Hurstpierpoint

Tempted by a Halloween themed treat much earlier this year we justified the cost by calling it my birthday treat. However, that was due to be a couple of days afterwards so on the day itself, whilst still wanting to go out, we kept it simple and followed the heritage trail around the Sussex village of Hurstpierpoint. It's not a place known to either of us which made the shared experience of exploring it more fun. Did I find any oddities in amongst all of its history.....well you'll just have to read on.

I could give you lots of history, but there's plenty to read online and instead you're getting my take on this place. What tempted me here in the first place was seeing a photo of the sculpture of the children at the fair which featured in my last post, but I do think the village sign is rather splendid too. Hurst is a Saxon word meaning 'wood and the other part of the name comes from the de Pierpoint family who hailed from Normandy. They trundled over with dear old William the Conqueror and held land here until 1431. It's thought that the chap below is one of their lot. He's probably Simon de Pierpoint and you can see his rather broken up tomb in the parish church. Apparently he's wearing a bascinet, a mail gorget, a gyphon, a baudrick and plate armour with knee coverage. This was what the best dressed knights were wearing in c1358 and if you understand what's before you [I am clueless] you can date these things by the style of clothing depicted,

Now if I lived in Hurst [as the locals call it]....be warned you need a few spare million knocking about, then I'd probably choose a property which calls itself 'The Odd Corner'. Sadly I wasn't able to knock on the door and enquire if it lives up to its name.

Mind you if your name was Dr Richard Weekes you didn't need to worry about buying your own pad as someone kindly bought a whopping great villa for him as a wedding present...even the gate posts below are listed. However, that is because they were built by the famous architect and builder Amon Wilds [and his son of the same name] who was responsible for many of the beautiful Regency builds in Brighton. His trademark was an ammonite as seen here [you'll have to trust me on this one] which was a pun on his name of Amon apparently.

It's easy to forget how threatened people felt in the South East by Napoleon. There was a very real fear that the French would land on the coast nearby in order to invade. It's thought that this crenelated wall and flint tower were built in order to try and dupe the enemy into believing that what they were seeing was a castle as they approached across the South Downs. I think it would have looked more impressive at a distance somehow that it does close up to.

Every place has its fair share of local characters. Local resident John Treeps sounds my sort of fellow because he left the bell ringers 10 shillings to go and buy drinks with after his funeral or there's Charles Hannington who fell out with the local Anglican rector and with his vast income just went off and built himself a massive chapel as you do [now a private residence. There was tales of the local witch Nanny Smart who it was said could not die until someone bought the secrets of her life. Eventually Old Hockland paid her a halfpenny for them and she died in a blue flame! These are the stories which bring a place alive. Below are my own favourite bits and bobs

Who wouldn't want a plaque made by someone calling themselves the Feral Ceramicist eh!

This is a relic from yesteryear. It's a so called torch snuffer and was used to extinguish the old street lights in the days before we had electric lighting. Nowadays it's a decorative piece on display outside one of the houses in the High Street. The striking black and white decoration is part of a frieze on the upper levels of Cards Place. The leonine figure with its greenman features was always going to appeal to me.💚

The theatre has had many previous incarnations. It started out as a chapel and has been both a shop and a school in its time. We did comment as we went round that many of the larger buildings seem to have been schools in former times. The Gothic House is another one, but is now four private dwellings. Just on the outskirts lies the public school of Hurstpierpoint College.

Finally, we made a little detour to pay our respects to Esmerelda the cow. I'm afraid I can't tell you why there's a model cow in front of that row of cottages, but if I ever find out I will let you know🐄 It made a perfect ending to our short foray before returning to GBT for a large wodge of cake😋

Arilx