3 men on a walk 2015: Firle Beacon Loop

Up and around Firle Beacon

We decided we would walk up the South Downs before the bad winter weather set in and this section around Firle Beacon is one of the prettiest sections. Once you reach the top of the Downs you get amazing views south to the coast and North to the Weald. Today it was a bit cloudy but the cloud was high enough not to affect the wonderful views.

We parked up in the pretty village of Firle and walked west for a mile or so until we hit the trail that led up to the top of Beddingham Hill, a good pull from sea level to 580 ft. At the top we met the South Downs Way and turned East to follow this trail to Firle Beacon (670ft) and then along to Bostal Hill where we turned North and dropped down the face of the downs and into the medieval village of Alciston. Here we stopped at the quaintly named 17th century "Rose Cottage Inn" for lunch.

Just down the road from the pub is a 14th century "Dovecote" built into the side of a house wall. Alciston's medieval tithe barn is simply huge - it's over 50 metres long. The tithe barn is an indicator of just how rich the church was in the middle ages - the barn would have been full of the church's cut (or tithe) of the annual harvest each year.

Walking back towards the car at Firle we passed by "Charleston Farmhouse", home of the Bloomsbury set in the 1920's and then Firle Place, an old manor house. Firle Place is the family seat of Nicolas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage, whose family the Viscounts Gage have owned the land at Firle since acquiring it from the Levett family in the 15th century. The manor house was first built in the late 15th century by Sir John Gage, who made Firle Place his principal home. He held many high offices, including Constable of the Tower and was an executor of Henry VIII's will.