Chanctonbury Ring: the story of a Sussex landmark

Dr Janet Pennington SpeakerNet Sponsor


Regions:
West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Kent
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Professional
Fee:
Paid: £75-£125
Category:
History
Updated:
6th March 2021

Chanctonbury Ring on the South Downs has been an iconic landmark for Sussex inhabitants and visitors for over two hundred years. However, the ring of trees, most of which were destroyed by the great storm of 1987 and replanted in 1990, covers another ring, the c.750 BC (Late Bronze Age) earthwork, or hillfort. This earlier Ring, which contains the remains of a Romano-Celtic and Romano-British temple complex, has a very special atmosphere that draws people to it. Set within a much older landscape, it also attrated the 16-year-old Charles Goring of Wiston House, who planted his beeches and other trees around the perimeter in 1760. This richly illustrated talk reveals the history of the area, a murder on the hill in 1330, the tree species involved over the centuries and a spate of literary outpourings about Chanctonbury Ring by 19th and 20thC novelists, poets and travel writers. See www.sussexhistorytalks.co.uk

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About Dr Janet Pennington

I am an independent historian, giving illustrated talks in Sussex (sometimes nipping into Surrey and Kent) for 35 years. I have a PhD in early-modern Sussex inn and tavern history and give more general talks about the history of English inn signs as well as those in Sussex. I am at present looking at the art of the inn sign. My MA dissertation is about Elizabethan courtier (or con-man!) Sir Thomas Sherley of Wiston House (West Sussex). I worked as Archivist at Lancing College, also teaching local history and palaeography in adult education at the University of Sussex. I am President of the Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society. I am a member of the Wealden Buildings Study Group, and am particularly interested in the ritual protection of the home. I hold a Diploma in English Local History and speak on a variety of subjects connected with Sussex and the South-East, some covering other parts of England - see the variety of talks listed on my website - www.sussexhistorytalks.co.uk - I have given many talks using ZOOM and can also host sessions. Due to my interest in and knowledge of inns, taverns and alehouses and all manner of drinking establishments in England, I have been in more pubs than most people - mainly for research purposes...


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