Quirky, curious and sometimes just strange, Sussex has all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies.
Stansted Park Chapel
The Chapel of St Paul was built at Stansted Park by the Reverend Lewis Way in 1807 and is Grade I listed. It was consecrated on 25th January 1819 (the Feast of Conversion of St Paul) and John Keats attended the consecration service. It contains a unique painted window with Christian/Jewish iconography and Hebrew Tablets of the ten commandments. The striking red, blue and gold was inspired by the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and added in the 1920s, when the 9th Earl of Bessborough commissioned architect Harry Goodhart-Rendel to modernize the Chapel.
The dragon of St Leonard’s Forest
St Leonard’s Forest just east of Horsham is famous for dragons. So much so, that you’ll find a sculpture of a dragon in the local museum and in the middle of a maze in the park. You’ll also find The Dragon pub at Colgate, not forgetting the George and Dragon at nearby Dragon’s Green. Legend has it that the hermit St Leonard (a former French nobleman) slayed a dragon in the forest and to mark his achievement, there is also a dragon bench on which weary walkers can sit and rest.
Dog and Bone Gallery, Brighton
Brighton has a lot going on but if you walk away from the main hustle and bustle of the city centre, you might find this small and unusual museum in Powis Square in between the i360 and Seven Dials. Housed in two phone boxes, it is curated by artist Amber Elise, has its own Instagram account and changes regularly. The phone boxes are locked but you can peep in and of course, it’s free!
Salt Dean Lido
The Salt Dean Lido has had a chequered past and was nearly lost several times. Built in the 1930s, in modernist /Art Deco style, it was designed to showcase the area and elevate it to a trendy new holiday destination. But in 1940 it was closed and requisitioned by the National Fire Service. It remained closed after the war until 1962 when it was bought by the Council. It closed and then re-opened in the 1990s and then it was threated with demolition! As a result, the Save Saltdean Lido Campaign was set up in March 2010 by residents. The resulting renovation is stunning and in 2018 it was named by English Heritage as one of the Seven Wonders of The English Seaside.
Hogg Hill Mill, near Rye
Hogg Hill windmill is no ordinary windmill. It was originally built in 1781 at nearby Pett and moved to its current site later. It was a working windmill until 1920 and acquired by Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles in 1981. He turned it into a recording studio, and he has recorded a number of tracks there. It’s on the route of the 1066 Country Walk.
The Tower of Arundel, France
This one is for the travellers and shows that the influence of Sussex spreads far and wide. Because you’ll find the Tower of Arundel in Les Sables D’Olonne (which is twinned with Worthing) in France. It was built in 1622 at a time when that part of France was ruled by the English. Indeed, Richard the Lionheart; was often to be found at nearby Château Talmont. The tower may have in fact been built as a watch tower by Lord Arundel, then English governor of Poitou.
If you’ve enjoyed this post about the weird and wonderful places of Sussex, you may also like:
