Chithurst

Chithurst is another of the beautiful villages which hug the course of the River Rother as it makes its way towards Midhurst.

The outstanding feature of the village is Chithurst's 11th century Norman church of St Mary - it's absolutely tiny.

The external appearance of the church has hardly altered since the 11th century - only the windows have been widened, and even then only slightly. The great architectural historian Pevsner put this down to the poverty of the area - and he was right. This part of the western Weald was very remote and boggy for almost the whole of human history - until now that is.

Chithust Manor is an impressive late medieval manor house, sometimes referred to as Chithurst Abbey - although it was never an abbey.

There are two other historical features of worth looking out for in Chithurst.

A Roman Road runs through Chithurst, around half a kilometre east of the centre of the village. The road is the continuation of the route from Chichester to Silchester, now in northern Hampshire. The unexcavated remains of a Roman mini-fort, referred to as Iping Roman Station, sit alongside the road.

Hammer Wood

Going back even further in time, there is an iron age hill fort in Hammer Wood to the north of Chithurst. The fort covers an area of around 17 acres and It is thought that the stone used to build the village church was quarried in Hammer Wood.

Hammer Wood lies next to a large hammer pond which was used to provide power for iron working in the seventeenth century. The pond was made by damming the Hammer Stream which flows southwards past Hammer Hanger towards the River Rother, which it joins midway between Chithurst and Iping.

Much of Hammer Wood now forms the grounds of a Buddhist Monastery. The monks at the monastery are involved in overseeing a project to convert the woodland from the sweet chestnut trees which were planted after the First World War to a more native oak woodland to encourage biodiversity and an environment where native wildlife can re-establish itself.

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