Читать книгу Walks in the South Downs National Park онлайн

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By the time the Saxons arrived, landing around AD477 somewhere between Beachy Head and Selsey Bill, the South Downs had been farmed for more than 2000 years, but unlike their predecessors these newcomers preferred to work the valleys spreading into the Weald, where the soil was better watered and more productive. It was the Saxons who cleared large swathes of woodland and created drove roads to connect the scattered parishes in which they built their simple churches. Some of these still stand, like that of St Andrew’s at Bishopstone, while others that were modified numerous times through the centuries retain Saxon features, such as the stumpy tower at Jevington.

Following the Norman Conquest much of the region was divided into ‘rapes’, each of which controlled a strip of coast, an area of downland for grazing, farmland for cultivation, and a section of Wealden forest for hunting. The Normans built castles at Arundel and Lewes, and aided the spread of Christianity by erecting many more solid-looking churches which add character to the villages they serve.