Bramber, Beeding and Steyning 21-22 May 2022

Celebrating 34 years of marriage at The Old Tollgate opposite Bramber Castle. Anne and I were married by an Amerindian priest, Fr Edwin Rogers on at St Mary, Yupukari at Pentecost parish Mass 22 May 1988. Today we’re walking down to the sea at Shoreham from our luxurious hotel.

Anne Twisleton and I enjoyed a two hour walk down the River Adur to the sea at Shoreham. We followed the Downs Link, easy for walking and cycling, taking in the twists and turns of the river, the majestic splendour of Lancing College and, more down to earth, the old cement works.

Walking on the river bank to Shoreham from Bramber Anne Twisleton and I caught a wooden stork I could look up to and, more profoundly, the fetching 2015 Shoreham air craft memorial inscribed with names of the 11 who died. 

On our visit to Bramber I walked to St Peter’s Church, Upper Beeding where Cardinal Newman was a regular visitor to the Priory house (then the Vicarage) more than the Church since a favourite Curate from his Anglican days, Dr JR Bloxam was Vicar 1862-1891. The church flag was flown at half mast in 1890 when Saint John Henry Newman passed to his heavenly reward.

‘Bramber Castle's fortifications. included this imposing stone, tower, built to display the power of the de Braose family. The first castle at Bramber, built by 1073, was of 'motte-and-bailey' design. An artificial mound ("motte') probably topped with a wooden tower, was raised in the middle of this large natural knoll. The motte was protected around three sides by a deep ditch…. Probably under Philip de Braose (around 1070-1134), the gatehouse was heightened by over 15 metres creating a three-storey great tower. It was built of chalk, limestone, local flint and expensive dressed Caen stone, imported from France. The new tower made a bold statement of Norman control over the surrounding region. The castle buildings were still in active use until the 15th century but later fell into ruin’. 

‘The legend of Cuthman tells of the shepherd boy who, in the centuries before the Norman conquest, wheeled his ailing mother in a wheelbarrow, with a rope around his shoulders attached to the handles of the barrow to help take the weight. When the rope — made from willow (‘withies’) or elder stems — broke, Cuthman took that as a sign from God that that was where he had to build his church. If Cuthman or his family were converted to Christianity by St Wilfrid, the ‘Apostle of Sussex’, these events would have taken place not long after Wilfrid became the first Bishop of Selsey (before the see moved to Chichester), in 681. There is no archaeological evidence of Cuthman’s original wooden church and it is probable that the present largely Norman church of St Andrew & St Cuthman, Steyning stands on the site’ (from Church website - Cuthman’s statue on green opposite).

On our stay at The Old Tollgate Hotel, Bramber we were fortunate to catch the Sunday opening of St Mary’s House & Gardens c1450 down the High Street with its rich history - Knights Templar, Elizabeth I, Charles II, Oscar Wilde et al. The association with Prince Charles’ 1651 escape from Shoreham down the adjacent River Adur is strong. Anne Twisleton is viewing a sapling 'grandson' of the famous 'Boscobel Oak' in which Charles hid successfully after the Battle of Worcester.