Sussex Curiosities

A study of the unusual and strange buildings, signs, grave stones and other items found in the County of Sussex.

(Part One) features many fascinating buildings including Britain's most expensive folly, Hamilton Palace (nr Uckfield) and the bizarre church crypt at Hythe (Kent) together with a number of curious public signs and the story of Brightling's "Mad" Jack Fuller.

G H Elliott, buried in 1962, performed as a Music Hall artiste under the stage name "The Chocolate Coloured Coon."
Not strictly PC nowadays - how times have changed !

Isaac Ingall died on the 2nd April, 1798 at the grand old age of 120.
He served as butler to the Webster family at Battle Abbey for all of 90 years

The villagers of Ditchling so loved their local GP, Dr Bogle ,that after his death in 1964 they put up this plaque in the High Street "in grateful affection for the life of our doctor,"

The Clergy House was the first house to be acquired by the National Trust way back in the year 1896.

St Leonard's Church, Hythe (Kent)
"England's most celebrated and gruesome ossuary" is how author Simon Jenkins described this church in 1999.
The crypt is piled full with bones and skulls from skeletons dug up from the Churchyard - the remains of some 4,000 men, women and children including around 2,000 skulls (many arranged neatly on shelves) and 8,000 thigh bones. Why they were all dug up is not exactly known but the safest explanation suggests the churchyard became full in the late Middle Ages.

A most strange sign under the Town Hall asking you to prevent boys from dirting the place.
What about dirty girls?

Brightling
On the left, "Mad" Jack Fuller's Pyramid in the churchyard.
Jack Fuller was a big man, an M.P. for East Sussex, and a true eccentric. He was an ardent folly builder including Belle Tout lighthouse at East Dean and the Sugar Loaf on the right which Jack had built within one morning to win a bet that he could see the church spire at Dallington from his top window.

Hamilton Palace, nr Uckfield
When completed, this will become Britain's largest and most expensive private house at a cost of �40 million.
It's owner, Nicholas van Hoogstraten, is a well known property tycoon who's methods have not always been within the law and who has recently been released from prison following a successful appeal on a manslaughter conviction.

(Part Two) includes many grave stones which tell their own stories, a number of pub signs and a village sign attacking the local vicar's drinking habits and ends with the story of the most expensive water tower in the County.

The Net Shops, tall wooden buildings, were used by fishermen to dry their nets.
Nowadays, these tall structures, unique n Britain, provide valuable storage space for the fishing fleet.

Known locally as the Dodo House, Pallant House was built for Henry Peckham who boasted ostriches on his coat of arms.
The weird dodo-like creatures are the best the poor stonemason could manage.

A modern day curiosity is this mountain of unloved fridges and freezers being stored in a disused quarry pit awaiting transfer to an authorised site for removal of harmful CFC gases.

Many houses in Bosham are affected by the in-coming tide and their owners have built solid flood barriers across the entrance gate to keep the water out.

A very pretty thatched village well which features a square shaped winching wheel.

A very rare item.

A good early example of Changing Rooms - from a disused railway carriage to a thatched summer house.
Much better than the rubbish on TV nowadays !

A charming little sign on a town centre shop which used to be a boot and shoe repairer.

Cobblers - Oh no, it isn't.

A sad tale with a strange result. The vicar refused to accept the memorial in the churchyard.
It was erected in the owner's pub garden where it's message is more effective.

This attack on the "Degradation of Drunkenness" was, we believe, directed toward an intemperate vicar who was being taken to task by his flock.

It makes fascinating reading.

A beautifully carved grave stone clearly depicting the accident which claimed the life of Charles Cook when a tree fell on him.
Look carefully and you will see poor Charles lying under the tree, the woodman with his axe, Old Father Time, a skeleton with an arrow, trumpeting angels and God.

A very odd sign in Petworth warning against throwing stones at buildings in this part of the town centre.

This Water Tower at Wappingthorn Farm looks very much like a helter-skelter.
When I visited, it was on the market for sale at an asking price of �250,000 !