a pleasant change after the discomfort of Brighton shingle. As a residential town, pure and simple, Worthing is rapidly overtaking its great rival, and successful business men make their money in the one and live in the other, as though the Queen of Watering-places were an industrial centre. Worthing has a great advantage in its fine old trees; as a matter of fact the place would be unbearably arid and glaring without them in the summer months, for it has undoubtedly proved its claim to be the sunniest south coast resort; a claim at one time or other put forth by all. The most convincing proof to the sceptical stranger will be the miles of glass houses for the culture of the tomato with which the town is surrounded. Its chief attraction lies in the number of interesting places which can easily be reached in a short time and with little trouble. The Downs here are farther off than those at Brighton, but are of much greater interest, and public motors take one easily and cheaply into their heart as we have already shown. The South Coast Railway runs east and west to Shoreham and Arundel, reaching those super-excellent towns in less than half an hour; and of the walks in the immediate neighbourhood, all have goals which well repay the effort expended in reaching them.
Sompting, which can be combined with Broadwater as an excursion, has already been described; we therefore turn westward again and passing the suburb of Heene, now called West Worthing, arrive, in two and a half miles from the Town Hall, at the village of Goring. Its rebuilt church is of no interest. Here Richard Jeffries died in the August of 1887. A mile farther is West Ferring with a plain Early English church; notice the later Perpendicular stoup at the north door and the piscina, which has a marble shelf. The Manor House is on the site of an ancient building in which St. Richard of Chichester lived after his banishment by Henry III, and here the saint is said to have miraculously fed three-thousand poor folk with bread only sufficient for a thirtieth of that number.
[Illustration: SALVINGTON MILL.]
A pleasant ramble through the lanes north of the village leads to Highdown Hill, perhaps the most popular excursion from Worthing; the top has an earthwork probably dating from the stone age. Human remains of a later date were found here in 1892, also coins, weapons and personal ornaments belonging to the time of the Roman occupation. The “Miller’s Tomb” is on the side nearest Worthing; it has representations of Time and Death with some verses composed by the miller, John Olliver. A cottage on the other side of the hill stands on the site of the mill. The view is particularly fine both Downwards and seawards, though the hill is not half the altitude of Cissbury. Northwards are the beautiful woods of Castle Goring, once the residence of the Shelleys, through which we may walk to Clapham and Patching, villages on southern spurs of the Downs; the latter has a restored Early English church with a very beautiful modern reredos. Clapham has a Transitional church containing memorials of the Shelley family. Notice the blocked-up Norman arch which proves the existence of an earlier building. On the south is a venerable farmhouse, ancient and picturesque.
[Illustration: OLD HOUSES AT LARRING.]
The return journey to Worthing may be taken through Salvington, passing the ruins of Durrington chapel; at the south end of the village at the cottage named “Lacies” John Selden was born in 1584. On the door post is a Latin inscription said to have been composed by him when ten years old; it runs thus:–
Gratus, honeste, mihi, non claudar, initio sedebis, Fur abeas non sum facta soluta tibi.
Translated by Johnson:–
Walk in and welcome; honest friends, repose; Thief, get thee hence, to thee I’ll not unclose.
Selden’s father was a wandering minstrel and the birthplace of the great jurist was humble even for those days.
[Illustration: BECKET’S PALACE, TARRING.]
A short walk southwards brings us to West Tarring, which is practically a suburb of Worthing. Here is a very fine Early English and Perpendicular church with a lofty spire. Notice the beautiful modern mosaics depicting the Prophets and Apostles. Also the old miserere seats and an ancient muniment chest. The window under the tower is in memory of Robert Southey whose daughter married a onetime vicar of Tarring. Another incumbent here was Stripe the historian.
A peculiarity noticeable in many country churchyards may be remarked here–the reluctance to bury on the north side of the church (though strangely enough this has been reversed at near-by Ferring). In many churchyards, where the ground is as extensive on the north side as on the others, the grave digger’s spade has left it either quite untouched or the graves are few in number and mostly of recent date.
West Tarring was once a market town and several good specimens of medieval and Tudor domestic architecture still exist. It was once a “peculiar” of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and the remains of the archiepiscopal palace may be seen in the school house on the east of the church. In the rectory orchard close by is the “columbarium,” or all that is left of it. Becket is said to have occupied the palace. The celebrated fig orchard is supposed to have been raised from slips planted by him, though another story has it that the original planter was St. Richard. The present orchard is of much interest and dates from the year of the “forty-five,” though it can well be believed that some of the trees are older; the venerable patriarch in the centre is known as “St. Thomas,” but this is of course impossible. A most remarkable occurrence takes place annually at the ripening of the fruit; a small bird similar to, if not identical with the _Beccafico_ (“Figeater”) of Italy visits the orchards here and at Sompting, stays a few weeks and then departs until the next season; it is seen in no other part of England.
CHAPTER VI
ARUNDEL AND THE ARUN
There is a choice of roads between Worthing and Arundel: that which keeps to the low lands has been partly traversed in the journey to West Ferring.
About two miles east of this village, and close to Angmering station, are the twin villages of East and West Preston; the former has a Norman and Transitional church with one of the four stone spires in Sussex. At Rustington, a mile farther, is a more interesting Early English church with a Transitional tower. Note the ancient sculpture in the north transept, also the squint and rood-loft steps. This village is but a short distance from Littlehampton, which may be approached by the shore road.
The country about here seen from the flats appears to be thickly wooded, an effect that is produced by the screen of tall trees in every hedgerow, untouched until time levels them, in return for their protection of the growing crops from the searching sea winds which sweep across the level fields to the Downs. Vegetation here has a different aspect from that on the other side of the wall of hills. In May and early June one may come from the tender green of the Washington lanes over the pass through Findon and find the spring livery of the lowland hedgerows temporarily blackened and withered.
[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF THE ARUN.]
The direct way to Arundel, and also the most interesting and beautiful, is by Castle Goring, reached by the Broadwater road. A short distance past the Goring woods a side road on the left leads to Angmering. Here the rebuilt church retains its old chancel and tower with an inscribed stone over the doorway. Returning by a shorter lane northwards to the main road we pass New Place, once a mansion but now converted into a group of cottages; it is famous as the birthplace of the three sons of Sir Edward Palmer, who were born on three consecutive Sundays, a circumstance probably unique in natal annals. All three were afterwards knighted by Henry VIII.
The foothills of the Downs to the right are hereabouts very beautiful; one of the spurs is occupied by Angmering Park belonging to the Duke of Norfolk. At Poling, on a tributary of the Arun southwards, is a decoy for wild fowl. Here is a Perpendicular church containing a fourteenth-century brass to a former priest, one Walter Davey. A chapel belonging to a commandery of the Knights of St. John still stands near the church; it has been converted into a modern dwelling house.
[Illustration: ARUNDEL FROM THE RIVER.]
