hamlet, famous only as the meeting place between the great Alfred and
Asser, though some authorities claim the West Dean between Midhurst and
Chichester as the authentic spot. There is a Norman arch in the
tower of the church and also several canopied tombs and some good
stained glass. Here is another priest's house even older than the one
we have seen at Alfriston. George Gissing well describes the village
and the surrounding country in his novel _Thyrza_.

[Illustration: WEST DEAN.]

A Downland road can be taken from here to Friston, Eastdean and
Eastbourne, saving some miles of up and down walking, but the most
enjoyable though more strenuous route is by the cliff path from
Cuckmere Haven over the "Seven Sisters" cliffs to Beachy Head; a
glorious six miles with the sea on one side and the Downs on the other,
culminating in the finest headland on the south coast, 575 feet high,
the magnificent end of the Downs in the sea. All these cliffs provide
nesting-places for wild birds.

"I was much struck by the watchful jealousy with which the peregrines
seemed to guard the particular cliff--more than 500 feet from the
sea--on a lofty ledge of which their nest was situated, and which,
indeed, they evidently considered their especial property; with the
exception of a few jackdaws who bustled out of the crevices below, all
the other birds which had now assembled on this part of the coast for
the breeding season--it being about the middle of May--seemed to
respect the territory of their warlike neighbours. The adjoining
precipice, farther westward, was occupied by guillemots and razorbills,
who had deposited their eggs, the former on the naked ledge, the latter
in the crevices in the face of the cliff Here the jackdaws appeared