Walking in Sussex
Walking in Sussex
Price
£10.00
Walk 18: Shipley - West Grinstead - Shipley
Distance: 6 miles
Maps: OS Explorer 134 ‘Crawley & Horsham’, and 121 ‘Arundel & Pulborough’ 1:25,000
Start: Shipley Church (Grid Ref. 145218)
Access: Shipley is reached via a minor road south of A272, about 7 miles south-west of Horsham
Parking: Official parking spaces on road near King’s Windmill (Grid Ref. 144219)
Refreshments: The Crown Pub, and the Pepper Mill restaurant, in Dial Post
Three small villages, two churches, a windmill, a castle and lake. Add to these ingredients an idyllic ‘back-of-beyond’ countryside through which the infant River Adur sidles, and a good day’s walking is assured. This is Belloc country. The poet who sang the praises of Sussex as loudly as anyone before or since, spent most of his life in Shipley and owned the windmill there for almost fifty years. He too was a wanderer. No doubt he would have trod the footpaths and trackways followed by this route, and the landscape will have changed little since his time. Except, of course, for the speed and volume of traffic on the A24. The fields and meadows have their own pace of life, their own sense of tranquillity, and it is these above all which make this walk so attractive.
From Shipley church (1) walk north through the village along Red Lane, and just beyond the last bungalow on the right go through a kissing gate into a field. Follow the right-hand boundary to a second kissing gate which then leads the path through Church Wood. On leaving this continue ahead on the edge of another field, and out to a narrow country road by a house. Over the road maintain direction among more trees, then directly across a field to join a drive leading to Knepp Castle (2). Follow the drive a short distance, until a second drive cuts from it to the left. At this point take to the field on the right and make for a large oak tree in the top right-hand corner. There you rejoin the drive and bear right, passing a lodge. (Grid ref: 154215)
Shipley Church was built by the Knights Templar in about 1125 after being given the land by the de Braose family. The square, central tower has fine Norman arches, and in the lovely south porch there stands a curious mooring stone, misshapen by the ropes and chains that once tethered river craft to it. That such a stone should be found here would at first glance seem rather odd, until one realizes that the River Adur, now winding innocently through the field below, was once a much more powerful waterway, and was navigable as far inland as Shipley. In the churchyard lies the composer, John Ireland.
Follow the drive/lane all the way to the A24. On the way views show Chanctonbury Ring on the crest of the distant South Downs, and before long you pass along an embankment at the southern end of the extensive Kneppmill Pond - once the largest hammer pond in Sussex. Just before reaching the A24, note the single remaining wall of the Norman Knepp Castle (stronghold of the de Braose family) standing on a grass mound in a field off to the right. At the edge of the A24 note also the coat of arms fixed to a garden wall on the right. (Grid ref: 164211)
Knepp Castle was built in 1809 for Sir Charles Burrell, the man responsible for uniting the two estates of Knepp and West Grinstead in 1831. Knepp Castle was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1904, but was rebuilt to the same design. A half mile or so away, the last remains of the original Knepp Castle, built by William de Braose, stand forlorn in a field - a corner wall of a Norman keep built to guard the Bramber to Horsham road. King John used it as a hunting lodge and, apparently, kept 200 greyhounds there which he used to hunt deer. The Civil War was largely responsible for its destruction, and in 1762 most of the stone that was left was used for building the Horsham to Steyning road.
Cross the road with great care and enter a field on the eastern side, to the right of a house. Over this field walk directly ahead to a woodland shaw, crossing a stream at its entrance. The path swings to the right, in the shaw, then left along the edge of a field. Remain on the right-hand side of a second field until the boundary cuts back, then continue ahead to the far side to a footpath signpost. Turn right. In 100 yards bear left to enter West Grinstead churchyard (3). Walk through an avenue of variegated holly, then bear right immediately beyond the church and leave the churchyard at the bottom corner through a kissing gate. Follow a slab path between fields to a footbridge over the River Adur (4). (Grid ref: 171206)
The River Adur is met several times on walks included in this book. Rising among the hills of the High Weald, it makes a sinuous journey through West Sussex before finding an outlet at Shoreham. It was once much wider than it is today (see 1 above), with a harbour at Steyning on the northern (inland) side of the Downs. West of Henfield the river has two arms, and it’s possible to follow the river bank from Betley Bridge outside Henfield (see Walk 28) all the way to Shoreham.
