A short but strenuous walk up the steep hollow green lane called The Creek with its chalk scour path polished like ice beneath the feet.
Or zig-zag up through the deep wooded slope of Catherington Lith where the houses are studded between woodland of yew, beach, oak, hazel and holly and the inevitable and crushing weight of ash die-back. These diseased trees are on borrowed time - already marked up for felling in the coming months - their proximity to houses and footpaths condemning them to a quicker death. I wonder / wander how our woodlands will feel with a poverty of ash within them?
On through the horse paddocks with close cropped turf and deep wet poaching under nail shod hooves.
All Saints Church is 12th Century in origin - though much restored in the 19th Century. The red brick tower boasts six bells, whose joyful chimes can be heard on church days and practice days ringing out across the downs and dry valleys.
The church holds within it a much restored (?) medieval mural, and an ancient cross (broken) which was found during external works in the late 1800's.
This space has become for me a place of quiet contemplation and meditation. It's proportions seem just so, and I am more than comfortable to spend some time at peace here.
Outside in the churchyard are three examples of "Momento Mori" gravestones - all dating from the 18th Century. When I first saw them - I asked a passing local - about their significance - and was cheerfully told that "pirates lie beneath those skull and cross bones!". A wishful thinking perhaps? But one which instantly appealed to the child inside of me.
References
Author unknown (Date unknown)
Welcome to All Saints' Church Catherington a church leaflet
Author unknown (2005) a church notice
Catherington Village Residents Association (2018) [Online]
Around Catherington Accessed 21st December 2019
