There are just so many towns along the Sussex coast which I have either never been to or not for aeons. Shame on me! On my birthday I managed to tick another one off the list and am now left wondering why it took me so long to visit. Destination Seaford.
If you love being by the sea, but are not a fan of the whole 'seaside' resort and big crowds thing then this town might just be perfect for you. There are toilets and a couple of small cafes down on the front, but none of the classic attractions and not a funfair in sight. Even the parking is free. Other than oodles of blue sky what we did get down there was this beautiful memorial bench to Claire Sumners who was a local environmental activist and very highly thought of. After the bench was unveiled in 2025, there was a community beach clean held along with a celebration of her life. At the far end you come across the long Shoal community bench which weaves it way along the jetty at Splashpoint like a silver stream. Upon its seats are many fish shaped messages. Many are of too personal a message to share here I feel, but this punning one made me smile. It all felt a little fishy in tone to me🐟 Walk further up and you will see the Martello Tower which was built in 1808 and is one of 103 national examples. It cost in the region of £18k at the time and was put up to keep old Boney from invading. Nowadays it is seeing a second life as a museum, but was closed on our visit.
Having got ourselves orientated and with one of the heritage trails downloaded we headed off up into the town to continue our meanderings.
Any visit that I'm on will almost inevitably a visit to the local church. I'm such a good tourist that I had even contacted the parish office to check the opening hours😀
St Leonard's [the patron saint of sailors] was a Norman church [the arch at the bottom of the tower is one of the remaining features from that time. It was sacked by the French and then restored in 1485 with the tower rebuilt within the old walls. It retains some lovely features as well as some glorious modern additions. I thought the ancient carving of St Michael slaying the dragon most apt as I was born on St Michael's day.
Every church has its many memorials to the great and the good from the local vicinity, but this one to Dr William Pringle is of national interest because he was the first person to officially diagnose dyslexia in an article he wrote for the B.M.A in 1896. He had noted that one of his young patients was a bright lad, but had been struggling with reading and writing. Further investigations led Pringle to discover that the problem was not down to a lack of understanding, but an issue relating to visual perception.
The font is a modern one and although pleasant to look at from afar on its oak plinth it didn't exactly blow my socks off. My reaction changed upon seeing the bowl....a stunning enamelled piece made by Mel Howse💙🩵
Part of exploring always involves a cup of coffee if it's me. Opposite the church stood a cafe with this daft sign outside. We were intrigued and it was recommended to us by two of the patrons who were just leaving as we approached. Well I have to say it was one of the high spots of the day. It's small inside and was packed. The whole time we were there everyone was bantering back and forth with the owner who gave as good as he got. In the end I couldn't resist joining in and when asked if we were from around the area I admitted that we had crossed the county border. There's always a bit of rivalry between East and West and I was reminded that the West is the place where all the rejects from East Sussex and Hampshire are sent. I laughed my socks off and the coffee tasted amazing!
Here's a few of our after lunch treasures as we finished our walk. The frontage of the chemist is still the original one with that unusual contemporary combination of lamp post and dog bowl to be seen.
What a gem. We were made to feel very welcome.
Arilx
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