n is Keymer, a pleasant little place
with an uninteresting church which has been practically rebuilt.
Ditchling, a mile further, has a very fine Transitional and Early
English church which will repay a visit. The nave is severely plain in
the older style; the chancel shows some untouched and very beautiful
workmanship. The east window is Geometrical, as are several in the
nave, others are Decorated and, in the transept, Perpendicular. Note
the old font which was evidently at one time coloured; also the aumbry,
piscina and sedile. The chalk arches are finely worked. In the village
are several old timber houses, including one said to have been
inhabited by Anne of Cleves.

A walk of about two miles past Wick Farm or by Westmeston, over half a
mile farther, brings the traveller to the summit of this section of the
Downs--Ditchling Beacon (813 feet). Until more accurate surveys were
made this was supposed to be the highest point of the whole range.

"This most commanding down is crowned with the grassy mound and
trenches of an ancient earthwork, from whence there is a noble view of
hill and plain. The inner slope of the green fosse is inclined at an
angle pleasant to recline on, with the head just below the edge, in the
summer sunshine. A faint sound as of a sea heard in a dream--a sibilant
'sish, sish'--passes along outside, dying away and coming again as a
fresh wave of the wind rushes through the bennets and the dry grass."
(Richard Jefferies.)

[Illustration: WOLSTONBURY.]

The views from Ditchling, though fine, are not nearly the best, for
there is a tameness in the immediate country to the north. A glorious
walk, however, can be taken by keeping along the edge past "Black Cap,"
the clump of trees about two miles east, and then either over or round
Mount Harry to Lewes. Those who must see all the settlements of men
should proceed downwards to Westmeston, a beautiful little place
embowered in trees, some of which are magnificent in shape and size,
particularly the great ash at the east of the church which is literally
overshadowed by the Beacon. The building is uninteresting and the mural
paintings dating from the twelfth century, which were discovered about
fifty years ago, have not been preserved. It was near here that Baring
Gould speaks of seeing the carcasses of two horses and three calves
hanging in a elm; on inquiry he was informed that this was considered
"lucky for cattle."

About a mile and a half north