20140305 SWS Ramblers, Boxgrove, Eartham, Halnaker 6.1ml

Walk Leaders   Cliff & Gerry W. (Selsey)

South West Sussex Ramblers

Start gridref: SU 906 076Start time: 10amDistance: 6 miles

Boxgrove Common, Eartham, Halnaker Windmill

A lovey circuit, nothing very strenuous but with plenty of stiles. Only nine of us ventured upto the Windmill and it was such a shame the low lying areas were covered in mist.

View from Long Down onto Eartham. The largge white building is the Great Ballard School.

Formerly Eartham House[edit]

The school's main building, Eartham House, was originally built in 1800 and was occupied by the poet William Hayley.^[3] The house was subsequently purchased by William Huskisson, a prominent nineteenth-century politician who was a member of parliament for Chichester and served in the governments of Lord Liverpool and the Duke of Wellington. Huskisson, despite his high-profile political career, is best remembered for the tragic manner of his death – he was run over by George Stephenson's locomotive engine The Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway line in 1830.^[4]

Eartham House was entirely rebuilt in 1905 by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, but some Regency decorations and fireplaces are still retained in one room. The house was listed as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1958.^[5]

Stane Street (Chichester)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stane Street is the modern name given to an important 90-kilometre-long (56 mi) Roman road in England that linked London to the Roman town of Noviomagus Reginorum, or Regnentium, later renamed Chichester by the Saxons.[2][3] The exact date of construction is uncertain, however on the basis of archaeological artefacts discovered along the road, it was in use by 70 AD[4] and may have been constructed in the first decade of the Roman occupation of Britain (as early as 43-53 AD).[1]


Stane Street shows clearly the engineering principles that the Romans used when building roads. A straight line alignment from London Bridge to Chichester would have required steep crossings of the North Downs, Greensand Ridge and South Downs and so the road was designed to exploit a natural gap in the North Downs cut by the River Mole and to pass to the east of the high ground of Leith Hill before following flatter land in the River Arun valley to Pulborough.

To the Left is Selhurst Park and on the right is Long Down. Approximately there was 35 of us on this walk and a very enjoyable group to walk with.

 Halnaker Windmill, it was a shame i couldn't look inside but the structure was so different from others in this region. the way quarry tiles was cemented to protect the exterior shows how 'they' were trying to protect and maintain the windmill from the prevailing weather.