Seaward Sussex Part 9

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 Vand.y.k.e, 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 Suss.e.x. 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 a.s.sociations 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 inc.u.mbent. 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 a.s.sociations 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 a.s.sociations 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 t.i.tle "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 ident.i.ty 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 Suss.e.x 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 Suss.e.x. 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 Suss.e.x 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 st.u.r.dy 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 gla.s.s 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 bra.s.s 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 gla.s.s case. We now pa.s.s 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 Suss.e.x 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 bra.s.s 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).