West Grinstead Church is dedicated to St George. Roofed with Horsham slabs, a broach spire bursts from it. A Norman door is found on the south side. The south aisle was added in the 13th century, and the pews are notable for bearing the names of 19th century parish farms and houses painted on them. Sadly, the door is kept locked against vandalism, although details of the keyholder are given in the fine 15th century timber porch. In the churchyard, as you enter from the field, a stone on the right marks the grave of Douglas Arnold, Spitfire Pilot, with a moving poem by John Gillespie Magee etched upon it.
Come onto a farm drive by some houses (marked as Butcher’s Row on the OS map), and follow this road beyond the houses and between fields as far as a T-junction. (The left-hand drive goes to Clothalls.) Walk straight ahead now through a large field towards a barn seen on the far horizon. The way passes along the edge of a wood and continues to Rookcross Farm. The footpath route enters a field directly opposite the point where you come onto the farm drive, then cuts left, parallel with the drive (Rookcross Lane). During research the field route was very tangled and it was easier to walk along the drive/lane. The footpath rejoins the lane in the bottom left-hand corner of the field near a house, where a second drive breaks away to the right (to Rooklands Farm). Maintain direction along Rookcross Lane, and at the far end of a woodland bear right through a gap into a field (the lane continues to Hobshort’s Farm). (Grid ref: 164195)
Follow the left-hand edge of the field to the next corner where you go into a belt of trees to crossing paths. Bear right over a stile and along the right-hand edge of a field. On the far side of this the way edges a wood, then crosses a second stile in the bottom corner, goes over a footbridge into another field. Maintain direction and in the top left-hand corner you gain access to the A24 again. Once more take care as you cross, and on the west side enter a small field. Across this bear left through a gate, and soon after cross a stile on the right, wander along the garden boundary of a house and into the beer garden of The Crown in the village of Dial Post. The official way then goes along the back of some houses on the left, and out to the village street next to the Pepper Mill restaurant. (Grid ref: 154194)
Turn right, then over a stile into a field opposite The Crown. Walk across the field and continue through a gap into a second field beside a house. Maintain direction to enter a third field, and go along the right-hand edge until coming to a solitary oak tree where a stile takes the path into another field on the right. Cross this half-left to a gap in the opposite hedge. Now follow the right-hand hedgerow to a gateway in the far corner, and come onto a crossing track. Bear right and wander along the track to a pond by New Barn Farm. Just after the pond turn left on a crossing farm drive. This leads between fields, and when it forks you take the right-hand option, winding between more fields and passing below a pond to reach Hammer Farm. Remain on the farm drive as far as a junction of lanes at Pound Corner. (Grid ref: 148213)
Turn left, and after about 1/4 mile bear right on another farm drive, this one going to Church Farm South. Ahead you have a fine view of King’s Windmill (5). At the end of the drive go down the slope to the right of the house, cross the Adur on a footbridge and walk across the field half-left to Shipley churchyard.
King’s Windmill is said to be the last of all the smock mills to be built in Sussex, dating from 1879. For nearly fifty years it was owned by Hilaire Belloc, who lived in the house named King’s Land from 1906 until his death in 1953 - a poet who loved Sussex and who, in the words of the memorial over the door, “garnered a harvest of wisdom and sympathy for young and old”. The mill has been restored since his death. It is now the largest working windmill in Sussex, and is open to the public on set days in summer. It can be seen from as far away as Chanctonbury Ring on the South Downs.
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