Link to Shoreham-by-sea Homepage



 
 
 
 
 
ELECTRONIC 
NEWS BULLETIN
FOR THE
ADUR VALLEY

 
 

 News & Events
 Wildlife Reports
 Words of the Week
 Historical Snippet
 Advertisements
If you wish to receive this Bulletin, please ask by EMail, specifying the Adur Torpedo with your full name.
 Glaucus@hotmail.com
 Web Sites (Local)
 Poem
 Computer Tips
 Games & Leisure
 Web Sites (****)
 Events
 Adur "World Oceans Day"
 SLIDE SHOW  2000
 Wildlife Web Sites
 

 
 
 
 
 
LOCAL
ORGANISATIONS

 
 
 
ADUR CANOE CLUB
ALCHEMIST
BRITISH MARINE LIFE STUDY
SOCIETY
FRIENDS OF LANCING RING
MARLIPINS MUSEUM
SHOREHAM AIRPORT SOCIETY
SHOREHAM LIFEBOAT STATION
SHOREHAM ROWING CLUB
SHOREHAM SAILING CLUB
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
SUSSEX JAPAN SOCIETY
SUSSEX WILDLIFE WEB SITES
SUSSEX YACHT CLUB
WSCC LIBRARY 

 
 
LOCAL RESIDENTS PAGE

 
 
 
PREVIOUS ISSUES

 
 
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
 11
12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
20
 21
 22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
 32
 33
 34
 35
 36
 37
 38
39
 40
 41
 42
43
 44
 45
 46
 47
 48
 49
 50
51
 52
 53
 54
 55  56  57
 58
59
60
 61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
 70
 
This is the first published Electronic Newspaper for 
Shoreham-by-Sea and the Adur Valley & District, West Sussex, England
     28 May 2001: Volume 3  Issue 17
Local News
THE ROYAL ESCAPE 
(350th Anniversary)

2001 is the 350th anniversary of the Royal Escape by King Charles II on 15 October 1651 (Modern Calendar) from Shoreham. There is an Exhibition at the Marlipins to celebrate the event.

After the Battle of Worcester (3 September), Charles II had to flee from the Cromwellian forces. He eventually made his way to Bramber were he had to cross the substantial bridge over the River Adur. The route, now called Monarch's Way runs over the downs via Thundersbarrow, Whitelot Bottom and Southwick Hill  (although Colonel Gunter's account said they proceeded by the Shoreham road to Brighton).  The story then says he ventured to Brighthelmstone (Brighton) where he met the skipper of the Surprise, Tattersall, in a pub called the George. The King and Tattersall and crew boarded the brig "Surprise" which departed from Shoreham (15 October) for Fécamp in France when the tide was right.

Royal Escape (SussexPast messages, selected)
Occam's Razor applied (Accounts of the Escape)
Royal Escape Team
Royal Escape (Notes)
Charles II Messages on Sussex Past (unedited search)

Conjectural Map of the River Adur course in later medieval times (Link)

I did get a quick look in at the King Charles II Exhibition at the Marlipins Museum, Shoreham-by-Sea on 25 May 2001. Quick, because I wanted to take advantage of what may have been the last fine weather 

There is at least 30 minutes worth of looking and the exhibition contains much more information and is better than I expected. More in the next Adur Torpedo. 
 

Oak Apple Day
Watch out you Republicans !

29th  May

The wearing of a sprig of oak on the anniversary of Charlie's crowning (1660) showed that a person was loyal to the restored king. Those who refused to wear an oak-sprig were often set upon, and children would challenge others to show their sprig or have their bottoms pinched. Consequently, this day became known as Pinch-Bum-Day. In parts of England where oak-apples are known as shick-shacks, the day is also known as Shick-Shack Day. It is also likely that the royal association conceals a pagan tradition of tree worship.
 

The 25th Royal Escape Race from Brighton started this year on 25 May 2001. 

Royal Escape 1651

The precise departure point is a matter of some conjecture. The Surprise was moored in a creake (creek) and the two most likely possibilities are Copperas Gap (now part of Southwick in the dip between Fishersgate and Portslade) and Silver Sands (now part of Shoreham) but this is only my opinion. Copperas Gap might be the favourite because the Colonel Gounter narrative did not mention Shoreham, only the King Charles II account mentioned Shoreham as the actual port of departure.
If you favour the King's account, Silver Sands is the better choice. The entrance of Shoreham Harbour in 1671 was about there (arguable ?) (The English Pilot 1671). 

South Downs National Park : Proposed Area
http://www.countryside.gov.uk/reception/papers/Areaofsearchmap.jpg

Click on the URL for the complete map


The footpaths to Lancing Ring are now open.

West Sussex County Council announce most paths are now open, unless they are inhabited or used by farm livestock, or farm animals are nearby. 

