Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 29 : Hassocks to Lewes
The South Downs Way via Plumpton
| Length | 18km (11.2 miles), 5 hours 30 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 9 hours 30 minutes. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.198. Hassocks, map reference TQ 304 156, is in West Sussex, 9km north of Brighton. Lewes is in East Sussex. |
| Toughness | 4 out of 10. |
| Features | This is an exhilarating walk along the South Downs Way, a ridge of South Downs chalk grassland with panoramic views inland, and out to the sea by Brighton. This is also an easier walk, with far fewer ups and downs, than Walk 25 from Winchelsea to Hastings. On the way up to the ridge, the route goes through Butcher's Wood and visits a church in Clayton and the still-working Clayton Windmill. The South Downs Way is partly a Sussex Trust Nature Reserve and partly National Trust land, with medieval dew ponds and an Iron Age fort at Ditchling Beacon. After lunch, down below in Plumpton, the final walk into Lewes is along the River Ouse, then up to the Norman castle and through its gateway into the ancient High Street. |
| Shortening the Walk | You could abort the walk before Lunch by turning left at the asterisk [*] in the book's Walk Directions, which takes you down into Ditchling, where there are pubs and a tea shop (opposite the church). Ditchling is only 2km from Hassocks.
From the Lunch pub in Plumpton, you could catch a 166 or 124 bus to Lewes (tel 01273 474 747), but the buses do not run on Sundays. Or you could catch a bus into Lewes from the tearoom in Offham. Call the East Sussex bus information service on 01273 474 747. |
| History |
The Saxon Church of St John the Baptist in Clayton has eleventh or twelfth-century wall paintings and an entrance path whose rippled effect comes from stone quarried from the fossilised bed of a sea or a river. One of the Clayton Windmills 'Jill'), a post mill, with its 1852 'Sussex Tailpole' on wheels for changing direction, is normally open to visitors from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday from May to September. Ditchling Beacon, once an Iron Age fort, with traces of ramparts still visible, was a site for one of the beacons that gave warning of the Spanish Armada. Lewes Castle (tel 01273 486 290), and the Barbican House Museum nearby, are open to visitors until 5.30pm daily (last entrance 5pm); admission £3.40. The castle was built by William de Warenne, who fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Its towers were added about the time of the Battle of Lewes. In this battle in 1264, the rebel earl, Simon de Montfort, with an army of Londoners and 5,000 barons, defeated Henry III, who had two horses killed under him and was forced to seek refuge in Lewes Priory. The Mise of Lewes was signed next day, and led to England's first parliamentary meeting at Westminster in 1265. The church at Lewes Priory was as large as Westminster Cathedral, but was demolished during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. Only ruins of the priory remain. The churchyard of St John Sub Castro 'Under the Castle') has an obelisk commissioned by Tsar Alexander II to commemorate the 28 prisoners of war who were captured during the Crimean War and who died in Lewes Gaol in the 1850s. Tom Paine 1737-1809), author of The Rights of Man, lived in Lewes, and his political debating society - the Headstrong Club - often met at the White Hart Hotel. He was forced to leave Lewes for France in 1792 - only to be imprisoned there for opposing the execution of Louis XVII. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime pub is the Half Moon tel 01273 890 253) in Plumpton, which is friendly and serves simple home-made food, such as macaroni cheese, from midday to 2pm Monday to Friday, midday to 2.15pm Saturday and Sunday; groups of more than 15 people should phone to book. Those who prefer to take a short cut by keeping straight on along the South Downs Way may be able to buy ice creams from the van which is normally parked at Ditchling Beacon. |
| Warning | This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
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Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
