Seaward Sussex: The South Downs from End to EndHolmes, Edric
History
Seaward Sussex: The South Downs from End to End
Holmes, Edric
Sussex (England) -- Description and travel
Between a fold of the hills lies picturesque Harting in a most
delightful situation; an ideal spot for a restful time away from
twentieth-century conditions. The tourist, if amenable to the simple
life, might well make a stay of a few days to explore the lovely
country of which this village forms the centre. The finely placed Early
English cruciform church has several interesting monuments to members
of former local families, including sixteenth century memorials of the
Cowper-Coles. Here is buried Lord Grey, who was connected with the Rye
House Plot. Notice the embroidery in the reredos, an unusual style;
also the fine wooden roof and shorn pillars; the latter detract from
the general effect of the interior and have been noticed in other
Downland churches on our route. Quite close to the church are the old
village stocks, undoubtedly placed in this position for the sake of
convenience, the "court" in more remote districts having been held, in
former times, in the church itself. Harting was for a time the home of
Anthony Trollope, and Cardinal Pole was rector here.
There are few districts in England and certainly none south of the
Trent where old customs and queer legends persist with so much vitality
as in these lonely combes and hollows. The effect of being out of the
world is perhaps enhanced in these western Downs by the ring fence of
dark woods through which we have to pass to reach the bare, wind-swept
solitudes and lonely hamlets within them. The northern escarpment and
southern flanks of the hills are clothed in vast forests of beech which
add that grandeur to the great ramparts of chalk which the eastern
ranges lack. Seen through the ever-shifting sea mists which creep up
from the channel these heights take on an appearance of greater
altitude and an added glamour of mystery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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