The cycle path from Old Shoreham is officially open.
 
 
Most Public Paths

NOW OPEN

Unless a path displays this notice (red with white writing):
You are welcome to use any public path if you:
 

Stay on the path and leave gates exactly as you find them.
Respect red "no entry" notices. 
Don’t go near sheep, cows, goats, pigs, or deer. 
Don’t go into any field if you can’t easily avoid those animals. 
If you do come across them walk slowly away, retracing your steps if necessary. 
Don’t leave waste food or litter anywhere and don’t feed ANY animal. 
Keep dogs on short leads at all times and off all land where livestock are present. 
Use disinfectant where provided.
Clean your boots after each walk.

Weather Forecast

Please send any comments to: Andy Horton
Glaucus@hotmail.com

Wildlife Reports

24 May 2001
A large (slightly larger than a goose egg) greenish speckled egg rolled down Ham Road outside the Morning Star Public House. I suspect that this was broken egg belonged to one of two pairs of Herring Gulls reported as trying to breed on the the large flat roof of the nearby Adur Civic Centre.

Report by Andy Horton with the breeding information from Tim
UK Birding Discussion Forum

24 May 2001
The sea off Sussex and probably all along the eastern English Channel is exceptionally clouded with plankton forming long strings in places. This is the species Phaeocystis pouchetti known colloquially as Slobweed and other names.
British Marine Life Study Society News 2001

23 May 2001
A particularly beautiful damselfly caught my eye as it settled on Southwick beach promenade wall next to the timber yard. It had a particularly brilliant metallic emerald green head and thorax and an elegant metallic light blue abdomen. There did not seem to be any distinctive markings on the delicate wings. It may be a female Ischnura elegans known as the Blue-tailed Damselfly. However this identification is by no means confirmed.
UK Dragonflies Discussion Group

21 May 2001
The ctenophore (comb-jelly) Sea Gooseberry, Pleuribrachia pileus, is both ubiquitous and superabundant pelagically in the NE Atlantic Ocean, but on the low springs (0.4 metre) at Kingston beach in the early evening was only the second time that I have actually discovered this animal that appears as transparent globules in the prawn net. In a miniature aquarium, the two long tentacles tangle underneath and the swimming combs of this tiny ovoid predator appear to shimmer. At night it is phosphorescent. 
Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Group

20 May 2001
For my first sighting this year of Orange Tip Butterfly but had to go to Sussex Wildlife Trust HQ at Woods Mill, Small Dole, Sussex.

Report by Ray Hamblett


18 May 2001
Taking advantage of the newly re-opened cycleway from Old Shoreham to Beeding, the adjacent towpath was covered in a fine mat of grass. A Kingfisher flew straight as a dart with something large and white in its beak, and a Peacock Butterfly settled on the grasses, notable as my personal first note of this butterfly on these notes. Other butterflies fluttered amongst the nettles. 
In the field opposite the Cement Works, on the western side of the Adur including the towpath, both cows and sheep grazed. 

Lancing Nature & History - May 2001 Newsletter 
(Link to the web site by Ray Hamblett)

    Words of the Week

    clunch

    Quote for the purposes of review:

    Building with Chalk

    It has been noted that 'Chalk (except for a few special varieties), cannot be successfully used in building unless it is studied and codified, its weaknesses understood and guarded against'. Chalk indeed was usually too soft and lacking in durability to be suitable for building, at least for exteriors, in contrast to the Oolitic' limestone of the Cotswolds, for example, which provides the finest of building stones. There are, however, some more compact beds of chalk at the base of the northern escarpment which contain tiny fragments of shells and other impurities which produce a more gritty texture. This is called 'clunch', a word evocatively conveying a sense of its soft, yet dense and resistant quality. Clunch is hardest in
    the Western and the East Hampshire Downs and was widely used for the exterior walls of farmhouses, cottages and barns in the Meon valley and eastwards along the northern escarpment towards Duncton as at Cocking, EIsted and Harting. On account of its inability to resist rainwater, clunch had to be protected by wide eaves from rain-bearing winds, and by a foundation course to keep it clear of the ground, generally a footing of sarsen stone. To a lesser extent it was used near Lewes, as in barns at Hamsey. Several church interiors are modelled in clunch, including Burpham in the Arun valley.

    Local builders have now forgotten how to select or handle chalk, and no longer trouble to use it, although there was a local saying, 'Find Chalk a good hat and shoe and it will serve You well".

    Excerpted from "South Downs" by Peter Brandon (of Shoreham).
    page 27
    (Philimore 1998)
    ISBN  1 86077 069 X

    Clunch is a hard chalk used as a building stone - see Coombes Church and many other similar old buildings.

