You may want to take the opportunity, during your weekend break in Brighton,

to visit some of the local places of historical interest. These places are reasonably

close and accessible for a half day trip.

Bramber a village, and Steyning a small town, were once busy ports until the

silting- up of the River Adur made the waters impassable for trading vessels.

Even as close neighbours they offer visitors separate and different attractions.

Both lie around ten miles North West of Brighton and to the North of Shoreham-by-sea.

At Bramber you will find that a twenty-five metre high section of the gatehouse

tower wall is all that is left of the famous castle. The ‘motte-and bailey’ castle

occupied steep, high ground, a feature that today offers a good vantage point

for the fine views across the valley, and out on to the Downs. The surrounding

ditch, once filled with water when the river was in full flow, is clearly visible

and allows close inspection on foot of the site.

The near-by church of Saint Nicholas has been more fortunate through

the ages. Built in 1073, around the same time as the castle, the church was

originally served the local inhabitants and was also home to a small

Benedictine community. It is the oldest Norman church in Sussex.

Damaged during the Civil War, when it was used as a gun emplacement

for launching attacks upon the castle, it was restored in the nineteenth

and is still in use today as a working church.

Steyning, once a commercial market centre and port was also home to

a royal mint. In the fourteenth century as the volume of shipping

decreased its fortunes began to fall into decline.

The monks of Fecamp controlled Steyning and the local economy. By decree

of Edward the Confessor, who had been protected by the monks when he

was exiled in Normandy, they were answerable only to the Pope and not

subject to local baronial jurisdiction.

In 1052 the Earl of Wessex did not accept this status of the monastery

and expelled the monks, taking their wealth and control of their huge estate.

The new arrangement was however short lived. His son, Harold was

defeated at The Battle of Hastings, by the Normans. The monks were re-instated

by the victorious William the Conqueror and returned to control the

area until the fifteenth century.

The church of Saint Andrew is today a small part of the larger original monastery.

It is however a classic example of the imported Norman style brought to this

area by those same monks from Fecamp. It is now the oldest building in the village.

Steyning town centre has many interesting and historical buildings. They include

Tudor timber frames, Georgian brick and wooden framed cottages, some of which

were once used to accommodate the poor of the district. The old own hall, faced

with hung tiles, in surmounted by a clock tower, bell tower and a weather vane

in the traditional cockerel design.

This is an excellent location from which to begin an exploration of

the Downs, Wealds and the charming villages of Sussex.