The first view of Arundel as it is approached from the Worthing road or from the railway station is almost unique in England. Bridgnorth, the northern Richmond, Rye, all cities set on a hill, come to the mind for comparison, but none have the “foreign” look of Arundel; this is to a large extent helped by the towering church of St. Philip Neri; the apsidal end and the great height of the building in proportion to its length, appear more in keeping with northern France than southern England. The town, when one comes to close quarters with it, has a feudal air, and indeed this is as much a matter of fact as of fancy. Arundel is a survival, and depends for its existence on the magnificent home of the Howards which dominates domestically and ecclesiastically the town at its feet. The castle has the same relation to the pass of the Arun that Bramber and Lewes have to the Adur and Ouse, but the fact that it is still the ancestral home of an ancient and historic family gives it a far greater interest than either of the others possesses. The castle is mentioned in Domesday Book, and prior to this in the will of Alfred the Great. The earldom was given by the Conqueror to Roger of Montgomery; in addition to the castle and its immediate neighbourhood it comprised wide and rich possessions in the surrounding country. By their treason to the Crown the Montgomerys soon forfeited the estates and the Earldom passed through the hands of Queen Adeliza, and her son de Albrin, and then to the Fitz-Alans, who held it for over three hundred years. The daughter of the last Earl married the fourth Duke of Norfolk and this family have held it ever since. They have made it their principal home and have built in recent years the magnificent temple of the older faith which dwarfs and overshadows the parish church. This itself has felt the might of the great family who, as we shall presently see, imposed their will on the representatives of the Establishment.
[Illustration: ARUNDEL CASTLE.]
“What house has been so connected with our political and religious annals as that of Howard? The premiers in the roll-call of our nobility have been also among the most persecuted and ill-fated. Not to dwell on the high-spirited Isabelle, Countess Dowager of Arundel, and widow of Hugh, last earl of the Albini family, who upbraided Henry III to his face with ‘vexing the church, oppressing the barons, and denying all his true born subjects their right’; or Richard, Earl of Arundel, who was executed for conspiring to seize Richard II–we must think with indignation of the sufferings inflicted by Elizabeth on Philip, Earl of Arundel, son of the ‘great’ Duke of Norfolk, beheaded by Elizabeth in 1572 for his dealings with Mary Queen of Scots. In the biography of Earl Philip, which, with that of Ann Dacres his wife, has been well edited by the fourteenth Duke, we find that he was caressed by Elizabeth in early life, and steeped in the pleasures and vices of her court by her encouragement, to the neglect of his constant young wife, whose virtues, as soon as they reclaimed him to his duty to her, rendered him hated and suspected by the Queen, so that she made him the subject of vindictive and incessant persecution, till death released him at the age of thirty-eight. To another Howard, Thomas, son of Earl Philip, the country is indebted for those treasures of the East, the Arundel marbles.”
(_Quarterly Review_: Hare.)
[Illustration: THE KEEP, ARUNDEL.]
The castle, though not that portion at which we have been looking, has been besieged on three important occasions; in 1102 by Henry I, to whom it surrendered. By Stephen, on its giving hospitality to the Empress Maud; and by Waller, who captured it after seventeen days’ siege with a thousand prisoners. Artillery mounted on the tower of the church played great havoc with the building and it remained in a ruinous condition until practically rebuilt by the tenth Duke in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
We commence the ascent of the keep, which is the only part shown to the public (usually on Mondays only) by way of the clock tower which once formed the entrance to the inner courts. We can now see the remnants of Richard Fitz-Alan’s buildings (1290). A flight of steps leads to the Keep, the older portion of which was built by the same Earl; the walls are in places ten feet thick. In the centre a well descends to the storeroom of the garrison, which is cut out of the solid chalk. Over the entrance note the remains of St. Martin’s chapel; from the window is a magnificent view towards Littlehampton. The openings in the floor suggest the use of boiling liquid for the heads of besiegers.
The Keep was once famous for its owls, the older members of the colony being known by appropriate names, such as that recorded in the story of the Ducal butler who convulsed the guests one evening by announcing, “Please, your Grace, Lord Thurlow has laid an egg.”
[Illustration: ARUNDEL GATEWAY.]
The views in every direction are very fine and the nearer prospect proves to the observer the unrivalled position which the fortress held as guardian of one of the most important of the routes between London and the Continent by way of the Port of Littlehampton. In the distant view “The Island” is conspicuous on clear days with Chichester Cathedral spire in the middle distance. Eastwards is Highdown Hill and the country round Worthing, North the beautiful valley of the Arun and the lovely tree-clad slopes of the Downs of which the nearer spurs form Arundel Park.
The “state” and residential portions of the castle are never shown to the general public. In the fine collection of pictures are a number of Van Dycks and Holbeins, mostly portraits of the Fitz-Alans and Howards.
The entrance to the chancel of Arundel Church, now the Fitz-Alan Chapel, is from the castle grounds. Permission to inspect the famous tombs is rarely given. A lawsuit in the last century attempted the recovery of the chancel for the parishioners of Arundel, but was ineffectual owing to the fact that the chapel was originally that of the college of Holy Trinity, founded in 1380 by Richard Fitz-Alan; this passed to its present possessors at the Dissolution. The Lady Chapel retains its old altar stone with consecration crosses, and above is a window with some fragments of stained glass. In the centre is the tomb of the sixteenth Earl (1421) and a modern tomb of Lord Henry Howard. A number of interesting brasses may also be seen. The main portion of the chapel contains the more famous tombs, the effigies being highly interesting studies of the state dress of various periods. Earl Thomas and his Countess, daughter of King John of Portugal, (1415) occupy the centre; the others are Earl John (1435) under the east arch. William, nineteenth Earl (1488), in a chantry on the south side. On the north are Thomas (1524) and William (1544). A tablet over Earl William’s chantry is in memory of the last Fitz-Alan, Earl Henry (1580).
[Illustration: ARUNDEL CHURCH.]
The fine parish church is separated from the chancel by a screen wall. It dates from 1380 and now consists of nave and transepts, the space under the tower being used as the choir. An ancient canopied pulpit is placed against the south-west pier. On the north side are frescoes of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Works of Mercy. The modern ornate reredos shows with great effect against the curious arrangement of iron grill and bare brick which forms the screen wall. The church was once attached to the Monastery of Seez in Normandy.
The magnificent modern Roman Catholic church of St. Philip Neri is open to visitors between the services. It is built in the purest style of Decorated Gothic and has already cost over one hundred thousand pounds. Notice, before entering, the statues of the Twelve Apostles at the west end beneath the fine “rose” window. On entering, the imposing effect of the clustered columns and beautiful apse will be admired. Unlike most Roman churches there is but little colour displayed, the “Stations of the Cross” being bas-reliefs in the aisle walls. The subdued yet glowing tints in the stained glass help the general effect of restrained dignity.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE CASTLE & TOWN, ARUNDEL.]
In the lower portion of the town, the scanty remains of Maison Dieu show the position of that retreat, founded by Earl Richard, who built the church; the house provided for twenty inmates. The piers of Arun bridge were built out of the ruins in 1742.
The park will probably prove the most satisfactory of the sights of Arundel to the ordinary visitor, who is here allowed to wander where he will. The road passing under the castle to the right should be taken as far as a small gate on the left, by the mill, entering which we immediately see the Swanbourne Lake in all its beauty.
“The mill is situated beneath the castle, on the east side, at the head of the stream by which the ancient Swanbourne Lake discharges itself into the river, and most probably occupies the site of the original building mentioned in _Domesday_. Perhaps, of all the beautiful spots in the neighbourhood of Arundel, none comprises more real beauty than this. The valley in front, shaded by the willows and the ash which adorn the little islands of the lake, and winding its way in the distance among the hills; the castle projecting boldly from the eminence on the left; the steep acclivities on each hand, clothed to their summit with luxuriant forest trees … present a scene in whose presence the lapse of centuries will be easily forgotten.” (Tierney.)
