military road. "On Edridge Green continued,
for many years, a curious mortar or large gun, said to have been the
first made in England. The tradition is that it was cast at Buxted
furnace about twelve miles north of Lewes. It is preserved in the
British Museum; and some account of it, with a print, is given in the
_Archaeologia_, vol. x. p. 472." Next is the estate of Edridge, among
the lords of which were Godwin, Earl of Kent and the Earl of Montaigne
and Cornwall: Mayfield, was possessed by the see of Canterbury before
the Norman conquest, and at its palace Sir Thomas Gresham lived in
sumptuous style, and probably entertained Queen Elizabeth in one of her
progresses; among the curiosities here the anvil, hammer, and tongs,
which are traditionally said to have belonged to the noted St. Dunstan,
"and, who is also said to have used the last instrument most
ungallantly, and even brutishly, in twinging the nose of Old Nick, who
tempted the immaculate prelate in the form of a fine lady;" Bayham, or
Bageham Abbey, about 6 miles south-east of the Wells, was a monastery of
great extent in 1200, but is now so dilapidated and overgrown as
scarcely to enable the antiquary to trace its architectural features:
here too is an immense pollard ash-tree, which Gough describes, in his
additions to Camden's _Britannia_, as being "several yards in girth, as
old, if not older, than the abbey, and supposed to be the largest
extant." Mr. Britton likewise noticed here a curious instance of ivy,
which has not only covered nearly the whole surface of the (abbey)
building, but has insinuated its treacherous branches into the joints
and crevices of the masonry. "The wood," says our observant author, "has
grown to a great size, and displaced columns, mouldings, mullions, &c.
and thus overturned and destroyed the very objects it was intended to
adorn." What a picture is this of the wild luxuriance of nature
devastating the trim and chiselled glories of art! Next is Scotney
Castle, the ancient part of which is said to have been a fortress in the
reign of Richard II.; the moat still remains. The author hints that the
tour may be advantageously extended to Bodiam Castle; Winchelsea, near
which is Camber, one of the fortresses built by Henry VIII. to guard the
south coast; Battle Abbey, founded by William the Norman, and calling up
in review the battle of Hastings, and the Bayeaux tapestry; the Roman
fort of Pevensey; and Hurstmonceaux Castle built by R