A Silly Sussex Quiz

Just for fun and to test your Sussex knowledge, why not take our Sussex quiz?  When you’ve been through all the questions, you’ll find the answers below. Let us know how you get on by sharing your results on our:  social media.

Your Sussex quiz questions are: 

1. What was silly about Sussex, and what did it mean?
2. Where would you find an eager Sussex academic?
3. Which places should proceed to “why” and “What”?
4. Who had a cuckoo in her basket, and where?
5. What royal wasn’t what he set out to be?
6. And which non-royal didn’t turn out to be what others said he was?
7. How many men went from east to west, and who followed them?
8. Which Sussex family were, in successive generations: a) a bargemaster, b) a schoolmaster and c) an editing master?
9. Before the Romans rode or even rowed to Rye, who did what for us?
10. And who built the straights from where to where?
11. Who went up the hill but stayed there?

Bonus questions:

12. Who were our most famous Sussex: a) mammals, b) fossils and c) fish?

13. Who built: a) the Tower in Heathfield Park, b) the Tower on Brightling Hill and c) the Ypres Tower?

And the answers are: 

1. Selig, which meant holy. Silly Sussex was a derogatory nickname for the county, but rather than being an insult, Selig was actually an Anglo-Saxon word meaning holy.
2. Willingdon: a willing “don”.
3. Hooe (in East Sussex).
4. An old woman at Hefful (Heathfield fair).
5. King Canute of Bosham, master of the waves. The phrase “King Canute, master of the waves” refers to a famous legend: Canute was often overly flattered by his courtiers, who suggested he was so powerful he could command the elements, including the sea. To prove them wrong, he carried his throne to the beach and commanded the waves to stop. Of course, they didn’t, and he got very wet!
6. The Piltdown Man: a famous early 20th century hoax in which bone fragments were presented as remains of a previously unknown early human.
7. Four men (according to Belloc’s book), followed by Bob Copper. Four Men: a Farrago was a famous book written by  Hilaire Belloc. Bob Copper was a famous Sussex folk singer who retraced the steps of the four men and then published Across Sussex with Belloc.
8. The Lowers were a significant Sussex family. Mark Antony Lower was a Sussex historian and schoolteacher who founded the Sussex Archaeological Society and was the first editor of the Sussex Archaeological Collections. His father was a schoolmaster. Mark Antony’s grandfather was John Lower, who owned the barge The Good Intent, and was the first person to navigate the little river Cuckmere from the sea to Longbridge.
9. The Rolling English Drunkard who made the Rolling English Road. The Rolling English Road is a poem by G. K. Chesterton. The first line is: Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode, The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
10. Belinus – Stane Street from Billingshurt to Billingsgate. There is a legend that says it was a Roman engineer named Belinus who built the Stane Street, and that the name Billingshurst is derived from his name.
11. Jack and Jill windmills at Clayton.
12. a)Bears (Winnie the Pooh), b) Iguandaon by Gideon Mantell and c) the Arundel mullet.
13. a) Lord Heathfield b) Mad Jack Fuller, and c) Ypres Tower was built by order of King Henry III around 1249.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Silly Sussex quiz and don’t forget to let us know how you get on by sharing your results on our:  social media.

For more Sussex trivia, visit:

Strange Tales of Old Sussex: Famous Folk. Part 1

Strange Tales of Old Sussex: Famous Folk. Part 2

Strange Tales of Old Sussex: Famous Folk. Part 3