COUNTY CHARACTERISTICS-SUSSEX. WITH one great foot outstretched into the Channel, Sussex holds the south-eastern corner of England like a warder, Fixed at its sea-post, with the hills for shield. The first impression produced by a study of its configuration is— how admirably Nature has formed it for defence; and the extent to which its resources in this respect have been made available is foremost among the memorabilia of its history. At the points where it approaches nearest to the Continent it is guarded by inaccessible cliffs. The low coast-line elsewhere is either fenced by the barrier of hills running at a short distance behind it, or by tracts of marsh. The gaps formed by a few river-channels in the hill-range afford incomparable sites for strongholds, and the original condition of the country inland, which was that of a dense forest, opposed the most formidable obstacle to an invader's progress. At three points only, where its defensive armour is weak-the peninsula of Selsey, the coast between Eastbourne and Hastings, and that between Winchelsea and Rye-has invasion ever been successful; but the inviting accessibility of so long a seaboard has exposed it to repeated assaults. The warder's shield especially is dinted with countless marks of onset. The encampments, of which a continuous series occupies the highest points of the South Downs, owe their existing form to the Romans, and their names to the Saxons, as is shown by the common termination bury (byrig, a fortified place), but their origin is almost undoubtedly British. From these heights the Regni (by which name the Celtic inhabitants of Sussex were known to the Romans) must have watched the advance of the invading legions out of Kent, and have sent forth their warriors in vain efforts to repel them. Some of the barrows with which the crests of the hills are studded may contain the bones of these fallen heroes. Their conquest finally achieved, the Romans seem to have dealt with the Regni so judiciously that they became attached subjects of the empire. The sagacity of the conquerors quickly recognised that Regnum, the principal town of the tribe (the site of Chichester), commanded one of the points where the coast is naturally defenceless, and they transformed it into a Roman city. The tribal chief, Cogidubnus, was Imperial legate in Britain during the reign of Claudius. An inscription found in 1720 (now preserved at Goodwood) records that he adorned his capital with a temple dedicated to Neptune and Minerva, as patrons of a collegium fabrorum, which is conjectured to have been the guild of ship carpenters belonging to the port. The mosaic pavements and remains of buildings, together with the coins and urns found in different parts of the city, testify to the extent of the Roman settlement. There the great Stane Street, which ran to London, formed a junction with another road that skirted the coast from Anderida (Pevensey) to Portus Magnus (Porchester). The same military discernment which was shown in the adoption of Regnum dictated the choice of Anderida as the site of a second stronghold. Its name was derived from the vast forest (known to the Britons as Coit Andred, the uninhabited wood, and to the Saxons as Andred's Wald) upon the southern edge of which it stood. Like the fortresses of Kent, it was placed under the control of the Count of the Saxon Shore.' The castle, of which the walls are still standing, besides shielding another exposed point of the coast, commanded the inland marshes and the forest behind. On a height in the parish of Pulborough, overlooking the junction of the rivers Arun and Rother, the remains of another castellum are traceable. Confiding in the security thus guaranteed, many wealthy Romans (probably of official rank) fixed their abodes in choice situations of the hills and seaboard. Of one villa discovered at Bignor enough remains to attest the judgment and taste as well as the opulence of its owner. The high ground which he chose for its site abutted on the Stane Street, at a distance of ten miles from Regnum, and lay open to the south-west, facing a group of hills and valleys more picturesquely 'folded' than, perhaps, at any other point of the South Downs. Here, upon an area of some four acres, he planned his house on a grand scale, its chief rooms being ranged round an inner court, having baths and sudatories on one side. The mosaic pavement of the banqueting hall, decorated with Cupids engaged in gladiatorial combat, with dancing nymphs and other graceful designs, is among our best-preserved relics of Roman art. Traces of similar but smaller villas have been found at Hurstpierpoint, Angmering, and elsewhere. The large beds of scoriæ, found in connection with imperial coins and fragments of Samian pottery and glass in various parts of the county, furnish proof that the Romans made ample use of the ironstone wherewith the Weald abounds, and which its then unexhausted woods supplied ready material for smelting. Upon the withdrawal of the Roman forces from Britain, the atmosphere of civilisation which Sussex had for a while breathed was sud denly dissipated, and, in common with the rest of the island, it relapsed into barbarism. The Roman settlement there, however, lasted so long that it would not be surprising to find a relic of it more enduring than the memorials above mentioned. The finely shaped heads and stern features of some of the North Sussex peasantry bear no little resemblance to the antique Roman type. It is reasonable to believe this more than a mere coincidence. That the conquerors intermarried with the native women there can be no doubt, and it is easier to understand the retention of so marked a type among dwellers in a rural district than its persistent transmission to townsmen such as the Trasteverini, who are the best-known examples of it. In A.D. 477 the Saxon marauders effected the incursion which they had long threatened. A horde, commanded by Ella and his sons, landed at Cymenes-ora, identified with Kynor, in the parish of Sidlesham. Having made themselves masters of Regnum, they spread along the coast until they reached Anderida, which they attacked and took, slaying, according to the Saxon Chronicle, all that dwelt therein, nor was there one Briton left.' The settlement of the South Saxons, whose memory is perpetuated in the county name, was thus founded. The families or clans that composed the invading tribe appear to have attached their patronymics to the places ending in ing, which are numerous near the coast; e.g. Angmering, Goring, &c. Cissa, one of Ella's sons, is said to have given his name to the city of Chichester (Cissa's Ceaster) and to the fortification of Cissbury. Though a few Celtic place-names have been retained, such as Glynde, Lewes, &c., the predominance of Teutonic roots in local nomenclature is very large. The speech of the Sussex