The charm of the spot is not in any way spoilt, obvious care being taken to keep the surroundings spotless; although picnickers are allowed where they will, here are no scraps of paper or broken bottles, the efficient service of “clearing up” is at work in the early hours of the morning, which is the right time to see the park. The visitor should continue round the left bank and up the hill to Hiorne’s Tower, from which a magnificent view of the Arun valley and the surrounding Downs is to be had. Equally beautiful is that from the brow of the hill overlooking the Arun, from which point the castle makes an effective picture with the broad sweep of the sea and lowlands behind. The Downs are here at their best and the glorious woods of beech and oak are superb in October, and that month, with late May as an alternative, is the best time to see the western Downs. The Castle Dairy is open to the public, usually on the same days that the Keep may be seen. The Dairy dates from 1847 and has the appearance more of a monastic establishment than of farm buildings.
[Illustration: LYMINSTER.]
The exploration of the valley of the Arun must be commenced by turning down the stream to see that least interesting section which lies between Arundel and the sea. At the mouth of the river stands the old port of Littlehampton, the direct road to which leaves the Arun to the right and passing Lyminster (Lemster), sometimes spelt Leominster, which has a restored Transitional church, enters Littlehampton near the Railway station. The river road goes by way of Ford, where there is a little church interesting by reason of its many styles. According to Mr. P.M. Johnson they range from Norman (and perhaps Saxon) right through to Caroline. Nearly two miles west is another interesting church at Yapton, which has a black granite font, ornamented with crosses and probably pre-Norman. The interior of the church shows work of an archaic character usually described as early Norman. The inn here has a sign–“The Shoulder of Mutton and Cucumbers”–which must be as unique as it is mysterious.
[Illustration: CLYMPING.]
Continuing south we reach in another mile the very fine Early English church at Clymping. The tower is Transitional. The artist has sketched the beautiful doorway, one of the finest in Sussex. Notice also the old stone pulpit and ancient chest. The road running directly south leads to the coast at Atherington, where are the remains of a chapel attached to the “Bailiff’s Court House,” a moated mediaeval building with portions of a cloister. The Bailiff was the local representative of the Abbey of Seez already referred to. The Littlehampton road turns east half a mile beyond Clymping and after a dull stretch of over a mile crosses the Arun by Littlehampton (swing) Bridge.
The ancient seaport, never of more than local importance, has given way to a watering place almost entirely devoted to children. From the number of nursemaids seen on the beach on an average summer day and the scarcity of other adults one is forced to the conclusion that patrons of this resort use it as a dumping ground for their offspring while they enjoy themselves elsewhere. The firm clean sands are ideal for paddling and castle building, and many ephemeral Arundels arise between tides. The ebb and flow in the Arun interfere with what would otherwise be an enjoyable trip up stream, but with skill and care there is little danger. Littlehampton shows few traces of its antiquity, the church was rebuilt in the last century and is of no interest, but there are many good walks in the neighbourhood and the immediate country is beautifully wooded, with the distant Downs as an occasional background.
[Illustration: CHURCH STREET, LITTLEHAMPTON.]
To explore the valley of the Arun to the north a return must be made to Arundel, and either the path through the park or the road to South Stoke may be taken. The latter runs between park and river and soon reaches the two villages of North and South Stoke, both charming little hamlets without any communication by road, though a footpath unites the two. The first village, South Stoke, has an Early English church with sedilia and other details. North Stoke has a fine Norman door worthy of inspection. Here a British canoe was discovered in the last century; it may be seen in the Lewes Museum. Across the river, and only to be approached by a detour past Amberley Station, is Houghton. From the bridge over the Arun is a very beautiful retrospect of the valley towards Arundel with the hills falling in graceful curves to the river. The church is Early English of a severe type; here is a fifteenth century brass but nothing more of much interest.
A mile from Houghton Bridge will bring us to Amberley. The village is built on a low hill or cliff immediately above the “wild brooks” or water meadows of the Arun, and is famous for the picturesque remains of the palace of the Bishops of Chichester, which still edge the sandy hill in front of the village. Amberley Castle, as the residence has always been called, was built in the reign of Richard II, about 1379, and then consisted of a crenellated building with square corner towers and two round gate towers; the present house, which stands within the walls, was erected in the early sixteenth century by Bishop Sherbourne. This has probably been the site of an episcopal residence since before the Conquest and is in as beautiful a situation as is to be found in Sussex, though judging by a local saying quoted by Lower, it would not appear to be as perfect in the winter. An Amberley man when asked from where he comes then answers “Amberley, God help us,” but in the summer–“Amberley, where _would_ you live?” “Amerley” is immortalized by Izaac Walton for its trout, and by Fuller, who speaks of them as “one of the four good things of Sussex.”
[Illustration: LITTLEHAMPTON HARBOUR.]
Amberley Church is a small Norman building with Early English additions; note the brass to John Wantle (1424) and the beautifully ornamented door in the south aisle. There is an hour-glass stand in the pulpit. Notice also the ancient font and the remains of frescoes at the east end of the nave.
The road now runs eastwards with the fine escarpment of Rackham Hill to the right and in about two miles reaches Parham Park, the seat of Lord Zouche. A short distance further east is Storrington, which we have seen on our way to Worthing. Delightful walks may be taken across the park, which is freely open to the pedestrian. This stretch of sandy and picturesque wild land is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful domains in the south. Its fir-trees are characteristic of the sandstone formation which here succeeds the chalk. Visitors should make their way to the lake where the scene, with the Downs as a background, is one of extreme beauty. The Heronry here is famous; the birds were originally brought from Wales to Penshurst, from which locality they migrated to Angmering and then to Parham.
Lady Dorothy Nevill, in her interesting “Leaves,” refers to Parham as a favourite resort of smugglers. A former Lady de la Zouche, while a little girl, was made to open a gate for the passage of a long procession of pack-horses laden with kegs.
Parham House is a fine Elizabethan manor, although partly spoilt by some modern additions; built by Sir Thomas Palmer about 1520 it passed to the present family in 1597. The house is famous for the magnificent collection of works of art, early printed books and ancient illuminated MS.; permission to inspect these may be obtained by written application when the family are not in residence and for purposes of research this important collection is always available. Some time since the most valuable items were removed to the British Museum for safety. The house contains a priest’s hole, the entrance to which is from a window seat in the long gallery; one of the Babington conspirators–Charles Paget–was hidden here. South of the house is Parham Church, possessing one of the three leaden fonts of Sussex.
[Illustration: AMBERLEY CASTLE.]
It is now proposed to visit Pulborough and the valley of the Rother. Though rather far afield from Seaward Sussex and the chalk lands, this district comes naturally within the Down country, but must have a chapter to itself. From Parham we may either go direct to Pulborough by the highroad or, more profitably, by Greatham to Coldwaltham on the Roman Stane Street, the great highway from Chichester to London; here we turn north east and in a mile (just past the railway) note the scanty ruins of Hardham Priory on the right; another mile and, crossing the old Arun bridge, we are in Pulborough.
[Illustration: STOPHAM BRIDGE.]
CHAPTER VII
THE VALLEY OF THE ROTHER
Pulborough on Stane Street was once a Roman station. Relics of the occupation are constantly turning up in the neighbourhood. Near the church is a mound, on which stood the “castellum.” A glance at the map will show the commanding position the station held over the meeting of the Arun and Rother. There are traces of a Roman villa at Borough Hill north-east of the village.
