Seeing It Through
Another line through the Low Weald on a cooler and dare I say, Autumnal-feeling day. Naturally, this is disconcerting in the last week of August but the heat has taken it's toll, noticeably on the grass and trees. The variously browned, wilted and dropped vegetation is all the more disconcerting as I walk through it, occasionally nibbling on non-shrivelled blackberries. That aside, this was a very fine traverse that didn't feel its 24 miles, until the next day, that is. I might be requiring hills for the next walk, if the temperature remains cool enough because the only real climbs occur right at the end, as you triumphantly scale the 'Capability Brown' mounds of Petworth Park.
What you see here of the landscape are hedged fields and small settlements, interspersed with woodland and scrappy fragments of old common. Furthermore, we have a translocation of student populations from London and the arrival and ebbing away of the railways. Early industry in this part of Sussex has shaped much of what has survived. The Low Weald fruited clay for brick-making and the woods were essential to fuel the iron industry but I had not figured on glass-making. A chance choosing of a footpath beside Wephurst or Whephurst and the historical glassworks, followed by a lunch at Kirdford, began to crystallise knowledge on this third activity. Through the pane of time, you can behold the activity of medieval glasshouses and their enrichment by French immigrants.
Christ's Hospital station can be reached from Burgess Hill via Three Bridges and out towards Portsmouth Harbour. Return is via a bus number 1 at Petworth to Pulborough and back on the same rail track. A return train ticket to Pulborough did me nicely because delays meant my timely bus connection was scuppered. I had a lot to fit in.
Leave the station, take to Station Road and bear right. You'll be on the Downs Link which goes back under the track. The path bends south and then towards the northwest on what was the line to Guildford. The old station was once built embarrassingly big. The once London Christ's Hospital School was relocated here in 1902, after the acquisition of the old Aylesbury Dairy property but only ever had pupils boarding. The girls joined them in 1985. The massive station reduced in size with the Beeching cuts. For now, we walk on the old track, beyond the old platform under the Five Oaks Road and ignore a first footpath on the left. I usually find myself irritated by the monotony of a disused railway footpath and particularly by the Downs Link. It seems more suited to the thrill of bicycles but this section is more open with glimpses to the north, buzzards and hot air balloons. At the next junction leave the footpath south which happens to be the West Sussex Literary Trail.
Continue straight over Toat Hill on the bridleway through Elmhurst Farm. Turn right at Shiprods, left at Dan Farm and enter Bishop's Wood. You'll have probably walked the line of some old drove roads between these elderly farms. Going is straightforward. At the centre of the wood, take the footpath west past Grainingfold and onto the Roman road at Five Oaks. Turn right on the historical Stane Street and then quickly take the next left footpath. the -fold suffix of many of the local names indicate animal pens or enclosures from the Old English, so we're back to droving again but also transhumance. Many places represent seasonal pastures in the way of the -dens of the High Weald. It is also getting quite sandy and oaky.
At Slinfoldland Farm, turn right and then continue west at the bridleway. At Leverance Farm, turn left onto the footpath into Great Wood. There was a sign indicating a damaged footbridge and no alternative footpath but I'm glad I ignored it. A mere broken plank and no where near the non-signposted hazards I normally encounter. At Okehurst Road, turn right and then take the next bridleway on the left. You will soon reach the River Arun. Standing on the bridge, I was gratified to see that aside from the Himalayan balsam, the river looked healthy and there were fish.
Cross the river and then soon after you come to a redundant bridge over the redundant Arun Canal. The path drops down to the east bank and south. Now go over the restored Malham Lock. The bridleway continues to Malham Farm. Very briefly, join the Wey South Path, going south through the yard. Follow the lane out on the line of the parish boundary.
Go north on Newpound and take the bridleway on the southern edge of Roundstreet Common and then north to Gunshot Common. The alarming name derives from 'Guma's Shed' or 'swine-cot'. We picture pigs and cows on the move again. At Skiff Lane, turn south and rejoin a bridleway on the right. Just beyond Gunshot Farm, you enter the Wephurst Park. An old sign indicates this but I find scant information on the place. Continue despite the slightly aggressive private signs. Beyond Walthurst Farm you come to a fiveway junction. Take the bridleway north until you can go left on another bridleway west. Next is Wephurst Wood and an area marked as a site of antiquity.
This is a medieval glassworks and I scanned the field and woodland floor for anything obvious, finding none. On my return, I did a little digging into 'forest glass' and what came after. Turns out that the profession was happening since the 1200s but some French immigrants in the 1500s introduced a better process. So now I learned about 'flux'. Forest glass was produced with the Wealden sands but it was difficult to achieve the high temperatures required to melt it on its own. Additives such as bracken reduced the temperature needed. The first part of the process, the melting stage was called fritting and involved lower temperatures to make a kind of cake to be crushed up and then heated at the higher temperatures. the cooling process or annealing had to be controlled to organise or rather disorganise the structure of the glass into an amorphous solid. Basically, the later and dominant process used more wood ash, calcium, in the form of lime and the use of clever winged furnaces to improve things. So you see here, I've gone down a glassy rabbit-hole.
Leaving the woods, cross the junction and continue on Rickman's Lane until you can go left towards Crouchlands Farm. Join the byway south and pass the confusing fingerpost to pass Crouchland, with it on your right. I actually went wrong just before here and found myself at Hardnip's. The amusing name had me checking my map.
Keep going south through Mackerel's Common and exit east past the verge that is Beetlehook Common to the Plaistow Road. I didn't do this but took the byway east on the northern edge of Mackerel's and the road south for here. None of the commons had been very explory and I had tried to find alternative paths through, to no avail. Rather than fight your way into Great Common on the footpath, take the drive to Lakelands Farm and join the footpath south from here. You will break out onto a playing field. Take the footpath opposite and into Kirdford for lunch. I stopped at the Forrester's Arms.
Back on the Village Road, go northwest until you can take a left footpath through another unlikely common, known as Pound Common. Continue on this footpath towards Parsonage Farm but turn left by Oliver's Copse. Cross the fields in a westerly direction to Idolsfold Farm. Turn right on the Blind Lane and left onto a footpath. You will follow a tributary to the River Kird.
The Ebernoe or Pipers Road marks the boundary of the South Downs National Park and you enter Ebernoe Common. It's probably worth having a copy of the reserve map because I'd wanted to explore the Butchersland Reserve but somewhere, I found myself jumping fences and fighting my way back to the public footpath, going south. Much of the reserve is also to the east of the road. There are many additional paths. Make your way on the footpath south to Langhurst Common, after a more civilised exploration. Back on Blind Lane, go south until you can take the bridleway on the left around Whitley Copse and Holland Wood.
At the junction, turn right onto another bridleway at Stedmans Journey. There is water here but I don't know what it's for. At Blind Lane, go north past the stunning white Keyfox Farm then west on the footpath. Down the hill you go and then over to the London Road. Walk carefully on this final busy stretch until you can enter Petworth Park on your right. Once in, you can make your choices south before leaving via the Cow Tunnel, just north of the house and continuing out onto North Street. Some deer were barely discernable on the bleached grass but helpfully indicated by the crows that were perched upon them. The bus stop is on the south side of the church. I popped to Co-op for drinks as I'd forgotten to bring water. Rookie error.
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