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coins, weapons and personal ornaments belonging to the time of the Roman occupation. The "Miller's Tomb" is on the side nearest Worthing; it has representations of Time and Death with some verses composed by the miller, John Olliver. A cottage on the other side of the hill stands on the site of the mill. The view is particularly fine both Downwards and seawards, though the hill is not half the altitude of Cissbury. Northwards are the beautiful woods of Castle Goring, once the residence of the Shelleys, through which we may walk to Clapham and Patching, villages on southern spurs of the Downs; the latter has a restored Early English church with a very beautiful modern reredos. Clapham has a Transitional church containing memorials of the Shelley family. Notice the blocked-up Norman arch which proves the existence of an earlier building. On the south is a venerable farmhouse, ancient and picturesque.
The return journey to Worthing may be taken through Salvington, passing the ruins of Durrington chapel; at the south end of the village at the cottage named "Lacies" John Selden was born in 1584. On the door post is a Latin inscription said to have been composed by him when ten years old; it runs thus:—
Gratus, honeste, mihi, non claudar, initio sedebis, Fur abeas non sum facta soluta tibi.
Translated by Johnson:—
Walk in and welcome; honest friends, repose; Thief, get thee hence, to thee I'll not unclose.
Selden's father was a wandering minstrel and the birthplace of the great jurist was humble even for those days.
A short walk southwards brings us to West Tarring, which is practically a suburb of Worthing. Here is a very fine Early English and Perpendicular church with a lofty spire. Notice the beautiful modern mosaics depicting the Prophets and Apostles. Also the old miserere seats and an ancient muniment chest. The window under the tower is in memory of Robert Southey whose daughter married a onetime vicar of Tarring. Another incumbent here was Stripe the historian.
A peculiarity noticeable in many country churchyards may be remarked here— the reluctance to bury on the north side of the church (though strangely enough this has been reversed at near-by Ferring). In many churchyards, where the ground is as extensive on the north side as on the others, the grave digger's spade has left it either quite untouched or the graves are few in number and mostly of recent date. |
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