The fine church is mostly Perpendicular, though there are Early English portions. Note the archaic Norman font and several interesting brasses, especially that of Thomas Harlyng, Canon of Chichester and rector here in 1420; also the restored sedilia and beautiful modern reredos.
Not far from the church are the remains of the ancient “Old Place” once belonging to the Apsleys; the neighbouring barn is even older than the house; “New Place,” a little farther north, is another picturesque house with a fine hall.
Pulborough is, with Amberley, a Mecca for weekend anglers; it has a famous inn, the “Swan,” and is a good halting place before proceeding westwards, in which direction our road now runs. A mile out of the town we take final leave of the Arun at Stopham Bridge, a fine medieval structure of many arches. The Rother joins the larger river just below the bridge and between the two streams may be seen Stopham House, the home of the Bartelotts, seneschals of the Earls of Arundel; their monuments and brasses for several centuries are in the church, an ancient building among trees some distance from the bridge.
We now approach Fittleworth, another favourite place for anglers, whose rendezvous must be looked for nearly a mile away near the bridge and station. The Early English church, unrestored and interesting, has in the vestry a curious stone coffin lid with a Greek cross upon it. The famous “Swan” Inn is a well-known feature of the little town and a great resort for artists, who find endless subjects in the beautiful district we are now traversing.
Egdean has a church dating from the early seventeenth century. About fifty or more years ago it was “restored” in a way which even among restorers must be unique, “Early English” details being imposed upon the original work. Byworth is picturesque, as Miss Vigers sketch will show; but, apart from its situation, it calls for no other comment.
The scenery around Petworth is characteristic of the Lower Greensand country and the picturesque wooded outcrop north-east of Byworth is perhaps as beautiful as any other part of this distinctive belt. In no part of this miniature range, about three miles long, is the altitude over 450 feet, but the charm of the woodland dells and meandering tracks which cross and traverse the heights between the “Fox” on the north-west and the Arun at Hardswood Green, is quite as great as in localities of more strongly marked features and greater renown.
[Illustration: BYWORTH.]
The road trends north-west by Egdean and Byworth to Petworth. Petworth town consists of a number of old-world streets extremely crooked, narrow, and picturesque. Seen from any near point the grouping of roofs is as artistically good as any in Sussex. Petworth Church has been practically rebuilt. The north chantry contains the tombs of some of the Percy family, including that of the ninth Earl, who was imprisoned in the Tower on suspicion of being concerned in the Gunpowder Plot. Here is also the monument to Lord Egremont (1840), a fine seated figure. Notice several interesting brasses and a sixteenth century tomb of the Dawtreys. Near the church is an old house belonging to this family. One of the rectors of Petworth was Francis Cheynell, the antagonist of Chillingworth. Just below the church is the Somerset Hospital, eighteenth century almshouses founded by a Duke of Somerset. In North Street is Thompson’s Hospital, another picturesque group. In the centre of the town stands the Market House built by the Earl of Egremont. In its front is a bust of “William the Deliverer.”
[Illustration: PETWORTH CHURCH.]
Petworth is another instance of feudal foundation. The manor, at present owned by Lord Leconfield, was for centuries in the possession of the Percy family. The house is said to have the finest private collection of pictures in the kingdom, most of which are due to the collecting zeal of the third Earl of Egremont; they are usually shown on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and visitors are handed a list of the paintings by the guides. The hurried round of the pictures takes about an hour. A wide range of schools are represented, but the most interesting is perhaps the splendid show of Turners.
[Illustration: PETWORTH HOUSE.]
The present mansion is one of the ugliest in the county and replaced in 1730 a beautiful medieval pile; the latter had been the scene of some historic visits, notably that of Edward VI, and in 1703 Charles III of Spain, who was met by Prince Consort George of Denmark. The Prince Regent with the Allied Rulers visited the Earl of Egremont in 1814. Three interesting relics shown are a piece of needlework made by Lady Jane Grey, the sword of Hotspur used at the battle of Shrewsbury, and an illuminated Chaucer MS. The chapel is the only portion of the old building remaining.
Petworth Park is quite free and open to the pedestrian. The entrance is in the Tillington road. Although of an entirely different character from the scenery we have already passed through, partaking more of the nature of an East Midland demesne, especially in the lower, or south end, the magnificent stretches of sward interspersed with noble groups of native trees will amply repay the visit. For those who have time to extend the ramble to the Prospect Tower in the northern portion of the park there is a magnificent view in store, especially south and west. Herds of deer roam the glades and there are two fine sheets of water.
[Illustration: SADDLER’S ROW, PETWORTH.]
The author of _Rural Rides_ thus describes Petworth: “The park is very fine and consists of a parcel of those hills and dells which nature formed here when she was in one of her most sportive moods. I have never seen the earth flung about in such a wild way as round about Hindhead and Blackdown, and this park forms a part of this ground. From an elevated part of it, and, indeed, from each of many parts of it, you see all around the country to the distance of many miles. From the south-east to the north-west the hills are so lofty and so near that they cut the view rather short; but for the rest of the circle you can see to a very great distance. It is, upon the whole, a most magnificent seat, and the Jews will not be able to get it from the _present_ owner, though if he live many years they will give even him a _twist_.”
The road now goes directly west and in a mile reaches Tillington, which has a Transitional church modernized and practically rebuilt by the Earl of Egremont; here are several interesting tombs and brasses. A divergence two miles further will take us downhill across the Rother to Selham (with a station close to the village). The Norman and Early English church has a chancel arch with finely carved and ornamented capitals. Proceeding westwards between high banks of red sandstone our road soon approaches Cowdray Park, across which it runs without hedge or fence.
[Illustration: COWDRAY.]
The park is a beautiful pleasaunce for the inhabitants of Midhurst; thickly carpeted with bracken and heather and broken by many picturesque knolls and hollows. The famous burned and ruined mansion lies on the west, close to the town and river. This beautiful old house was destroyed in 1793 through the carelessness of some workmen employed in repairing the woodwork of some of the upper rooms. Within a month of the calamity the last of the Montagues, a young man of 22, was drowned while shooting the falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen. These tragic happenings were supposed to fulfil a curse of the last monk of Battle pronounced against Sir Anthony Browne when he took possession of the Abbey. “Thy line shall end by fire and water and utterly perish.”
The following is a contemporary account of the tragedy: “Lord Montague was engaged to the eldest daughter of Mr. Coutts (the present Countess of Guildford) and, with a view to his marriage on his return to England, the mansion house had been for several months undergoing a complete repair and fitting up. The whole was completed on the day preceding the night on which it was consumed, and the steward had been employed during the afternoon in writing the noble owner an account of its completion. This letter reached his hands. On the following day the steward wrote another letter announcing its destruction: but in his hurry of spirits, he directed it to Lausanne instead of Lucerne, by which accident it was two days longer in its passage to his lordship’s place of abode than it otherwise would have been. Had it not been for that fatal delay, in all human probability this noble family would not have had to deplore the double misfortune by which its name and honours have become extinguished; for the letter arrived at his lordship’s lodging on the morning of his death, about an hour after he had left them, and, as nearly as can be computed at the very moment in which he was overwhelmed by the torrent of the Rhine.”
[Illustration: THE GRANARY, COWDRAY.]
