Balcombe to Buxted

Balcombe, Mid Sussex (1649). TQ3130. 4m WNW of Haywards Heath

Large village in the High Weald. Church much enlarged. Just SW of the neo-Tudor Balcombe Place (1½m SE), by Clutton (1856), is the late C17 brick Stone Hall. In the extensive Balcombe Forest, Dr Mantell discovered the first iguanadon. Impressive 37-arch Ouse Viaduct (1841) of the London-Brighton railway (2m SSE).

Barcombe, Lewes (1313). TQ4214. 3m N of Lewes

Picturesque village W of the Ouse with restored church. Incs Barcombe Cross (1m N) and Spithurst (2m N).

Barlavington, Chichester (97). SU9716. 4m S of Petworth

Hamlet under the Downs, locally Barlton, with a small C13 church. See also Burton.

Barnham, Arun (616). SU9604. 3m NNE of Bognor Regis

On the coastal plain. Attractive simple C12/13 church (½m SW by former canal), with French C15 wooden St Genevieve. Barnham Court is a handsome brick Mannerist house (c.1640) with pilasters and Dutch gables. Tithe Barn.

BATTLE, Rother (5141). TQ7516. 6m NW of Hastings

Small Wealden market town on the Battle Ridge. Named after the famous battle of Hastings, fought to the S on 14th October 1066, when invading Normans under William, the Conqueror, defeated Saxons under King Harold. Town subsequently developed at the gate of the famous abbey. TIC (High St).

Abbey (EH): Benedictine (St Martin’s), founded by William the Conqueror in fulfilment of a vow made before his victory, with the high altar placed on the site where Harold fell; dedicated by William Rufus (1094). Dissolved 1538 and given to Sir Anthony Browne, Henry VIII’s Master of the Horse (cf. Easebourne), who converted the abbot’s lodging into a mansion and demolished the rest. Completely rebuilt in the Gothic style by Clutton (1857); and now a girls’ school. Dominating the town is the large, strong, and impressive Gatehouse (1338), one of the best in England, rich Dec. with some Norman parts; continued E by stretch of precinct wall. Exposed foundations of C13 E end of church (ambulatory and radiating chapels), with ‘Harold’s Stone’ on site of high altar; part of S wall incorporated in house. Remains of Dormitory include good C13 S gable with lancets, and undercroft. E.E. blank arcading of W wall of Refectory and W walk of cloisters (latter included in E front of house). House incorporates parts of Abbot’s Lodging, including C15 Great Hall and C13 chapel and parlour. Guesthouse to S represented by series of C13 tunnel-vaulted cellars; also two turrets of Browne’s Banqueting Hall (demolished c.1750), now terrace with view over battlefield.

St Mary’s Ch.: good Norman to Perp., with Norman font, old glass (N aisle) and wall-painting, brasses, and early Renaissance monument to Sir Anthony Browne (d. 1548, see above). Burial place of Edmund Cartwright, inventor of power-loom (d.1823). Behind is the Deanery of 1599.

Town: C15 timber-framed Pilgrims’ Rest, a former monks’ hostel, by Abbey gatehouse. Attractive old houses in Market Place, High St and Mount St. Museum (Langton House); Museum of Shops (High St). Smock-mill on Caldbec Hill to N (1810). Good neo-Gothic railway station (1852).

Netherfield is 3m NW. In Beauport Park (2½m ESE), good rems of Roman bloomery: iron slag-heap and small but well preserved bath-house.

Beckley, Rother (915). TQ8423. 5m WNW of Rye

S of the Rother Levels. Church has a Norman tower. Children’s Farm at Great Knelle (1m N).

Beddingham, Lewes (269). TQ4408. 2m SE of Lewes

Below the South Downs between Mount Caburn (N) and Beddingham Hill (S, 623’, with masts). Norman to Perp. church with Trans. arcades and slight wall-painting. Bronze Age Settlement on Itford Hill (1½m S) with hut enclosures.

Bepton, Chichester (246). SU8618. 3m SW of Midhurst

At the foot of the Downs (Linch Down 813’), with a C13 restored church.

Berwick, Wealden (224). TQ5205. 5m SW of Hailsham

Below the Downs. E.E./Dec. church, with wall-paintings by Vanessa & Quentin Bell & Duncan Grant (1942-3, cf. West Firle). Drusillas Zoo Pk (E).

BEXHILL, Rother (*35402 MB). TQ7407. 5m W of Hastings

Town and seaside resort developed by the Earls de la Warr from 1880. On the seafront, the De La Warr Pavilion, built 1933-6 by Erich Mendelsohn & Serge Chermayeff, one of the most remarkable modern buildings in England (TIC). Museum (Egerton Rd).

In the old village centre half a mile inland is St Peter’s Ch., Norman to Perp. with a carved Saxon coffin-lid and C15 glass (in N window), and the partly C14 Manor Ho, now Costume Museum.

Remains of submerged forest below Galley Hill (E). Main suburbs: Little Common (W), Sidley (N).

Bignor, Chichester (109). SU9814. 5m SW of Pulborough

Under the South Downs (Bignor Hill 737’). E.E. church with Norman chancel-arch and C14 screen. The Old Shop is a good C15 half-timbered and thatched house with brick-nogging. Roman Villa: one of the largest in Britain (discovered 1811), a C3/4 courtyard house situated off Stane St, with a bath suite, and outstanding mosaics of Venus, Ganymede, etc. On the Downs are the remains of a Neolithic causewayed camp (Barkhale, 1½m SSW).

Billingshurst, Horsham (5425). TQ0826. 6m WSW of Horsham

Large village on the Roman Stane St (A29), in the Low Weald E of the Arun. Church mainly C13/15 with shingled spire. C16 half-timbered ‘Olde Six Bells’ in High St. Lannards Gallery (Okehurst Rd). Okehurst (1½m NNW) is a picturesque C16 stone house with a half-timbered granary. Incs Adversane (2m SSW) and Five Oaks (1½m NNE).

Binsted, Arun (Tortington). SU9806. 2m WSW of Arundel

Has a small restored Norman church, with a rare C12 wall-painting of St Margaret of Scotland and an old font.

Birdham, Chichester (1466). SU8200. 4m SW of Chichester

On the Selsey peninsula by Chichester Harbour. The church (restored) has a Dec. chancel-arch and a Perp. tower. At the seaward end of the Chichester Canal, remnant of the Arundel-Portsmouth Canal (1824).

Bodiam, Rother (266). TQ7825. 7m NNE of Battle

On the R Rother near the Kent border. The famous Castle (NT), one of the last to be built in England, was built by Sir Edward Dalyngruge in 1388 as a protection against the French, the river then being navigable to here. It was never attacked until gutted by Waller in the Civil War. Since well restored by Lord Curzon (1917) and given to the NT (1925). The classic example of a planned castle, externally complete, symmetrical square with gatehouse and round angle-towers, all within a moat; regular ranges around courtyard inc. ruins of hall and kitchen (S) and chapel (E). The church (½m N) has a fragmentary C14 brass.

BOGNOR REGIS, Arun (*53175 UD). SZ9399. 6m SE of Chichester

Town and popular seaside resort on the Sussex coastal plain. Originally a hamlet in South Bersted par. In the 1780s Sir Richard Hotham, a Southwark hatter and MP, built ‘Hothampton’ at some distance from the sea, with a hotel, assembly rooms, etc. The seafront only really developed from the 1820s, with e.g. the Steyne, Waterloo Place, and is mainly early C20. The suffix ‘Regis’ was added after George V convalesced here in 1929. Pleasure gardens, promenade, etc., wide sands, convalescent homes, and Butlins holiday camp. TIC (Belmont St).

St John Baptist’s Ch. (London Rd) is by Blomfield (1882); of the preceding parish church in the Steyne, only the tower remains (1833). Town Hall (Clarence Rd) of 1929. Pier 1865 [ruined?]. ‘Hothampton’, to the NE at the far end of the High St, incs Hotham Ho, in a park, built by Hotham for himself in 1790s; and the Dome (now Training Coll), built c.1787 as Hothampton Crescent. Local History Museum in Hotham Park Lodge.

Aldwick (1½m W) is a mainly recent development.

