t 



SEDGWICtt 

 . . . PARK, 



HORSHAM. 



THE SEAT . . 

 or 



MRS. HENDERSON. 



A1EAUTIPUL place in j : of Western bu- 



^. It is one ot the many plej 

 domains whiJi are found in the neighbourhood of 

 ancient Horsham anJ the shadowy depth- "t the 

 forest of St. Leonard's. Here, apart from the 

 world, lived a peasantry who cherished the store- and folk 

 of a former time with a tenacity which makes tlieir descendant- 

 an interesting people, if we can but draw them from their 

 native shyness, to-day. Here, long after the monster- evolved 

 in the mists of antiquity had been dissipated by the ll.irin^- 

 torch of science, lingered the beltet in a dragon, which harried. 

 even ** '. 1614. the whole country-side. There 



were some perils of the netlier world there to he encountered 

 in the woodland, but good St. Leonard had u.i^-.i the 

 with a stubborn daring which had laid the old monster |..w. 

 and wherever the Saint's Mood dyed the ground, patches 

 of lilies of the valley sprang up. they '.. now, when 



all the Sussex world goes a-lilying. there are some, perh.ip-. 

 who still think of the terror trom which the people were spa red. 

 hxen yet -o.T>e old crone may tell you also of the 

 phantom which rode behind the horseman who tr.ivervd the 

 forest-wjy until he passed the bounds. 



The di-trict of St. Le.narj's porest anJ Nuthur-t i- 

 full of woodland attraction, and Nuthurst i- perhaps, even 

 more attractive than the for^-t itself. Oak and beech, 

 ancient pine anJ great plantations of larch, with rich under- 

 wood, and many a bright touch of colour gained by the growth 

 of orrumental trees are the distinctions of the place. Lo jkm^ 



.ward Horn the hill there i- a far the 



pastoral land to the : .vith 4 di-tant gUmp 



:nmandin, xjld not 



tail to attr.iv t the .ittiniion ot tlie u'eat baron- who mad< 

 part of Sussex their home. A park .is eru vick 



in very early times, and in the nineteenth -d II. 



it 'ining 4i The park wa- 



ie an.ient castlr - which v.nv- 



very interesting ri - -f.ll exist. I he form w.i- oriular, 



with the defe iouble n the whole of the plan 



ian be maJe out from the basement walls. I he r-t.ite afur 

 the Conquest wa- in the [ :> ot the family ! - 



but there was some dispute concerning tl>e rights, and 

 John le Maun-el obtained licence to tortity the place in i 

 and Peter de \\-nf-.rd defended it in the Baron-' . 

 but it subsequently reverted to John io v Krom hm it 



paed by e.\char;_- to \\ .mi de Brajse. th< rd ot 



Bramber, and it remained attached to the Bramher lordship 

 until the atta nder and death nf Thomas [Jui N rfolk 

 in i; 



In 1549 a hundred Jeer were kept in tlie park, which 

 had been extended in area from 400 acres to 624 a,. res at the 

 date of its d.spalement in 1608. The Sedgwick e-t ite had 

 meanwhile been granted to Thom.i- - .r, and ha i pa-seJ 



through the hand- of Sir Thomas Pynes and Sir John Caryl. 

 In 1705 it was purchased bv Sir John Bennett, anJ after \ 

 by Cn.irle> [>uke "t Kichmond. who held it until 1750. I 

 ;> .1 rum, but the estate was sold to the Tud> 



H*0 THE iOLTH. 



