nd brass, being the
effigy of Thomas Nelond, Prior of Lewes, who died in 1433. Few brasses
are finer or larger; in length it is nearly ten feet, its state is
practically perfect, and pilgrims come from all quarters to rub it. John
Nelond, in the dress of a Cluniac monk, stands with folded hands beneath
an arch, protected by the Virgin and Child, St. Pancras, and St. Thomas
a Becket. This splendid relic would, perhaps, were ours an ideal
community, be handed over to the keeping of the Carthusian monks near
by, in the Monastery of St. Hugh, the commanding building to the south
of Cowfold, whose spire is to the Weald what that of Chichester
Cathedral is to the plain between the Downs and the sea, and whose
Angelus may be heard, on favourable evenings, for many miles. The
Carthusian monks of St. Hugh's lend a very foreign air to the village
when they walk through it. Visitors are encouraged to call at the
porter's gate and explore this huge settlement--often in the very
competent care of an Irish brother; while to suffer an accident anywhere
in the neighbourhood is to be certain of a cordial glass of the
monastery's own Chartreuse.

It was at Brook Hill, just to the north of Cowfold, that William Borrer,
the ornithologist and the author of _The Birds of Sussex_, lived and
made many of his interesting observations.

Near Cowfold is Oakendene, a stronghold of cricket at the beginning of
the last century. William Wood was the greatest of the Oakendene men. He
was the best bowler in Sussex, the art having been acquired as he walked
about his farm with his dog, when he would bowl at whatever he saw and
the dog would retrieve the ball. Borrer of Ditchling, Marchant of Hurst,
Voice of Hand Cross, and Vallance of Brighton, also belonged to the
Oakendene club. Borrer and Vallance played for Brighton against
Marylebone, at Lord's, in 1792, and, when all the betting was against
them, including gold rings and watches, won the match in the second
innings by making respectively 60 and 68 not out. Another player in that
match was Jutten, the fast bowler, who when things were going against
him bowled at his man and so won by fear what he could not compass by
skill. There are too many Juttens on village greens.

Five miles south of Cowfold is Henfield, separated from Steyning, in the
south-west, by the low-lying meadows through which the Adur runs and
which in winter are too often a sheet of water.

Henfield consists of the usual street