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310 THE SUSSEX COAST |
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has a fine old timber roof, each bracket rises from a log that is laid across two corbels, queen-posts rest on the tie-beams and support collars, above which are interesting struts.
The most famous of the vicars of Westham was probably Brian Duppa, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Bishop of Chichester under Charles I.; Bishop of Winchester at the Restoration. He had been tutor to Charles II., and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Miles Hodgson was vicar from 1593 to 1625; he stole the old altar slab for the gravestone of his first wife, which showed a lack of reverence for which he might have made excuses; in answer to questions from Archbishop Whitgift he replied, " I hold the vicaridge of Hailesham and Westham both with Cure . . . and the said vicaridges doe joyne both together, the Churches being distant twoe myles or thereabout the one from the other," which showed a lying disposition for which he 4 cannot be excused. As the crow flies the distance is four miles and a half, by the nearest road more than six. The altar slab has been restored, three of its crosses remain.
The flat marshes round Pevensey slightly recall Holland. The roads that cross them can be felt to vibrate as a heavy motor rushes past. |
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