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Hailsham is an excellent centre for visiting the surrounding countryside and numerous places of interest.

Two miles north in Hellingly, is the celebrated Horselunges Manor, built in the early sixteenth century and carefully restored about forty years ago. This is one of the finest old timbered residences in Sussex, containing what is said to be one of the earliest examples of a well staircase which is contemporary with the age of the building.

Ripe, halfway between Hailsham and Lewes, has a late 15th century timber-framed manor house, the real age of which had been concealed at the front by a brick facade added in 1686.

Of particular interest at Ripe is the unique rectangular field system which is considered to have been maintained ever since the Roman occupational period nearly 2000 years ago.

The village of Wilmington lies below the South Downs about 4 miles south-west of Hailsham.

Its church dates from the Norman and early English periods and contains a Jacobean canopied pulpit. Nearby are the picturesque 13th and 14th century priory ruins and a splendid tithe barn which is one of the largest in the county.

Beyond the village the Downs rise to 600 feet on Windover Hill near which are Neolithic flint mines and ancient burial sites. Cut into the chalk on the hillside facing the village is the celebrated Long Man of Wilmington. The figure is 226 feet in length and holds a spear in each hand. Its true age is still undecided.

Michelham Priory, at Upper Dicker, was founded for Augustinian canons in 1229 in the Sussex Weald. Situated 8 miles north of Eastbourne, it is surrounded by a great medieval moat, with 7 acres of beautiful lawns and gardens. Parts of the Priory buildings, including the church, were destroyed at the Dissolution in 1536, and the remaining buildings formed the nucleus of a fine Tudor house built in the late 16th century. The property was owned by the Sackville family from 1603 to 1897, and was given to the Sussex Archaelogical Trust in 1959.

In the house are period furniture, ironwork, tapestries, stained glass, samplers, dolls’ house, musical instruments collection, and features of architectural interest. In the Grounds are fish-ponds, a great barn, old wagons and ploughs, a forge and wheelwright's shop, Sussex crafts shop, and a splendid 14th-century Gate House built by Prior Leem in about 1395.

Beside the Cuckmere below the Downs stands the tiny church of Lullington, one of the smallest in England but actually being only the chancel of a medieval church.

Across the river is Alfriston with a history dating from Saxon times. The medieval rectory with wattle-and-daub walling is now preserved by the National Trust and is open to the public.

A picturesque inn here is claimed to be one of the oldest in England; the handsome 14th century church is known as the Cathedral of the Downs.

Near Polegate, 3 miles south of Hailsham are the pretty hamlets of Wannock, with thatched roofs and a Jacobean farmhouse; and Otham, where a desecrated chapel is all that remains of a priory founded in the late 12th century.

Roger Fiennes was granted a licence to crenellate in 1440 and built Herstmonceux Castle, 4 miles east of Hailsham. It is an early example of a castle built of brick and one of the finest of it’s kind in Britain.

As very few bricks were then being made in this country, these were imported from the Netherlands. The castle is also notable as being one of the first baronial castles built as a residence rather than as a fortress, yet it has all the traditional appearances of a stronghold with its wide moat, drawbridge and portcullis, battlements, towers and turrets. Dismantled in 1777 but carefully restored in 1913, it is now an academic establishment, but was occupied until 1990 by the Royal Observatory which moved here from Greenwich in 1948. The Observatory Science Centre now occupies the main buildings and historic telescope domes. A programme of restoration has taken place and the Centre, with it's hands-on exhibits, outdoor Discovery Park and Domes of Discovery Exhibition is now a leading science centre for the South-East and is open to the public seven days a week. For more information please telephone (01323) 832731 or visit www.the-observatory.org.
The road from Hailsham to Pevensey goes through Hankham (where a building called “Priesthawes” was once a monastic establishment), and continues through Westham which has an early Norman church and some picturesque old cottages.

In the village of Pevensey are also attractive cottage groupings and the medieval “Mint House” which is said to occupy the site of the original Norman Mint (it is open to the public). The Town Hall is one of the smallest in England.

The historic Roman fort at Pevensey has massive bastions and walls of flint and sandstone. Within its walls stand the remains of the medieval Pevensey Castle.