The turreted entrance gateway is less ruinous than the remainder of the buildings and, with the banqueting hall, is as fine a specimen of early sixteenth-century architecture as will be found in England. Notice the vaulted entrance to the Hall. On the north side, looking towards the Guard House is the State Bedchamber, wherein Queen Elizabeth slept in 1591. There are several contemporary accounts of the stately merrymakings which took place during the visit, including the “hunting” scene in which buck deer were guided past Gloriana’s bower, from which she made dead shots at them, reminding one of the “bulls-eyes” with which a later Queen opened the national shooting competition for her worshipping subjects.
On St. Ann’s Hill near the town may be traced the outlines of the stronghold erected by the de Bohuns; the town and surrounding country remained in their hands until Sir David Owen, uncle of Henry VII, married the last of the line. Sir David sold the estate to the Earl of Southampton, whose son left it to his half brother Sir Anthony Browne, Standard Bearer of England; his son became the first Viscount Montague.
The estate is now held by Lord Cowdray, who has a modern mansion, built in a flamboyant Elizabethan style, near-by.
Midhurst is a pleasant old place with some good ancient houses here and there. Those in the centre which form the subject of Miss Vigers’ sketch, are being demolished as this is written; their disappearance will be appreciated by motorists in a hurry but by no one else. The Perpendicular church has been largely rebuilt during the last century and the Montague Chantry lacks its tomb, which has been removed to Easebourne. Richard Cobden was educated in the Grammar School (founded in 1572). During the last few years Midhurst has become to some extent a resort for Londoners who appreciate a quiet country town amid beautiful surroundings which may be explored easily. The walks, not only to the Downs on the south but northwards to the lovely and remote hills which culminate in Blackdown, are among the best in West Sussex. South, west, and east the town is well served by the Brighton and South-Western Railways, a single line in each direction.
[Illustration: MARKET SQUARE, MIDHURST.]
The road to Henley is one of the loneliest as it is one of the loveliest in south-west Sussex. The writer has tramped the long miles to Henley (uphill all the way) without meeting a single pedestrian. Even the advent of the great Sanatorium on the southern slopes of Bexley Hill does not seem to have made any difference. Possibly visitors use the public motor which runs between Midhurst and Haslemere. By so doing they miss one of the finest woodland walks in the south, indescribably beautiful in the scarlet and gold of late autumn.
The traveller in Downland is advised for once to turn his back on the hills and walk as far as the summit of the Haslemere road where the new route turns sharp round to the left and hugs the escarpment of Bexley Hill. In front will be seen an overgrown track, the old highway, plunging down the face of the hill. A few feet down this causeway, paved with large slabs of stone, brings us to a surprising hamlet clinging to the hillside and, with its “Duke of Cumberland” Inn, looking across the wide Fernhurst vale to where Blackdown lords it on the other side.
[Illustration: MIDHURST CHURCH.]
At Easebourne, about a mile north-east of Midhurst, is a Benedictine Priory used, until quite lately, as a farmhouse. It is close to the church, which, with the buildings of the nunnery, form three sides of a hollow square. The restoration has been carried out with taste and care and the whole is worth seeing. The nuns of Easebourne would seem to have been “difficult females,” for a Bishop of Chichester in 1441 was obliged to call the Prioress to order for wearing sumptuous clothes with fur trimmings and for using too many horses when travelling, the penance being a restriction to four. The nuns were spoken of by a contemporary writer as “wild females of high family put at Easebourne to keep them quiet.”
The church, besides the tomb of the first Viscount Montague, removed from Midhurst, contains a figure of Sir David Owen (1540); also a Transitional font.
CHAPTER VIII
GOODWOOD AND BOGNOR
We now leave the Rother, turn south by the Chichester road and passing over Cocking causeway reach, in three miles, that little village at the foot of the pass through the Downs to Singleton, or better still, by taking a rather longer route through West Lavington we may see the church in which Manning preached his last sermon as a member of the Anglican communion. The church and accompanying buildings date from 1850 and were designed by Butterfield; they are a good example of nineteenth-century Gothic and are placed in a fine situation. In the churchyard, which is particularly well arranged, lies Richard Cobden not far from the farmhouse in which he was born. Dunford House is not far away; this was presented to Cobden by the Anti-Corn-Law League, and here the last years of his life were spent.
Cocking once had a cell belonging to the Abbey of Seez in Normandy but of this nothing remains. This beautifully situated little place has a primitive Norman church with a fine canopied tomb and an old painting of Angel and shepherds. We are now at the foot of Charlton Forest covering the slopes of the Downs which stretch eastwards to Duncton Beacon; and along the edge of this escarpment it is proposed to travel. This is one of the loneliest and most beautiful sections of the range.
“A curious phenomenon is observable in this neighbourhood. From the leafy recesses of the layers of beech on the escarpment of the Downs, there rises in unsettled weather a mist which rolls among the trees like the smoke out of a chimney. This exhalation is called ‘Foxes-brewings’ whatever that may mean, and if it tends westwards towards Cocking, rain follows speedily.” (Lower.)
The hamlet of Heyshott need not tempt us from the hill, though Graffham, one of the loveliest villages in Downland, might well be visited. Where at last it is necessary to drop toward the Petworth Chichester road a divergence may be made to East Lavington with its associations and memories of Samuel Wilberforce, who is buried here and in whose memory a memorial brass may be seen in the church; note also the Bishop’s pastoral staff fixed to the wall near the altar. There are still “oldest inhabitants” of this peaceful place who remember the celebrated Victorian, whose rather unkind sobriquet was really but a tribute to his genial kindliness of disposition. Here he married in 1828 the local heiress, Miss Emily Sergent, and here Mrs. Wilberforce was buried in 1841. It is said that at Oxford, or wherever the Bishop was resident, there hung in his bedroom a picture of Lavington churchyard “that I may ever see my own resting place.”
Directly south of Lavington rises the _summit_ of the Downs–Duncton Beacon (837 feet), like many other “highest tops” a great disappointment after visiting some of the lesser heights, for the Beacon, which is named “Littleton Down” on the Ordnance map, is not on the edge of the range but stands back among encircling lesser heights and is itself partly covered with trees which to a great extent cut off the view. Barlavington Down, about half the height of Duncton, and Farm Hill face east and both command fine views in this direction. The latter is above Bignor, to which village we now descend. This is a place beloved of archaeologists, for here is the site of the famous Roman villa. Bignor church is remarkable for the chancel arch which most authorities admit to be a genuine Roman work. Note also the long lancet windows in the chancel and the magnificent yews in the churchyard. Enquiry must be made in the village for the farm at which the keys of the villa enclosure are kept. (Notice the beautiful old house, timbered and with a projecting upper story, near the lane leading to the villa.) Authorities are at variance as to the actual history of the remains which were discovered in 1811. The conjecture that this was the fortified station on Stane street (which may be seen descending the hills south-west), at the tenth milestone, “Ad Decimum,” seems lately to be discredited, and the supposition gains ground that the villa was simply the country palace of a great Roman, or possibly a civilized British prince. However that may be, the discoveries revealed one of the most important and interesting remains of the Roman occupation in Britain, and cover an area of no less than 600 feet in length by 350 feet in breadth. The principal pavement may be that of the Banqueting hall, in the centre of which is a stone cistern, probably a fountain. The hypercaust below has caused the floor to give way in several places. The pavement of a smaller room is perfect and shows a finely executed design; another is decorated with cupids fighting. The details of the building, too numerous to be mentioned here, deserve careful attention even by the uninitiated and prove more forcibly than history-books the magnificence of the civilization which once was, before Sussex became an entity, and which the first Sussex men so wofully destroyed.
