If you wander through the quiet woodland around Heath Common and Washington Common near Storrington, you would probably never guess what once existed here.
Today, the two commons (which are only a short distance apart) are little pockets of tranquillity, and the cluster of houses at Pigland (or Sleepy Hollow as it’s known) between the two appears to be unremarkably conservative. Dog walkers and families enjoying a picnic are the order of the day, with stall pines, birdsong and winding paths. In fact, there are fewer than a handful of clues that hint at the community that once lived here: roads called Vera’s Walk and Sanctuary Lane, and a small wooden hut at a quiet crossroads.
Vera’s vision
And yet hidden amongst these quiet Sussex woods lies the ghost of one of the county’s strangest and most radical social experiments. It began in 1923, when Vera Pragnell arrived at Heath Common with an inheritance from her father, a textile manufacturer, and an extraordinary idea. Vera had worked for the Red Cross during the First World War and later as a social worker in East London, where she became deeply disillusioned by poverty, inequality and urban life. Inspired by Christian ideals and the writings of socialist philosopher Edward Carpenter, she dreamed of creating a world that was simpler, kinder and freer from conflict and materialism.
Some described her as a Christian mystic. Others saw her as dangerously naïve. But few denied the force of her personality. The settlement she created became known simply as The Sanctuary.
Vera believed land was a necessity rather than a commodity and began giving plots away free of charge to anyone willing to settle there. People could place caravans on the land or build small homes amongst the trees. At the centre stood Sanctuary Cottage, Vera’s own house, where part of the building was always left open to strangers needing shelter or refreshment.
And strangers certainly came
Over time, the woods filled with an extraordinary cast of residents, wanderers and idealists. There were poets and artists, pagans and occultists, struggling craftspeople and convalescents seeking recovery. A fairground woman lived in a gleaming caravan filled with polished brass. A nudist couple settled amongst the pines. A resident anarchist. A veteran of the Mexican Revolution. A fiddle-playing monk who turned out to be a wanted felon. Summer camps were also welcomed.
The settlement itself must have looked extraordinary. Bungalows, tents and caravans were scattered across the woodland. An old London omnibus without wheels became part of the encampment. Smoke drifted from campfires beneath the trees while residents attempted to create a simpler life close to nature. They spun and wove cloth, grew food, tended livestock and created much of their own entertainment. Evenings were filled with poetry readings, folk dancing, theatre performances, singing around campfires and long philosophical discussions beneath the stars.
Meet Vera
And somehow, at the centre of all this bedlam, stood Vera herself. The Shakespearean actor Franz Wilfrid Walter, who lived at the Sanctuary with his family portrayed Vera as “magnificent in stature”, with “great encompassing eyes gleaming through a lock of chestnut hair”, and remembered her infectious laugh and slightly mischievous spirit. [Credit to Times Past, the Storrington and District Museum].
It is not difficult to imagine the almost mythical figure she must have seemed: part social reformer, part spiritual visionary, part eccentric bohemian queen of the woods.
Yet the Sanctuary was never entirely idyllic. Rumours of free love and nudism scandalised local opinion. The community attracted controversy almost from the beginning, and life there was probably a little chaotic. Vera herself was known for welcoming virtually anyone. One story claims a murderer on the run once stayed the night. Another resident later wrote that Vera could diffuse dangerous situations through the “deft handling of starved natures with the aid of cocoa and bread and butter”.
The decline of a dream
But inevitably, where you have radical ideas and unconventional ways of living, rumour and mistrust often follow. Rumours of free love and nudism scandalised local opinion. A little over a decade after founding the community, Vera sold much of the land and travelled overseas for several years. When she eventually returned to Sussex, the area gradually evolved into something much more conventional. After her death in 1968, her husband, the painter Dennis Earl, continued developing Longbury Hill into the residential area seen today.
Looking for utopia
Traces of the old Sanctuary still survive if you know where to look. Street names such as Vera’s Walk and Sanctuary Lane quietly echo the past. Sanctuary Cottage still stands. A small wooden shelter built and decorated by Dennis Earl remains still offers weary walkers a place to rest while commemorating the vanished community that once existed here.
The quiet community gives little away about the extraordinary human experiment that once unfolded here amongst the trees. The conservative-looking houses, peaceful roads and quiet woodland conceal a place that briefly imagined an entirely different way of living.
Logistics
You can visit the hut when walking from Washington to Common to Heath Common. From the Washington roundabout on the A24, take the exit towards Storrington. After less than half a mile, turn right up the track to Washington Common and the car park there. From the car park, head north west to Sleepy Hollow at the edge of the woods. Take the lane diretly in front of you and after a very short distance you will see the Sanctuary hut.
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