Sussex Scrapbook
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Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 19th February 2011
Motorcycling around the Lewes area.
Even though the weather was
'prostrate with dismal', we still decided to
take a bike ride instead
of a walk, as we were feeling very lazy for a change. We thought we'd look
through a few antique shops in Lewes and explore some churches in the area too.
After a very wet ride, our first stop was the 12th Century church of
St Peter's at Chailey. Unfortunately the church was closed but we took
advantage of the large porch to dry out a bit. This church had the poor
misfortune of being vandalised renovated by bored Victorians,
and the resulting north aisle is totally out of keeping with the rest of this
very pretty building. The
Yews in the churchyard are now covered in the young, orange buds of
soon-to-burst flowers.
The view from our sanctuary from the rain.
The great Yew outside the porch door.
The next objective was
another thousand year-old building just a mile north of Lewes:
St Peter's at Hamsey, which is set on a tiny hillock of it's own, surrounded
by; the River Ouse; the brooks and lots of peace and quiet. Once upon a time
this church would have been on an island, and presumably it still is when Lewes
floods. This church escaped almost unscathed from Victorian attack and as such
feels a more complete building, rather than a few installations lumped together.
The churchyard has some
Yew trees (of course) but it's also got a very fine
Holm Oak too.
Hamsey church is home to the Coombe Vault, where the
Baronets of Coombe, the Shiffner family, are interred. Most of the Baronets
and what must have been most of the men in the hamlet seem to have fallen in
battle over the past 200 years, defending England. So please defend them when
you visit and make use of the donation box.
Even on such a drizzly day as this, the
sentiment on this bench still fits!
The last church we invaded was St Nicholas' at Iford, a couple of miles south of Lewes, which has an 'axial tower plan', i.e. the bell tower is between the chancel and the nave. At one time there would have also been a third spur to the north. This is a very strange set-up, which admittedly looks really good from the outside, however the down side is that the congregation has a very limited view of the altar. The churchyard has excellent views over the brooks though, perched above them as it is.
A delightful, decidedly
damp, drizzly day
Dawdling determinedly
We saw
David Dimbleby!