The old Roman way could be followed directly across the hills for four miles until the high road is joined near Halnaker Hill, where we shall presently arrive from Goodwood, but a longer route must be taken to explore the lovely and retired part of the Downs which lies between Bignor and Singleton. A path between Farm Hill and Barton Down leads to Up Waltham where is a little Early English church with the rare feature of a circular apse. Just south of the village an exquisite combe opens out to the south-west and is traversed by a rough and stony hill road leading to East Dean; this claims to be the _real_ East Dean where Alfred met Asser, but its beautiful situation will be its chief recommendation to the traveller. Another mile brings us to the hamlet of Charlton from which the extensive forest to the north takes its name. A short distance further and the Midhurst-Chichester road is joined at Singleton, which village, very pleasantly situated, has a Perpendicular church with a Norman tower, so ancient that some authorities name it Saxon; it is at the latest very primitive Norman. Notice the quaint wooden gallery and the stairs to the rood loft, and also a stoup in good preservation. The village is in a most beautiful situation, surrounded by groups of low wooded hills. There is a station here on the Midhurst railway.
The high road now winds through West Dean to Mid-Lavant and Chichester. Both villages have “restored” churches. The first named contains a notable monument–the Lewknor. Near by is the beautiful West Dean Park. Mid-Lavant church is Early English but boasts a Norman window. The name of this village perpetuates a phenomenon which is becoming more rare each year. At one time erratic streams would make their appearance in the chalk combes in the head of the valley and combining, cause serious floods or “lavants.” For some unknown reason the flow of water is gradually becoming smaller and of late years it has been quite insignificant.
[Illustration: EAST LAVANT.]
To resume the route a return must be made to Singleton and the path taken which leads over the Goodwood hills past the Race Course to Halnaker. The whole of this beautiful stretch of Downland is open to the stranger; the best views are undoubtedly from the Race Course, which dates from 1802. This is the most fashionable of all race-meetings and the course is in the most beautiful situation. To the west of the course, on an isolated eminence, sometimes called “Roche’s Hill” and sometimes “The Beacon” is an ancient camp with double vallum and fosse enclosing over five acres. On the slope due south of Roche’s Hill are some caves supposed to have been prehistoric dwelling-places. A mile to the south is Goodwood House (Duke of Richmond), on certain days and during certain seasons open to the public. The house, so far as its exterior is concerned, is exceedingly ugly, but contains a magnificent collection of paintings, chiefly portraits, the most famous of which are by Lawrence, Gainsborough, Romney and Vandyke, the last named being represented, among other works, by the well-known painting of Charles I with his queen and children.
The most striking view in the neighbourhood of the house is from “Carney’s Seat” above the pheasantry, a magnificent prospect of the coast extending for many miles in each direction. There are grand groups of cedars here and throughout the park; these add materially to the foreground of the prospect. The timber generally is very fine, as is almost always the case in the enclosed parklands of West Sussex. In High Wood is a temple which contained until recently an inscribed slab discovered in Chichester when the foundations of the Council chamber, erected in 1731, were being excavated. This stone, of the greatest interest to antiquaries, has been returned to the town and will be noticed when we arrive there.
The ruins of Halnaker are on the south-east of the park. The house was built in the reign of Henry VIII by Sir Thomas West, Lord De la Warr. Before being allowed to fall into ruin the best of the fittings were removed to the “Chantry” in Chichester.
At the distance of a mile south of Halnaker, Stane Street is reached at a point about four miles from Chichester. There are, however, still some interesting places to be seen before, for almost the last time, we turn west. These include Boxgrove, which must on no account be missed.
Eartham is a beautifully situated village about two miles directly east of Halnaker. It is chiefly of interest for its associations with the poet Hayley, who lived at Eartham House, now the residence of Sir P. Milbanke. The house became for a time the rendezvous of many celebrities, including Cowper, Flaxman, Blake and Romney. A very fine Flaxman monument in memory of Hayley’s son may be seen in the church; notice also the memorial of William Huskisson the statesman, who lived near here and who was afterwards killed at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The church has a Norman arch in the chancel, much admired for its graceful proportions and details.
Even more beautiful a village is Slindon, about two miles farther east and about three miles from Arundel. Its perfect situation is enhanced by the picturesque clumps of beech trees on the sides of the hills that encircle it. In the restored church, which was built at various periods, is the effigy of a knight in wood. Note the curious shorn pillars in the nave. Here is an old Elizabethan hall, and the park, with its magnificent beech woods, is very fine. Slindon is becoming a favourite resort for those who desire a quiet holiday in delightful rural surroundings.
Two miles south of Slindon lies Walberton. The church walls have Roman bricks worked into Saxon masonry. The upper part of the nave is of the usual heavy Norman type. Eastergate, the next village on the main road to Bognor, has an untouched Saxon chancel, with a good deal of Roman masonry mixed with later material built into the walls. These interesting little villages may be easily reached from Bognor.
The last years of the eighteenth century were prolific in the birth of south-coast watering places or in the transformation of decayed ports or remote seaside hamlets into fashionable bathing places. Bognor is a case in point and comes within the latter category. A successful hatter of Southwark named Hotham, having “made his pile” built himself a house near the little manor hamlet of Bognor, which boasted a single inn but no church. The example of Brighton and the nearer neighbour Worthing being constantly before the then member of Parliament and one-time business man, the possibilities of the land he had acquired, with its fine fringe of firm sand, soon made themselves apparent, and the Crescent, Hothampton Place and several other terraces in what is now the centre of modern Bognor quickly appeared. A determined attempt to change the name to Hothampton failed, and as soon as the speculator died, his gamble a personal failure, the town reverted to the original Saxon Bognor (Bucganora).
The young town had the usual royal send-off; the Princess Charlotte stayed here for a short time and was followed in due course by the little princess who was one day to become so famous a Sovereign.
It will be seen that Bognor has nothing to interest the visitor who requires something besides a rather homely home from home with good air, bright sunshine and almost the nearest stretch of good sand to London, which delights the shoals of juveniles who give to the front its air of busy animation. The famous Bognor rocks provide an additional attraction; the sea at low tide retires for a considerable distance and exposes a line of rocks which indicate the general trend of the ancient coast. Here treasures of the sea may be found in profusion and variety. During spring and leap tides the waves, backed by a strong wind, may cause great excitement by dashing across the front and invading the back streets; until the present wall was built this was of frequent occurrence. Bognor has a very mild winter temperature and runs Worthing very close for sunshine.
The old parish church is at South Bersted. It is of Norman origin with some remains of this period and possibly of Saxon times; the main portion is, however, Early English. Note the stone slabs outside the porch; these were brought from Bosham by a former incumbent. There is a sixteenth-century fresco on one of the nave pillars depicting St. Thomas Aquidas disputing with the doctors. In the churchyard are several interesting graves and a very ancient yew reputed to be over 800 years old.
Felpham is now the eastern suburb of Bognor, and is linked to the town by a small bungalow colony. Here Hayley came after selling Eartham, but the place is now more famous for its associations with the poet’s friend Blake, who lived for three years in the small thatched cottage which still stands at the seaward end of the village. Hayley was buried in the churchyard, which also contains the tomb of Dean Jackson, once tutor to George IV. The church is a mixture of styles, one row of pillars being Early English the other Transitional. The much quoted epitaph on a blacksmith written by Hayley runs as follows:–
“My sledge and hammer lie reclin’d;
My bellows, too, have lost their wind; My fire’s extinct, my forge decay’d,
And in the dust my vice is laid;
My coal is spent, my iron gone,
The nails are driven, my work is done.”
