Coldharbour village

Flowers by the wayside

Waterden Woods

Wolvens Lane

Forestry track leading to Mag's Well

The head of Mag's Well in Squire's Wood north of Coldharbour. The water is slightly impregnated with sulphate of magnesia and iron and is said to be effective in the relief of rheumatism, scurvy, dermatitis, leprosy, scabs, itch, and scrofula. Although (thankfully) possessed of none of these ailments, I took a small amount from lower down (away from the duckweed) and I found the water to be of somewhat sulphurous taste but I suffered no ill effect.

A more modern well chamber has been built a few yards away. Wm. Aubrey (1719) attributed the name of the well to "a poor Wench, whose name was Meg, that was troubled with the Itch, and lived hereabout" who "first cured herself with washing" at the well. Perhaps more likely is that it is a corruption of St. Margaret's Well (as is the case with Mugswell, in the same county), in whose name it might well have been dedicated by the mediaeval church.

A benchmark stone on the edge of the common

Early 20th Century Landfill in one of the disused sandstone quarries

Billbery

Door in the south wall of Christ Church, consecrated 1848

Christ Church: detail of stained glass

Christ Church: Stained glass panel depicting the nativity and bearing the legend "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14)

Christ Church: One of two stained Glass given in memory of Maj. Alfred Fox Cotton in 1889. The legend 'I am the resurrection and the life' comes from John 11:25

Approach to Leith Hill from the west

Near the summit

The summit of Leith Hill hidden by trees

View over the Weald from Leith Hill, the Blue-grey bulk of the South Downs is visible in the far distance

Sculpture detail

Leith Hill summit and tower. The hill was already the highest point in Southeast England at 965 feet (294m) above Ordnance Datum, but the construction of a tower by Richard Hull of Leith Hill Place in 1765-6 brought this to more than 1,000 feet. Hull lies interred beneath the tower and legend has it that he was buried upside down in accordance with a folk belief that at the day of judgement the world would be turned on its head.

The Tower fell into disrepair and became dangerous after Hull's death, so it was filled with concrete and rubble. In 1864, Mister Evelyn of Wotton House built a stair turret bypassing the filled-in staircase and rooms, but it was not until 1984 that the tower was fully restored by the National Trust. The tower was not open at the time of our visit.

Looking up the side of the tower

Over a century's worth of graffiti cover the bricks of the lower storey.

A fine 17th Century Mansion, Leith Hill Place was home in the nineteenth century to Josiah Wedgewood III, grandson of the famous potter of the same name, and his wife Caroline, brother of Charles Darwin, who often holidayed here. The estate later passed by marriage to the Vaughan Williams Family, and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams spent his childhood here.