Patching and Wepham Wood

The walk follows woodland paths around the private estate of Angmering Park on the outskirts of Arundel. This was once part of the vast Michelgrove Estate which belonged to the Shelley family for 300 years. It was eventually sold to the Duke of Norfolk in 1828 who, legend has it, pulled down the house for fear it should be considered grander than his seat at Arundel Castle. Today, Michelgrove is a hamlet nestling between Patching Hill and Harrow Hill at the foot of the South Downs, while Angmering Park remains under the stewardship of the Duke of Norfolk.

After leaving the village of Patching, the path climbs Patching Hill, which affords glorious views of the South Downs. To the south is Highdown Hill, a much-visited area not only for its Iron Age hill fort and Saxon burial ground but also because of the peculiar altar-like tomb of John Oliver (a Sussex eccentric who built his tomb 30 years before his death in 1793). Also to the south is Clapham village, twin to Patching, and shrine to the Shelleys of Michelgrove. To the south-east is Worthing and the sea, while 30 miles to the north-east is Chanctonbury Ring, a prehistoric earthwork capped by a distinctive clump of trees.

The tiny village of Patching is tucked away amongst the trees on a road leading to nowhere. Recorded as Petchinges in the Domesday Book, its population has never been big, but its history is recorded throughout historic annals. Henry VIII visited the area, as did members of the Catholic plot to overthrow Elizabeth I. Later during the Napoleonic Wars the area was turned into a war camp for French prisoners. Today, this typical English village comprises a cluster of flint cottages around Patching Church. St John the Divine church, built around 1200, is beautiful in its simplicity, featuring early English lancet windows, a 15th-century font, a Victorian pulpit with carved panels, and an exceptionally fine screen behind the altar with over 40 carved figures.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.