Blake’s associations with the village came to a sudden end in consequence of a stupid and unwarranted prosecution for treason, the outcome of a struggle with a drunken soldier. The mystic poet-artist gained some of his most characteristic inspirations while staying here, and it was in the garden of his cottage that he saw a “fairy’s funeral,” the description of which has been often quoted; it is difficult to judge how much of his visions were, to himself, poetic fancy or actual fact.
[Illustration: FELPHAM.]
We now resume our journey towards Chichester at Walberton, north of which the high road runs west, with little of interest until a turning on the right brings us to the finest ecclesiastical building in the county excepting the Cathedral.
The Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Blaise _Bosgrave_ was founded in the reign of Henry I by Robert de Haia of Halnaker. Being a Benedictine church, the nave, now in ruins, formed the parochial section. The choir, transepts and tower, which remain, belonged to the monks, and this portion, with the exception of the Norman tower, forms one of the most beautiful examples of Early English in the kingdom and dates from about 1200. The fine Purbeck marble columns are much admired, as are also the graceful clerestory and vaulting. The galleries of the transepts have ornamented oak fronts, and were used by the lay portion of the ancient congregation. There is a frescoed ceiling belonging to the sixteenth century. Notice the Renaissance tomb of Lord De la Warr (1532) on the south side of the chancel with its curious carvings and in the south transept those of Countess Phillippa of Arundel (1428) and her second husband, Adam de Poynings; also several others, some of which are without inscriptions, but possibly including those of the daughters of that Countess of Arundel who was once the first Henry’s queen. The ruins of the priory may be traced and several of the beautiful Norman arches belonging to the cloisters still remain.
[Illustration: BOXGROVE PRIORY CHURCH.]
Tangmere has a Norman and Early English church with a wooden tower. The village is on the south side of the main road but need not detain us. West Hampnett, nearer Chichester, is of more interest; here Saxon work in Roman materials may be seen; notice the fine tomb of Richard Sackville and the representation of the Trinity between the kneeling figures of Richard and his wife. On the left of the road will be seen an old Tudor house which has been converted into a workhouse. The road now enters the suburbs of Chichester.
[Illustration: SKETCH PLAN OF THE CITY OF CHICHESTER.]
CHAPTER IX
CHICHESTER
The Brito-Roman city of Regnum has left its mark on modern Chichester in the regularity of the streets, which follow the lines of the ancient thoroughfares. The actual beginnings of the town may antedate the Romans, but of this we know nothing. It was to the British chief Cogi, whose name was Romanized into Cogidubnus, that the foundation of Chichester was probably due; this Briton was a chief of the native tribe of the Regni who inhabited the Down country and the adjacent seaboard. Instead of opposing the conquerors this astute statesman welcomed and allied himself to them and in return received the unique honour, for a native, of the title “Legate of the Emperor.”
It is probable that the city was built on the fork of two important existing roads, Stane Street–the new stone causeway from London to the harbours on the coast between modern Bosham and Portsmouth–and the adapted and straightened ancient trackway running parallel to the sea and serving the settlements and ports east and west of the junction. At that time small ships were able to approach within a short distance of the meeting place and here the new town would naturally arise.
Many remains of the Roman period have from time to time been excavated; a pavement was found in 1866 below the retro-choir of the cathedral and some ancient graves in St. Andrew’s churchyard were found to have the coffins resting on a tessellated pavement. Old buildings in various parts of the town, notably St. Olave’s church, have much Roman brickwork, and the usual treasure of denarii and broken pottery is found whenever an exceptional turning over of the foundations of the town takes place.
But the most remarkable of all these earlier relics is the so called “Pudens Stone” to which reference has been made in speaking of Goodwood Park. This slab was discovered while digging the foundations of the Council Chamber and after being kept at Goodwood for many years has been returned to the Council House in North Street, where it may now be seen. The stone is Purbeck marble and bears the following inscription:–
(N)eptuni et Minervae templum
(pr)o salute d(omus) divinae
(Ex) auctoritat(e Tib) Claud.
(Co)gidubni r. leg. aug. in Brit.
(Colle)gium fabror. et qui in eo
(A sacris) sunt d.s.d. donati aream (Pud)enti Pudentini fil.
(The conjectural restorations are given in parentheses.)
(_Translation_.) “The temple of Neptune and Minerva, erected for the health and preservation of the Imperial family by the authority of the Emperor Tiberias Claudius and of Cogidubnus, the great king of the Britons. The company of Artificers, with others, who were ambitious of supplying materials, defrayed the expense. Pudens, son of Pudentinus, gave the ground.” (Hare.)
The great interest of the inscription is in that part which refers to Pudens; a controversy raged for a long time during the middle of the last century around the question of the identity of this individual, the results of which seem to favour the connexion between Chichester and the Pudens of St. Paul’s second Epistle to Timothy.
The town seems to have been of little importance in South Saxon times, although the modern name dates from that period–“Cissa’s Ceaster.” Cissa was one of the sons of Ella who landed on the Selsey peninsula. During the Conqueror’s reign Chichester regained some of its former dignity when the seat of the Sussex see was removed hither from Selsey. At the same time the town was presented to Roger Montgomery, Earl of Alencon, together with most of South-west Sussex. The Earl built a castle, but nothing of this remains, though the mound in the Priory Park is said to be the site.
The troops of the Parliament–led by Sir William Waller, besieged Chichester in 1642; after ten days the city fell and much ill work, especially in the cathedral, followed. Since then its history has been uneventful.
Some days may be spent in this pleasant town without exhausting its interest and charm and the cathedral cannot be seen in one visit without fatigue. As a centre for the exploration of West Sussex Chichester is much better than one of the smaller towns. (I am not now advising that adventurous traveller who, fearing nothing, will trust himself to a remote village hostelry among the Downs.) The South Coast Railway runs in three directions and all high roads converge on the city.
[Illustration: CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL.]
Chichester Cathedral is the second on the site, and much of this building has been added to and altered at various dates. The original cathedral is supposed to have been for a time the adapted church of St. Peter’s monastery which stood on or near the south-west corner of the city cross-roads. Bishop Ralph’s building, erected in 1107, was destroyed by fire in 1114. The same bishop started to build the older portions of the church which we now see.
The most striking object in the exterior view is the modern spire, built by Scott to replace the tower which fell in 1861 while repairs to the piers were in progress. The summit is exactly equidistant from the west porch and the end of the Lady Chapel. The most effective, if not the most picturesque view, is from the north, where the sturdy campanile makes a good foil to the graceful spire. Until the enormous bulk of the new Liverpool Cathedral rose above the great city in the north, Chichester was the only English cathedral visible from the sea.
[Illustration: SKETCH PLAN OF CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL.]
The nave should be entered from the west porch, a much admired specimen of Early English. We are at once aware of the fine effects of light and shade produced by the four aisles. The Cathedral is one of the widest in England (though those usually quoted as excelling it–York Minster and St. Paul’s, are actually excelled themselves by Manchester, which also has four aisles). The nave and the inner aisles are Norman, the outer being Geometrical; these were added to make room for the various chapels and shrines which were found necessary as the development of the church progressed. The base of the south-west tower is possibly of an earlier date than the remainder of the nave and the suggestion has been put forward that it forms part of the original monastery church of St. Peter; the style of it is very rude and archaic.
