Highways and Byways in SussexLucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
History
Highways and Byways in Sussex
Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
Sussex (England) -- Description and travel
In those simple days everything was prized. In one of these Sussex
wills, in 1594, Richard Phearndeane, a labourer, left to his brother
Stephen his best dublett, his best jerkin and his best shoes, and to
Bernard Rosse his white dublett, his leathern dublett and his worst
breeches.
[Sidenote: THE BELLS OF BOLNEY]
Three miles west of Cuckfield is Bolney, just off the London road, a
village in the southern boundary of St. Leonard's Forest, the key to
some very rich country. Before the days of bicycles Bolney was
practically unknown, so retired is it. The church, which has a curious
pinnacled tower nearly 300 years old, is famous for its bells,
concerning whose melody Horsfield gives the following piece of counsel:
"Those who are fond of the silvery tones of bells, may enjoy them to
perfection, by placing themselves on the margin of a large pond, the
property of Mr. W. Marshall; the reverberation of the sound, coming off
the water, is peculiarly striking."
Sixty years ago this sheet of water had an additional attraction. Says
Mr. Knox, "During the months of May and June, 1843, an osprey was
observed to haunt the large ponds near Bolney. After securing a fish he
used to retire to an old tree on the more exposed bank to devour it, and
about the close of evening was in the habit of flying off towards the
north-west, sometimes carrying away a prize in his talons if his sport
had been unusually successful, as if he dreaded being disturbed at his
repast during the dangerous hours of twilight. Having been shot at
several times without effect, his visits to these ponds became gradually
less frequent, but the surrounding covers being unpreserved, and the
bird itself too wary to suffer a near approach, he escaped the fate of
many of his congeners, and even re-appeared with a companion early in
the following September, to whom he seemed to have imparted his salutary
dread of man--his mortal enemy--for during the short time they remained
there it was impossible to approach within gunshot of either of them."
The indirect road from Bolney to Hand Cross, through Warninglid and
Slaugham (parallel with the coaching road), is superb, taking us again
into the iron country and very near to Leonardslee, which we have
already seen.
[Sidenote: THE MAGNIFICENT COVERTS]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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