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SEAFORD AND CUCKMERE VALLEY 149
boasts an old pigeon house which deserves notice. It is of unknown date, but was in existence in 1622. A record in a parish book reads that it was then rented to the parson for five pounds a year. (See Suss. Arch. Coll., vi. 233).
Firle Beacon is four and a half miles due north of East Blatchington, and is placed in the Downs at an angle where they run south to Beachy Head. Applied to it is the proverb :
" When Firle Beacon wears a cap We in the valley gets a drap ; When Firle Beacon's head is bare All next day it will be fair."
The village beneath is called West Firle, but why is not known, for the only other Firle is the farm of Frog Firle in Alfriston.
All the hills about are crowded with ancient burrows, and Rudyard Kipling has given us the couplet:
" Firle, Mount Caburn and Mount Harry Go back as far as sums'll carry."
Firle Place, with high roofs like a French chateau, occupies a pleasant situation in a park, and commands extensive views of the surrounding country and of the Weald. The hall is a perfect museum, chiefly of zoological objects, and the |
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