Proceeding by the left-hand or north aisle we see first, close to the north door, the chapel of the Baptist, which contains an unknown tomb and an ancient chest reputed to be over a thousand years old and to have been brought from Selsey. Following come the Collins tomb and the Arundel chantry containing the altar-tomb of Richard Fitz-Alan and his countess. At the end of this aisle is an unknown female effigy conjectured to be Maud of Arundel (1270). Some good modern stained glass will have been noticed in the nave. The pulpit, a memorial to Dean Hook, was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. The south aisle of the nave has the tomb of Bishop Arundel (1478), Bishop Durnford, and Agnes Cromwell and a brass to William Bradbridge three times mayor of Chichester (1592).
In a spirit of ruthless improvement the beautiful old stone screen between nave and choir was removed in 1859, and replaced by the present rood-screen in memory of Archdeacon Walker. The finely carved throne and stalls in the choir are also modern but are in excellent taste and keeping with the solemn Norman stone which surrounds them. The east window was placed in 1844, and it is no worse than other examples of this period.
The north transept was for many years used as the parish church of St. Peter. Note the pictures by Bernhardi of the English Bishops; those after Elizabeth were destroyed when the tower fell. On the west are the tombs of three bishops, Grove (1695), King (1669) and Carleton (1705). King was the defender of Chichester during Waller’s attack and the latter described him as a “pragmatical malignant.” The cathedral library is in this transept, entered from the north choir aisle. It contains several treasures, notably the service book of Hermann, Archbishop of Cologne, once the property of Cranmer and bearing his autograph. From this book the Reformer adapted many phrases for the Book of Common Prayer. There are several interesting relics from the stone coffins discovered under the choir in 1829, including a papal absolution cross, an abraxas ring and a twelfth-century silver chalice and paten. These are displayed in a case by the wall. In the north choir aisle is a beautiful altar cloth in a glass case. We now pass the fine canopied tomb of Bishop Moleynes (1449). In the Early English chapel at the end, dedicated to St. Panthelon, is the modern tomb of Bishop Otter (1840). Before entering this chapel note the stone built into the wall and known as “Maudes Heart.” The screens separating the aisles from the presbytery are made of native Sussex iron.
We now return and cross to the south transept, on the north side of which is the tomb once supposed to be the shrine of St. Richard de la Wych, Bishop (1253) but now definitely accepted as that of Bishop Stratford (1362). This tomb, with several others, was barbarously “restored” in the last century; near it may be seen the modern brass in memory of Dean Burgon (1888). The pictures on the west wall are by Bernhardi and represent Ceadwalla giving Selsey to St. Wilfrid and the confirmation made by Henry VIII to Bishop Sherborne. Part of the transept is used as a consistory court. The sacristy is on the west side and on the east is St. Catherine’s Chapel. In the wall of the aisle, proceeding east, note two slabs which are said to have been brought from Selsey Cathedral. The subjects are the Raising of Lazarus and the Saviour meeting Martha and Mary. Note between them the tomb of Bishop Sherborne (1536); near by is a memorial of Dean Hook (1875) also the coffin slabs of Bishop Neville (1224) and Bersted (1262).
[Illustration: CHICHESTER PALACE AND CATHEDRAL.]
We now enter the Transitional Retro-choir; here is the altar tomb of Bishop Story (1503) who built Chichester Market Cross, and of Bishop Day (1556). The columns of Purbeck marble which grace this part of the cathedral are of great beauty. The screens of native iron have already been noticed, they are of simple but effective design.
We pass the terminal chapel of the south aisle, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and restored in memory of Dean Cross, and enter the Chapel of Our Lady, noting (left) the tombs of Bishops Hilary and Ralph, and (right) Bishop Seffrid II, the builder of the Early English portions of the Cathedial. This beautiful chapel was finished in the early fourteenth century and in the eighteenth was considered unworthy of repair and handed over to the Duke of Richmond, whose private property it for a long time became. The floor was raised to allow of a burial vault being constructed below, and the upper portion became the library.
The restoration was resolved upon in 1870 as a memorial to Bishop Gilbert, and the then Duke being in sympathy with the revived canons of good taste no opposition was encountered. It may be of interest to quote an anonymous correspondent in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ (1829, part II) which shows how the leaven was at work even then.
“Some ten years since a Goth, by some untoward chain of circumstances, possessed sufficient influence with his brethren in the Chapter to induce that body to whitewash the church, and by way of ornament, and with a view to compensate for the loss of the original paintings on the groining of the choir destroyed by the whitewash, the said gentleman had the archivolt mouldings and all the lines of the building which were in relief, tastefully coloured in yellow ochre. The name of the perpetrator of this outrage on good taste and good feeling it is unnecessary to add, as he will never plan or design any further embellishment to the cathedral, but if any of his coadjutors in the daubing and smearing line have survived him, and still possess influence, I tremble for the effects of the present repair.
“The curious chantry of St. Richard, an object of veneration among Catholics even to our own days, and the elegant stone screen of the roodloft, have been literally plastered with whitewash, the rich sculptured bosses being converted into apparently unshapely lumps of chalk, and the flat spaces within the heads of the Norman arches of the nave, which are sculptured with scales and flowers, are almost reduced to a plane surface…. The removal of this rubbish would be a work of time; it should be gradually and effectually performed arch by arch, or its removal may carry away with it many of the sculptures it may conceal. This will certainly be the case if any London architect, with a contractor at his heels, sets about a thorough repair to be completed in a given time….
“The more ancient injuries which the appearance of the cathedral had sustained were, in the first instance, occasioned by the erection of a breastwork in front of the triforium, which concealed the bases and half the shafts of the columns; this might now be easily removed as the object of its erection, to protect from accident the spectators of the ancient processions, has ceased to exist. Since the Reformation a great portion of the nave has been fitted up with pews, the congregation adjourning from the choir to the nave to hear the sermon. I need not point out the injury the nave sustains in appearance from this cause and many points of perspective, highly picturesque, which would arise from the singular duplication of the aisles of this church are entirely lost through the existence of the sermon place.”
On the south side of the nave is the entrance to the irregularly built cloisters; here are several monuments and a good view of the interesting details of the exterior of the cathedral. The Bishop’s Palace is at the west end; it has an Early English chapel in which is an interesting fresco of the Virgin and Child. At the south-east angle of the cloister is the Chantry of St. Faith dating from the early fourteenth century.
[Illustration: BELL TOWER, CHICHESTER.]
The Bell Tower, which is an unique feature of the Cathedral, dates from the late fifteenth century; it was built to relieve the central tower of the main building from the weight of the eight bells, most of them ancient, with quaintly worded and spelt inscriptions. The Arundel screen has been placed within the tower, but special permission must be obtained to see this.
The old documents in the Cathedral muniment room are quaint reading, especially in these post-war days; here are a few items taken at random from an old book of accounts:–
Payd Thomas the broderer for his labors in amendyng of dyverse cooppes vestments and other ornaments of the church workynge thereabouts by the space of IIII wyks after Chrystmas VI s
For hys comones so longe IIII s
Payd unto Wolsey the masson for amendynge of the tumbe in our Lady Chapell that was broken uppe when the Commissionars were here from the Councell to serch the same XV d