Sussex - castles and churches

Not only did Charlotte's family squeeze over to give us somewhere to stay, but Charlotte's mum, Susan - a very knowledgeable person in the local area, history and folklore - took us around a bit to show us some places.



We went to visit this magnificent old church at Lyminster, quite near Rustington.



Actually, we were really on our way to a knuckerhole. Susan had been to a Druid weekend camp where she had been giving a talk on dragons. After fire-walking, she had returned with a few of the coals from the fire to throw into a knuckerhole near this church, one of a number of such places in the area. You can read a little more about this in Wikipedia.

Chichester

On another day we went to Chichester.



This road near the water is below the high tide mark. People regularly park here (despite warning signs - who reads those anyway?) and come back later to find their car inundated.



We had a lovely day walking around town, and looking at the cathedral.

Peter's Three Wishes

There were three things Peter had been hoping to do in England:

1. Lie in some heather - done that!
2. Drink a pint of Guinness in a real Irish pub - did that in Dublin.
3. See a real English castle, drafty and built of stone, the real thing.

Arundel Castle

To our delight, Susan took us to Arundel for the day.



Arundel Castle is a must-see. So old and so well-preserved, with such a wealth of history right there on display.



That side of the castle is still the family home, still lived in and used. This side of the castle, where you can visit, had recently been used in the making of the movie, "The Queen", I think it was.



There was lots to see. We went up into the old Keep, as well as other parts that have been carefully restored.



There are great views all around, especially from the Keep, demonstrating what a great defense point this would have been.

Two-Way Church

Arundel has a most unusual church. It is half Catholic, and half Church of England. It is split along the short arm of the cross, and the smaller, top-of-the-cross section isCatholic, while the larger portion is Church of England.



Here we are in the Catholic section. I was particularly interested in these ornately carved seats that look as though they could keep you in the upright position even if you fell asleep - at least you probably wouldn't fall over sideways too readily.



And then we had to go out and a long way around to look at the other side of the church, which looked very normal except for a blocked off section at the top end.



I'm not sure if this sculpture in the castle gardens is a demonstration of what the angels think about all this.