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INTRODUCTION.
There are probably many thousands of readers of Rudyard Kipling who have at some time or other paused while reading the particular book that happened to be in hand at the moment and asked mentally: " Just what sort of place is this village that Kipling mentions ? What is its life, what are its charms ? " The object of this slight study is to describe briefly these bits of Sussex which have served as a background for so many of Kipling's songs and stories. From Burwash, the home of Kipling, the writer will attempt to carry the reader in imagination, first to the Weald and Marsh, and then to the Downs, concerning which Kipling sings : —
"I'm just in love with all these three, The Weald and Marsh and the Down countrie ; Nor I don't know which I love the most, The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast ! "
The notes in this book are all based on intimate personal knowledge. Almost every old building) church or out of the way place mentioned by Kipling, has been examined by the writer, in the
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