    We usually think of Chalk as a 'soft' material, but it is very variable in colour, composition etc.

    Martin Snow

    What is clunch ? (Link)
     

    Archaeology in Sussex to AD 1500

    Computer Tips
    Poem of the Week

    As Bob Dylan has turned 60, I thought I would dredge up something from the mid  1960s. 

    Disillusioned words like bullets bark
    As human gods aim for their mark
    Made everything from toy guns that spark
    To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
    It's easy to see without looking too far
    That not much
    Is really sacred.

    It's alright, Ma, I'm only Bleeding (extract)

  •  Sussex Web Sites 
    Historical Snippets
     

    HISTORY OF ADUR QUIZ   ANSWERS

    1) In which year did King Charles II escape from Shoreham ?
    1651 (Link)
    2) What King landed at Shoreham in 1199 and went on went on to be crowned King of England ?
    John
    3) In which European city is there a bridge with a similar design to the old Norfolk Chain bridge ?
    Budapest
    4) Which seaman sailed with Captain Cook and witnessed his death in Hawaii, and eventually became a ship's Captain himself ?
    Captain Henry Roberts
    5) What is the name of the church with a Rhenish Saxon tower in Sompting?
    The Church of St. Mary in Sompting is the most striking examples of Anglo-Saxon architecture in all of England. Its primary distinguishing feature is the Rhenish Helm or Rhineland Helmet of the tower. This is the only known Anglo-Saxon example of this style. The Saxon timbers can still be found inside the relatively low spire. The tower also contains Roman bricks. (Link)
    6) In what century was the original bridge over the Adur at Old Shoreham built ?
    1781 (18th century)  (Link)
    7) In which town or village or parish in Adur was a Roman villa discovered ?
    Southwick
    8) What was the former name of the Marlipins Inn ?
    Ship
    9) What use was previously put to Lancing Industrial Estate (Commerce Way) south of the railway station ?
    Lancing Carriage Works
    10) In which century was the Old Fort on Shoreham beach built ? 
    19th century 
    1857  The Old Fort on the Shoreham Beach side of the Shoreham Harbour entrance is completed. It was inhabited until 1920.
     

    Brief History of Shoreham-by-Sea

    Sussex Archaeological Society
    http://www.sussexpast.co.uk

    SUSSEX PAST
     


    Sussex Archaeological Society
    http://www.sussexpast.co.uk

    SUSSEX PAST
    Sussex Archaeological Society  EGroup

    Flintman on Flint (Link)

    Sussex History Discussion Group

    Brief History of Shoreham-by-Sea
     


    Events

    28 May 2001
    VINTAGE CAR RALLY (Afternoon) AND FUN FAIR (Afternoon and Evening)
    Buckingham Park, Shoreham-by-Sea

 

18 April 2001
Adur Festival Programme

The Adur Festival programme has been delivered to Adur residents and is available at the Civic Centre with lots of exciting events, including World Oceans Day, Glastonwick, Beach Dreams, Escape of King Charles II, Marlipins Museum Exhibitions,  Music Workshops and Performances including Richard Durant, John Renbourne, The Hofners, Harry Strutters, as well as Adult Education, Art  Exhibitions and Talks, Special Religious Services, Comedies and much more.

 
 

Adur World Oceans Day 2001

Please express any interest before 30 April 2001:
Andy Horton (British Marine Life Study Society)
Glaucus@hotmail.com
or
Natalie Brahma-Pearl (Adur District Council)
natalie.brahma-pearl@adur.gov.uk

Adur World Oceans Day 2001 web page

AWOD Marquee Floor Plan

BIODIVERSITY DISPLAY
at Adur Civic Centre 
Ham Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.

Monday 4 June 2001 to 15 June 2001 weekdays.

If you wish to contribute please contact:

The first contact is:
Andy Horton   Glaucus@hotmail.com
Tel: 01273 465433
I will need details of your exhibits, so the preferred method of the first communication is by EMail with full details.

Further Details (link)

 
    Free Advertisements
    SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY

    For any company or organisation wanting nationwide green publicity, there is an opportunity to sponsor the journal "Glaucus" of the British Marine Life Study Society.

    There remains sponsorship opportunities on the BMLSS (England) web site and other publications, including Torpedo.

    Sponsorship is also available for the Adur Torpedo Electronic News Bulletin and the Shoreham-by-Sea web pages (which preceded the Adur Resource Centre web site), which would be more suitable for a local firm(s).

    Web Site Design Services are available from Hulkesmouth Publishing

    Normal advertisement rules apply.
    Submissions accepted by EMail only.

    EMail: Glaucus@hotmail.com

    Adur Torpedo was written, designed and distributed by Andy Horton.
     
     

Compiled on Netscape Composer 4.7