Staplefield, St Mark, Interior

The weather has been awful all week and a full day out has not been possible. However, it was dry enough in the afternoon and I drove over to Staplefield via Horsham which took in Hammerpond Road that passes through St Leonards Forest and over the two Hammer Ponds that have been pictured before. Overall this is a very scenic route.

Staplefield lies between Cuckfield and Handcross and the church is open daily. It was built in 1847 and designed by Benjamin Ferrey in the Early English style. It is a complete Victorian church with all its fittings and is well worth a visit. The chancel decoration and the E window is by C E Kempe who lived at Lindfield and created hundreds of fine windows across the country (I saw one of his windows at Blackford in Somerset for example).

After visiting the church, I walked up Tanyard Lane that connects up to the footpaths that go through Nymans Woods. As I went up the lane, I started two Fallow Deer, one of which was a stag. The local rocks are exposed further up the lane in the beds of a stream that runs either side of the track and make interesting viewing.