Michelham Priory

I had a Groupon voucher to use so, though it was dreich today, we went to Michelham Priory to look round house, gardens, barn etc. The forge, above, still used, was quite blippable, I thought.

This from the website:

"The soft waters of the little Cuckmere coursing from their sources to the sea, wash no foundations more
hallowed than the grey walls of Michelham. The situation and the security, girdled by the ever-circling
stream, is now as when the abbots held sway over their sanctified home and their surrounding domain.
There stands the square tower, yet unriven, from whence the warden looked out to welcome friend or guard
against a foe. ... There, too, is the long-reaching roof that of yore gave shelter to the shorn heads of the
monks and friars, and there the tall chimneys, whence up flew the smoke from the clean hearth and the
wood-made fires; and there, too, the fish ponds, now called the back river, and many other specialities that
gave the place a present and abiding interest."

A little OTT but it was written in 1884.