Symbolism on gravestones is often lost. In coastal Eastbourne we would expect a grave swathed with a large chain and anchor to represent the sea, maybe a fisherman or lifeboatman, but Henry Coleman Hurst was neither. He was one of the Hurst family who had arrived in Eastbourne at the time of the Civil War and who…
Category: Churches & Churchyards
The Music of Bells is Sweet
Thomas Lewis was born on 28th December 1845 in Church Street, Old Town, Eastbourne, the son of Thomas Lewis (1805-1883) and Elizabeth Miller (1804-1871) originally from Ringmer. Living so close to the Parish Church it is no wonder that the Lewis family were all bell-ringers. Tom had six brothers who all became bell-ringers at St Mary’s and…
Buried alive in Alfriston?
On 23rd January 1816 a strange and macabre incident occurred at Alfriston Church in East Sussex. At this time when the ‘gothic novel’ was popular, taphophobia was rife. Taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive. This fear was so great that people could purchase ‘safety coffins’ in which a recently awaked corpse could not…
The father of Eastbourne Bellringing
Before lockdown I visited the bell chamber at St Mary’s Church, Eastbourne and was interested to see an unusual marble memorial for Harry Packham Bennett in the form of a large bell. Harry was clearly one of the bell-ringers and, as a former railway policeman, I was interested to see that he had lost his…
Deadly Sins in a Sussex Church
Wherever I travel, I take a copy of Simon Jenkins book ‘1000 Best Churches’ which is usually a good indication of churches worth going out of your way to see. Occasionally though, I come across a church not mentioned in his book and wonder why it has been omitted. One such church is St George’s at Trotton…
The Sussex Stile Council
If, like me, you love to wander across the South Downs and the Sussex countryside you will often use gates and stiles. Gates were traditionally wide enough to allow a farmer to manoeuvre a horse drawn hay-cart through and were made of wood. Today however farm gates are wider and usually made of cylindrical metal….
The Story of a Pock-marked Grave
The grave of Mary Ann and Edmund Sinden in Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne is badly damaged. The couple married at Folkington Church on 11th May 1856. Edmund was then living in Brighton and Mary Ann was from Wannock. She was the daughter of Henry Thomas who was a farmer there. Edmund’s father was also a farmer, John Sinden…
Bumping the Bounds
During May the spring festival of Rogation-tide was celebrated. This word comes from the Latin rogatio which means to ask for or to beg. In spring, seeds were sown and this was the time when God was asked or begged for them to grow. It was during Rogation-tide that the church would sometimes confirm the…
Easter in Sussex
Writing in the 8th century, the Venerable Bede tells us that Eostre was the pagan goddess of dawn (hence the word ’east’). Her annual festival of Spring was held in April and known as Easter but by the time of Bede, Christians had replaced this with their own festival, ‘passover’ which celebrates the resurrection of…
Shrovetide in Sussex
Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) is the day before Lent commences. ‘Lent is a corruption of the Old English word ‘Lencten’ meaning ‘Spring’ Our ancestors would have shrove (confessed) themselves of sins in the morning. At noon the Shrovetide bell would ring from Sussex churches which would indicate that it was time to stop confessing and start…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 