144 Sussex - Literature by the Sea

“God gives all men all earth to love
But since man’s heart is small,
Ordains for each one spot shall prove
Beloved over all
Each to his choice and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground - in a fair ground –
Yea, Sussex by the Sea!”
- “Sussex” by Rudyard Kipling, 1902.

There is something about Sussex that keeps attracting writers to live and work here.  Robert Rankin is one modern writer who lives here, but his predecessors include Rudyard Kipling, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Lewis Carroll and George Orwell.  Some liked the downs, others the sea, and others the places in between.  Let me take you on a tour of Literary Sussex and show the places where these writers found inspiration.

Rudyard Kipling moved to Bateman’s in Burwash, East Sussex in 1902, the same year he wrote his famous poem praising the county’s many and varied attractions.  He stayed here until his death in 1936 and during that time he wrote many of his most famous works including: ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’, ‘The Glory of the Garden’ and that most popular of British poems ‘If’.  Pook’s Hill is thought to be one of the downs visible from his study window. 

Another writer who liked the downs was Virginia Woolf, who,with her husband Leonard, bought Monks House cottage, near Rodmell in East Sussex in 1919.  It was at first a summer retreat but they moved there permanently in 1940 when their London home was bombed.   It was here that she worked on ‘To the Lighthouse’, ‘The Waves’ and ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and it was here in 1946 that she drowned herself in the Ouse. Her ashes are buried in the garden. Visitors to Monk’s Cottage included E M Forster and T S Eliot. 

Virginia, as the leading light of the Bloomsbury group, was also responsible for her sister, Vanessa Bell moving to Sussex. Virginia located Charleston Cottage, near Lewes, for Vanessa, her husband, the writer Clive Bell and the artist Duncan Grant.  Between them they decorated the cottage in a highly individualistic manner and they all remained there until their deaths. 

Moving closer to the sea we come to Rye and the beloved writing spot of Henry James.  Henry James first moved into Lamb’s House in Rye in 1897 and lived here until his death in 1916. Whilst living here he wrote The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, The Awkward Age and the Wings of a Dove.  In winter he worked in a room on the first floor, and in summer he worked in a pavilion in the garden. Wherever he worked he always dictated his novels to a secretary.  The writers H.G.Wells and Rudyard Kipling were visitors here. After James’ death, the writers, A.C and E.F Benson moved into Lamb house. E.F Benson wrote the Mapp and Lucia novels, apparently inspired by life in Rye.

All of these writers found the environment they needed to write here in Sussex, however, one spot has attracted more than its fair share of writers and that is Eastbourne.

The first writer of note to stay in Eastbourne was Alfred Lord Tennyson who came here in 1845.  At that time Tennyson had been ill and had just been to Cheltenham for a cure. It was not surprising, therefore, that he chose to holiday in Eastbourne, to see if the sea air would do him good.

Then in 1877 Revd Charles Dobson, or as he is better known Lewis Carroll began to spend his summers writing here at 7 Lushington Road, which is now a dental surgery. He lodged with the Dyer family from July until October and Eastbourne obviously agreed with him as he continued to return here every summer for the next twenty years, during which time he published ‘Euclid and his modern rivals’(1879), ‘Rhyme & Reason’ (1883), ‘A Tangled Tale’(1885) and ‘Curiosa Mathematica’(1888) amongst others.

George Orwell first came to Eastbourne as a child, when as Eric Arthur Blair, he was sent to St Cyprian’s Preparatory School.  It was during this time that he first began to go for walks in the Willingdon area of Eastbourne.  He says in his memoirs that walking in Willingdon was one of the activities he most enjoyed whilst at this school. He used these memories to create the setting for Animal Farm.  Indeed, if you read the book and then look closely at Willingdon, it is amazing how clearly Orwell represents the landscape in his work - the Manor Farm was based on what is now Chalk Farm Hotel, and the hill which Boxer was made to climb everyday is Butt’s Brow, which lies just behind the hotel. Eastbourne obviously made a big impression upon him.
 
Harold Pinter’s first impressions of Eastbourne, however, weren’t that flattering.  Although he and his wife Lady Antonia Fraser have more recently stayed at the opulent Grand Hotel where in 1905 Claude Debussy wrote ‘La Mer’, it was on an earlier visit to Eastbourne that Pinter, unable to find any lodgings, stumbled across some digs which inspired him to write ‘The Birthday Party’.

So, if you are having difficulty finding your muse, or just want to drink in the surroundings which inspired these authors, then come to Sussex by the Sea.

© Dawn Copeman 2005

 

136 Sussex From The Wikipedia

Sussex is a traditional county in south-eastern England, corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for administrative purposes into West Sussex and East Sussex and the city of Brighton and Hove. The latter was created a unitary authority in 1997; and was granted city status in 2000. Until then Chichester had been Sussex’s only city.

The divisions of West Sussex and East Sussex were originally established in 1189, and had obtained separate administrations (Quarter Sessions) by the 16th century. This situation was recognised by the County of Sussex Act 1865. Under Local Government Act 1888 the two divisions were two administrative counties (along with three county boroughs): Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings).

The appellation Sussex remained in use as a ceremonial county until 1974, when the Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex was replaced with one each for East and West Sussex. The whole of Sussex has had a single police force since 1968.

Sussex still retains a strong local identity and the county’s unofficial anthem is Sussex by the Sea. The county’s motto, “We wun’t be druv”, reflects the strong-willed nature of its people in past centuries. Sussex’s crest shows six martlets, each of which represents one of the six ancient rapes or sub-divisions of the county.

Source: wikipedia.org