Felpham (1m NE). The C12-15 church incs a Dec chancel, C13 chest, and monument to William Hayley, the poet (d. 1820); burial place Dean Jackson, scholar (d. 1819). Hayley lived at Turret House, built by himself on moving from Eartham (q.v.), and William Blake, while under Hayley’s patronage (1800-3), lived in the thatched cottage now in Blake’s Rd.

South Bersted (1m N). Has a large E.E. church (restored) with remains of wall-painting and a C13 chest. Bersted CP (pop 5148) to the N incs North Bersted and Shripney.

Bolney, Mid Sussex (1066). TQ2622. 4m W of Haywards Heath

Just off the A23 on the S slope of the Forest Ridge. Norman church with Perp tower; burial place Henry Huth, the bibliophile. Wykehurst Park (1m N) was built for Huth by E M Barry (1872-4) in a French château style. On the main road (¼m N) is the timber-framed Ye Olde Tudor Ho.

Bosham, Chichester (3831). SU8004. 3m W of Chichester

Fine waterside village and yachting centre on Bosham Channel, a creek of Chichester Harbour. The village street is under water at high tide. Traditional site of a palace of King Canute, and of the demonstration of his impotence against the waves. From here Harold set off on his fateful trip to Normandy, as depicted on the Bayeux tapestry. Quay Meadow is owned by the NT.

The church is a Saxon collegiate foundation, originally associated with St Wilfrid, who landed here 681 to find small colony of Irish monks under Dicul, and refounded by a C12 bishop of Exeter: see the tower and the very impressive C11 chancel-arch. Good E.E. E end with five-lancet window; also crypt below S aisle, font, pillar-piscina, C13 chest, and coffin (found 1865) considered to be that of Canute’s child daughter. According to legend, the church bells were once carried off by the Danes, causing their ships to sink, and they still ring from the deep. Walling of the college incorporated in the Old Manor Ho and a cottage by the churchyard. Other C17/18 houses etc.

The parish, occupying the peninsula between Bosham and Chichester Channels, incs Broadbridge (by railway station) and Old Fishbourne (see Fishbourne).

Botolphs, Horsham (Bramber). TQ1909. 2m SE of Steyning

Hamlet in the Adur Gap. The church has a Saxon chancel-arch and window, and Jacobean pulpit.

Boxgrove, Chichester (759). SU9007. 3m NE of Chichester

Below the South Downs. The remarkable church is that of a Benedictine priory founded by Robert de Haye (1105); at the Dissolution, the choir, transepts, crossing-tower, and two E bays of the nave became the parish church, the rest of the nave being demolished. Norman transepts, Norman/Trans nave, and solid Trans tower (all vaulted in the C13); excellent E.E. choir (c.1220), inspired by Chichester cathedral retrochoir, with combined round and pointed arches and much Purbeck-marble shafting; attractive C16 painted ceiling by Lambert Bernard. Fine richly carved Gothic/Renaissance chantry built by Lord de la Warr (1526, cf. Broadwater); monument with relief to Countess of Derby (d. 1752). N of the church, part of the E side of the cloisters remains, inc. the early C12 Chapter House entrance. The roofless Guest House (c.1300) farther N. Derby Almshouses founded by the same Countess of Derby.

Halnaker (½m N). On Stane St (A285). To the N is the ruin of Halnaker House, begun by the de Hayes (cf. above), with C13 hall and chapel, C14 flint gatehouse, etc. The hall was later incorporated in the Tudor mansion of the Lords de la Warr, which passed to the Dukes of Richmond, but was abandoned for Goodwood and allowed to fall into ruin. On the summit of Halnaker Hill (1½m NE, 416’) is an C18 tower-mill. Dykes, see Chichester.

Bramber, Horsham (731). TQ1810. 1m ESE of Steyning

At the N end of the Adur Gap, on the r. bank of the river. Originally a river-port, and the administrative centre of a rape after the Conquest, having been given by Conqueror to William de Braose, but declined with the silting up of the river. Continued as a ‘rotten borough’ to 1832, at one time represented by William Wilberforce, who is said to have stated on passing through: ‘Bramber? Why, that’s the place I am Member for!’.