peasant is as genuinely Saxon as that of his Kentish neighbour.1 The conversion of the South Saxons to Christianity was effected about the year 680 by Wilfrid of York and other priests, who had been shipwrecked at Selsey. Having been welcomed by King Edilwalch, who was already a Christian, the missionaries prevailed upon a few of the chiefs to receive baptism. According to Bede, their acceptance of the rite was immediately followed by a copious fall of rain, which terminated a drought that had lasted for three years and reduced the inhabitants to such straits of famine that they chained themselves together in bands and leapt into the sea. Influenced both by this miracle and by the superior knowledge of Wilfrid, who is said to have taught them the hitherto unknown art of fishing, the people accepted the faith with one accord. Selsey was formed into It is distinguished by a broad yawning pronunciation of the open vowels, which makes it difficult to understand, and is hardly to be represented in print. Some idea of it may be obtained by trying to follow the rhyme-sequence in the following doggrel triplet, which figures on an alehouse sign :-- I, John Charman, Will beat half on 'em With any long-legged man in Warnham. an episcopal see, and so remained until the Norman Conquest, when it gave place to Chichester. The churches of Worth, Bosham, and Sompting are among the few examples of Saxon architecture extant. The first is said to afford the only perfect specimen of an AngloSaxon ground-plan that remains.'2 The second is figured (although conventionally) in the Bayeux tapestry as that in which Harold heard mass before sailing to Normandy. The third has certain unique architectural features which cannot be here described, but will well repay examination. Another memorable relic of the same period is Mayfield. The church stands on the site of one built by Archbishop Dunstan, and in the dining-hall of the archiepiscopal palace (now converted into a nunnery) are shown his sword, anvil, hammer, and the very tongs wherewith he pinched the devil's nose. After merging first in Wessex and then in the national dominion consolidated by its kings, Sussex was erected into an earldom, and formed part of the patrimony of Harold at the time of his accession to the throne. The Danish invasions, from which the east coast of England more particularly suffered under the later Saxon kings, have left a few obvious traces in such Sussex place-names as Danehurst, Danehill, &c., which probably mark the sites of battles. Seaford, according to the plausible conjecture of Mr. Lower, stands for Seafiord, and may be the site of a Danish settlement. The same writer believed himself able to detect the Danish or Norseman type in the figures and countenances of many sea-going Sussex men.'3 The great battle That crowned the Norman's guile and changed the destinies of England, has conferred a distinction upon the county of which its sons may well be proud, unwelcome as it must have been to their forefathers. Owing, doubtless, to the Conqueror's having selected his landing-place on its coast, the resistance which it was the first to offer to his advance, and its nearness to Normandy, Sussex was subjected to a more rigid application of military rule than any other province. Following the old Teutonic practice of measuring land by the rope, the Normans partitioned it into six districts, or Rapes, each having a frontage to the sea, a river, and a harbour of communication with Normandy; each fortified by a strong castle under a feudal chief or baron, of whom the lesser landholders were tenants. The sites of these castles were admirably chosen for domination and security, as is shown by the ruins of Hastings, Lewes, Arundel, and Bramber. No position more naturally impregnable could well be found than that of Bramber. The jutting headland of the Downs on which it stands commands the gap through 2 Murray's Handbook. History of Sussex, Introduction, p. vi. which the Adur flows into the harbour of Shoreham, and is surrounded by the hills on all sides but one, which the marshes sufficiently protect. Frowning from this height, of which the base was trenched into a deep moat and the apex raised as a site for the keep, the castle of the de Braoses must have effectually overawed their vassals in the valleys and plains. The lofty fragments of the gatetower, and barbican, and the ruins of the walls rising above the fosse, which is now filled with trees, are among the most impressive of feudal relics. Less striking in point of situation, but more imposing in architectural features, are the baronial fortresses of the de Warrenues at Lewes, of the Montgomerys at Arundel, and the castle of the Honour of L'Aigle (or Aquila) at Pevensey, which its builder, Robert de Moreton, half-brother of the Conqueror, welded into the remains of the Roman Castle of Anderida. Side by side with these symbols of the Normans' power arose the evidences of their piety. The Abbey of Battle, founded by William upon the scene of his victory, was followed by the erection of monasteries and churches in all parts of the county, under the auspices of his chief barons. The nave of Chichester Cathedral, the churches of Steyning, Old and New Shoreham, Bishopstone, and others near the coast, are fine examples of this period. Their artistic details bear so close a resemblance to those of the contemporary churches of Normandy that they are attributed by experts to the same architects. Under the Plantagenet kings the county made rapid progress in such civilisation as the feudal system admitted. The churches of the Early English and Decorated periods of Gothic are very numerous, and have been handed down to our own day with less alteration than has befallen those in other counties. The monasteries of Battle, Bayham, Michelham, and Boxgrove, the archiepiscopal palace of Mayfield, the castles of Bodiam and Hurstmonceux, and the manor-houses of Crowhurst and Brede, are sufficiently preserved to indicate their ground-plan and leading features. Boroughs grew up under the shadow of the castles, and their inhabitants obtained charters of municipal privileges. The chief harbours, with Hastings at their head, were constituted members of the Cinque ports, a corporation which formed the mainstay of the national fleet. The trade in Wealden iron was so considerable that the carts which carried ore from the mines were subjected to a special toll on entering the gates of Lewes. Consequent upon the felling of the woods required for smelting, the interior of the county began to lose its forestal character, and portions of the cleared ground became converted into tillage and pasture. The little borough of Lewes above-mentioned, now the chief county town, fills a place in the history of the thirteenth century out of proportion to its actual importance, as the scene of the battle |