The area surrounding Alfriston is rich in history and interest. Head north of the village a few miles and you come to the parish of Long Man and the village of Wilmington. You’ll also find the famous Long Man chalk figure carved into the Downs, a 12th-century church, an ancient tree and Wilmington Priory.
Wilmington Priory
Wilmington Priory was a Benedictine priory founded in the mid 11th century as what’s known as “an alien cell”. It was founded by William the Conqueror’s stepfather, Herluin de Conteville, and William’s mother, Arlette. Herluin de Conteville also founded Grestain Abbey in Normandy around 1050 with his son Robert. Alien priories were religious institutions, run by locals but dependent on parent houses, which were mostly situated in Normandy.
The Wilmington Priory’s parent was Grestain Abbey and Wilmington was used as a base from which to manage the Grestain English estates. It would only have housed two or three monks and a Prior. Herluin died in 1066, the year William conquered England.
Wilmington Priory was enlarged in 1243 but was suppressed (disbanded) as part of the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. From 1565 to 1925, it was handed down through marriage via a number of families namely the Sackvilles, the Comptons and then to the Cavendishes. In 1925, the then owner, the 9th Duke of Devonshire, gave the priory, along with the Long Man, to the Sussex Archaeological Society.
Today, the priory is Grade I listed and a Scheduled Monument. It’s owned by the Landmark Trust and rented as holiday home accommodation. It is occasionally open to the public, for example on Heritage Open Days. When you visit, it’s clear that this is a property that has been altered much over the centuries. You can still see the earliest part, namely the old hall built around 1225 plus an additional wing built in about 1400 with a vaulted undercroft. The porch was built in about 1330. The hallway is part of the south east wing which dates from around 1225.
When you enter the sitting room, it has a very 18th century feel with a large marble fireplace (Victorian) while the kitchen was probably added in the 17th century. On open days, you can sit in the kitchen and have coffee. Upstairs, the chapel bedroom would have been a chapel for the prior’s private use. It’s fascinating to walk around but because of the many changes, it is hard to get a sense of what it was like as a priory or even as a family home, and it feels a little schizophrenic.
But notwithstanding this, there is something unbelievably compelling about the fact that William the Conqueror’s mother would have been here, and therefore very possibly, William himself.
St Mary and St Peter’s Church and the magnificent yew
Next to the priory is an 11th century church, also Grade I listed and once connected to the priory by a cloister. Inside is a small Medieval ‘gargoyle’ depicting the Madonna and Child but thought to be connected to pagan worship.
In the grounds of the church is the most magnificent yew, dated as 1,600 years old and with a girth of 23 feet. It would have been old in William the Conqueror’s time. Did he lean on it as he chatted to his mother after a church service perhaps, looking across at the Long Man? Is it possible that Romans paused for a rest in her shade when she was young? Like the priory, the yew is compelling and her soft, smooth branches and trunks ooze with wisdom and stories witnessed but untold.
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