The Castle (EH) comprises a huge fragment of an early Norman tower-keep, erected on a Saxon motte by de Braose (d.1087), with low fragments of the curtain-wall; destroyed by the Roundheads in the Civil War. Early Norman church, originally cruciform, the chancel and transepts being destroyed and the fabric otherwise much damaged in the Civil War; note the figure-carved capitals. St Mary’s, a fine C15 timber-framed house with many exhibits and associations. Amusing museum of taxidermy begun by Walter Potter in C19. House of Pipes, museum of ‘smokiana’. See also Botolphs.

Brede, Rother (1597). TQ8218. 6m W of Rye

Above the Brede valley. Church mainly Perp, with rich S chapel with brass and a good monument to Sir Goddard Oxenbridge (d.1537); also a C17 Scandinavian chest, Dean Swift’s cradle, and ‘Virgin & Child’ by Clare Sheridan. Brede Place (½m E) is the C15 stone manor house of the Oxenbridges, with the original adjoining chapel with sacristy and priest’s room. Incs Broad Oak (1m N).

Brightling, Rother (345). TQ6821. 5m NW of Battle

High up on the heavily wooded Battle Ridge. C13/14 church with monuments to ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller MP (d. 1834) and Wm Shield, the composer (d. 1829, with inscription by Fuller). In the churchyard is Fuller’s Mausoleum, a massive pyramid (1810) in which he is said to be buried sitting in a top hat with a bottle of claret. Brightling Park has been demolished except for a range of 1699. The Temple in the park, the 65’ Obelisk (Brightling Needle) on Brightling Down (1m W, 646’, highest point of the Battle Ridge), and the nearby Observatory, are all follies of Jack Fuller (cf. Dallington).

Burgess Hill, Mid Sussex (23631 UD). TQ3119. 9m N of Brighton

Modern residential town in the Vale of Sussex, on the London-Brighton railway, of little interest. Pottery.

Burpham, Arun (208). TQ0409. 2m NE of Arundel

On the l. bank of a wide curve of the R Arun, in its gap through the Downs. Good Norman-E.E. church with an elegant vaulted chancel and a Perp tower. Thatched flint and brick cottages. To the S are the earthworks of a Saxon ‘burh’, enclosing a promontory above the river.

Burton, Chichester (Duncton). SU9617. 3m S of Petworth

Parish centred on Burton Park, a neo-Greek mansion of 1831 inc. an earlier staircase from Michelgrove (see Patching). The small Norman church, in the park, was restored and furnished 1636; Royal Arms of Charles I, screen, rare painting of St Wilgefortis (upside-down), effigy of lady, and Goring brasses. Ornamental lakes.

Burwash, Rother (2327). TQ6724. 7m NE of Battle

Attractive Wealden village on ridge between Rother and Dudwell valleys in an area associated with the writer Rudyard Kipling. The C12/13 church has a font with the Pelham Buckle, and a C14 cast-iron tomb-slab to an ironmaster, possibly the earliest known. Good old houses in pollarded tree-lined High St, inc. Rampyndene, 1699 timber-framed with William & Mary brick front. Batemans (NT) (½m SW), an ironmaster’s house of 1634, was the home of Kipling 1902-36 and is preserved as such by NT; gardens and watermill. The settlement of Burwash Common is 2½m WSW.

Bury, Chichester (647). TQ0113. 4m SW of Pulborough

Below the Downs on the R Arun opposite Amberley. Church mainly C13. John Galsworthy spent his final years at Bury House. Incs West Burton (1m NW), where Coke’s House is Elizabethan with a Jacobean porch.

Buxted, Wealden (3916). TQ4923. 2m NE of Uckfield

In the High Weald on the well-named Iron River. 1m WSW is Buxted Place, an early Georgian house altered after a fire in 1940. In its well-timbered park, and approached by an avenue of limes, is the C13-18 church (restored); note plaster ceiling in chancel (c.1600), C13 chest, and cross-brass. Hog House, at the park entrance, was the former residence of the Hogge family, who cast the first iron cannon in England (1543, note plaque). High Hurstwood is 2m N.