Clayton Tunnel, Jack and Jill Windmills, Ditchling Beacon and the Chattri

This is a wonderful walk that takes in all the classic and curious features of the South Downs behind Brighton, and rewards our exertions by giving us time for tea and cake or a pint in the delightful village of Ditchling. It was conceived by the lovely Stuart Morris to be his assessment walk as he ventures to become a Lowland and Hill Walk leader for OutdoorLads. Your support for Stuart in this endeavour is sought. 

Starting at Hassocks Station and using a path along the railway line (please see the route here), we will come to the village of Clayton. This contains one striking surprise and two oddities. The oddities are the castellated entrance to the railway tunnel of 1840, and Jack and Jill, a mismatched pair of windmills, he a brick tower mill of 1876, she a wooden post mill of 1821, relocated from Brighton in 1850. Unfortunately Jack is currently indisposed: he's lost his dome and sails while restoration work goes on. The surprise is the wall paintings of 1140 in the humble church of St John the Baptist. They are unique in England for their extent, preservation and date. 

Heading over the Downs towards Brighton, we reach the Chattri Memorial. It was designed as a monument in memory of the Sikh and Hindu soldiers who died while in hospitals in Brighton and Hove during the Great War.  The Chattri, which means 'umbrella' in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, was designed by EC Henriques of Mumbai and is built from white Sicilian marble. Three granite slabs lie over the site of the cremations from whence the soldiers' ashes were scattered at sea. The design symbolises the protection offered to the memory of the dead.

Getting back onto the South Downs Way, we'll stop for lunch at Ditchling Beacon. At 248 metres, it is the highest point in East Sussex. In the care of the National Trust, a wide variety of plants can be found there, from chalk downland herbs to certain types of orchid. The hill gives panoramic views to Brighton to the south, the Weald to the north, and the South Downs stretching away to the west and east.

Finally, having descended from the Downs, we'll reach the village of Ditchling. Built on a crossroads which has the thirteenth century St Margaret's Church high above it, it is very pretty in flint, timber, brick and tile. Interesting buildings include: 'Anne of Cleves' House', which was given by Henry VIII to his fourth queen as part of her marriage annulment settlement; and 'Sopers', the home of wood engraver, stone sculptor, type designer and - to put it mildly - sexual experimenter Eric Gill, which became an artistic community and inspired a museum of the arts and crafts. This was designed in 2014 by Adam Richards Architects. Noted Ditchling residents include Raymond Briggs, Donald Sinden and Dame Vera Lynn. Ditchling also has a good supply of pubs and tearooms of which we'll make use. 

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(Half the pictures were taken by the leader in late September 2021. The other half were by third parties: the first one which is Ditchling Beacon LNR (Photo by Peter Wakely/Natural England (Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)); the second, which is South Downs view west (Photo © Robin Webster (cc-by-sa/2.0)), the one of the windmills, which is Jack and Jill windmills (Photo © Chris Downer (cc-by-sa/2.0)); and the one of the Chattri, which is The Chattri War Memorial (Photo © Janine Forbes (cc-by-sa/2.0)). These four images are copyrighted but are above credited to their copyright holders and are licensed for further reuse under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 and CC BY-SA 2.0.)