Sussex Rambles: Sotuh Downs loop - Bo Peep to Bishopstone

25th December 2020

Christmas Day in a very strange world. Fortunately for me I am 'bubbled' with my daughter so Christmas Day saw us walking together on the South Downs. We wouldn't usually have time for such a long walk but with not much happening today we decided to make the most of the winter sunshine.

This walk starts at the Bo Peep car park which is a car park with a view! There is a steep climb to the car park so I never liked driving there in my last car which had very little power but it's great in my new(ish) car. It is a free car park but it is small - it only takes about 15 cars. On Christmas Day it was packed out and we had to park at the side of the road facing the view below. Such a hardship!

I did the planned walk back to front because the most obvious footpath turned out to be the end of the walk and it made more sense to keep walking in that direction. It is a very nice, easy to walk path which goes past the intriguingly named Five Lord Burgh tumulus.

We spotted what we think are WW2 bomb craters
scattered around the South Downs

We could see Brighton and the i360 in the distance

The walk loops around to Bishopstone and then walks through the very pretty village. Bishopstone was connected to the See of Canterbury and the name means dwelling place of the bishop - or more succinctly the bishops farm. The village is tiny with about 200 residents but it is surrounded by Newhaven and Seaford.

The war memorial in the church includes 'Nell Standish-Barry' on the list of those who died in the 1939-45 war. Eleanor, who was better known as Nell, was born in India and grew up in Ireland. After WW1 she moved to London but would spend her summers in Seaford when she would attend the church of St Andrews in Bishopstone. She was a very exotic woman who claimed to be a clairvoyant and after successfully predicting the death at sea of Lord Kitchener she became a bit of a celebrity. She also predicted her own death by a 'fiery streak' and it seems she died when her home was hit by a doodlebug but other reports were that she was only missing or had died in a car accident. The official wording of her death is that she was believed to have be killed through war operations. If you want to find out more read Kevin Gordon's account of her life and mysterious death.