Picturesque it isn’t. Some would even dispute its right to be described as a village in its own right. But its people stick up fiercely for this appendage to the far more historic community of Plumpton, two miles down the road, and it is interesting to see how such a comparatively new rural community can…

Even a confirmed teetotaller could find himself seeing double at the Half Moon. Many of the pub’s regulars of yesteryear are recorded in a giant painting which takes pride of place in the bar, raising their glasses in a cheery salute to the beholder. Landlord Terry White commissioned the unusual work of art as a…

Rather overshadowed by Rye, only half a mile to the south, but fiercely proud of the fact that it was once held to be more important. Pleidenam occupies a distinct place in the Domesday Book, whereas Rye at that time was only part of Rameslie under the Manor of Brede. It was suggested that the…

The skull on the inn sign has been painted wearing a wicked leer; the sort of skull, if that is possible, that appreciates a joke. The joke made the name of this scattered hamlet ring round the world and fooled the experts for years, The skull of Dawn Man, almost the missing link, was unearthed…

‘Englishmen fight, French ‘uns too, We don’t, we live Piddinghoe’ A rhyme that originated from the insular and independent nature of the village in the old days, perhaps, or simply a way of making sure the furriners’ got the pronunciation of the name right. Certainly in the smuggling days Piddinghoe folk would want to keep…

‘Lookers’. men employed to keep an eye on a farmer’s animals as they grazed and ensure that none went astray or were stolen, are a breed of the past. It took a special kind of character to endure the hours of solitude in all weathers, but at Pevensey Horace Field made up for it when…

It gives its name to the stretch of marshland that runs from the village to Winchelsea. Wild and none too attractive. A bit like the eccentric brothers Daniel and Edward Thurston, who lived here. The brothers occupied a tumbledown shack on the foreshore at Pett Level and travelled the area in a pony and trap…

The loneliest place in the county. Even people who profess to have a knowledge of Sussex have never heard of it. In loneliness lies beauty. Penhurst is a church, a manor house and a few farm buildings; a living picture of old England that has scarcely changed since Shakespeare’s day. The hairpin lanes that shield…

Sexual harassment by a ghost? It happened at the 16th century Horse and Cart and the victim was the new licensee, Cilla Gurden. She was reaching for the handle of a beer pump to serve a regular customer when some ‘saucy devil’ suddenly pinched her bottom. The culprit was invisible and Cilla turned back to…