22nd
January 2018 (Monday)
.... 10.30 “Sunny Sussex” it is this
morning, though there are clouds are over the South Downs..... but they are
 |
| Winchelsea town sign. |
disappearing
slowly towards the southeast. It’s
going to be a lovely day.... ‘sunny and warm’, could be a good day for doing
things later. I appear to be i/c at the moment .... so I’m
going to have a cuppa.
23.55 I have, over the years found that Sussex is
full of amazing surprises, and Winchelsea... pronounced Win – Chelsea ... is
definitely one of them. Today ‘JB’ and
I visited Winchelsea; not the biggest of
places ....oh, while I remember it’s a town, not a village .... but huge in
history.
The
Winchelsea that we visited today is in fact the second town of the name; the first having been lost to the sea in
1287. Which is why today’s Winchelsea
is perched on top of a hill. Winchelsea was such an important seaport that,
when the first Winchelsea was lost, King Edward the First lost no time in finding
a new, safer site for this important seaport town. Old
 |
| St Thomas Beckett Church Winchelsea. |
Winchelsea Church first appears in records
of 1215. The ‘St Thomas Beckett’ Church
that we see today is what remains of what would have been one huge building
initiated by King Edward I; a grand
building that suffered from raids by the
French, and, of course, from the Reformation.
The big surprise is when you enter the church.... it may be all that
remains of what was a huge building, but as soon as you are inside in one
impressive church. You are surrounded
by history.... it is beautiful. It
was surprising to find a Scottish connection is such a quiet part of
 |
| Church notice board. |
Sussex. The stained glass windows,
gifted by Lord Blanesbury (a Scottish Barrister and Judge) in the period 1929 –
33, were designed by Douglas Strachan (born in Aberdeen in 1875). It
is well worth ‘Googling’ the town of Winchelsea; you will find it very interesting!
When
we were at the kirk we met ‘Mike’, who gave as a quick introduction to the
town, and we also met a lady who had locked herself out of her house: it was he who ‘rapped my fingers’ f or calling
Winchelsea a ‘village’. Mike suggested
that we go down to ‘The Lodge’ for lunch....
and that is what we did. ‘The Lodge’ (at
the bottom of the West side of the
 |
| Church Entrance door .... and 'JB'. |
hill upon which the town stand) is
immaculate, and the food is excellent.
I always look at any mirrors or glass when I go into a ‘new’ place, and
the mirrors in The Lodge were spotless.
From
The Lodge we went back to Hastings for fuel (recommended by a local lassie),
then returned to visit Winchelsea beach. .... about two miles from the Winchelsea
Town. Winchelsea beach, a separate
village(?) is sheltered from the sea by a dyke as per Holland. The shingle beach (there must be billions
of tons of shingle along the south coast of England) stretches as far as the
eye can see in both directions; Dungeness
Power Station can be seen in the
 |
| 'Praise and Resurrection' window, |
distance sticking out into the English Channel
on a shingle promontory.
Today
has been one interesting ‘day out’;
tomorrow will be a day of rest.
It’s getting late,..... actually it’s early morning on the 23 rd. This boy needs his bed. More about Winchelsea tomorrow.
