Windog Tours (2025)

10/06/2025

A hauntingly beautiful ruin on the border of Kent and Sussex.

Established in 1207, Bayham, a Premonstratensian abbey was created from two floundering monastic sites at Otham and Brockley.Bayham had a gate in each county (which is handy!) and was built from local sandstone. Bayham Abbey was one of the first to suffer during the Dissolution of the monasteries.

The ruins of this atmospheric abbey are haunted by groups of white monks, who chanting and the ringing of bells have been heard on many an occasion. A number of people have also experienced the unmistakable fragrance of incense wafting in the air.... So if you head there for a oicnic, keep yr nose peeled!

24/03/2025

One tale of smuggling in Sussex part 1; Back in the late 18th century there was a deep history of smuggling all through Sussex. Visitors to this stretch of coastline may have difficulty in picturing just how violent the smuggling trade was in the area amid the air of ice cream parlours and piers. However, the area was virtually untouched and relatively isolated in the 17th and 18th, with just small hamlets looking out towards northern France. One of gangs here went by the name of the Jevington crew and they generally used Crowlink to land their contraband goods as well as Birling Gap.

They were led by a James Petit or 'Jevington Jig'. Now Mr Jig tried his hands at many occupations, his regular trade was as Innkeeper at the Jevington Eight Bells, but smuggling came a close second, he also turned his hand to horse stealing and various petty crimes. He did also act as an informer [for which he treachery he nearly paid for his life when chased by a mob in Lewes] and cooperated with customs officers in 1792 in the seizure of to***co.

Mr Jig possibly regarded as collaboration as a last resort: he was if nothing a resourceful cove in avoiding this undesirable option. On one occasion he disguised himself in women’s clothing and rushed out in Hysterics from his own Inn when it was encircled by the authorities – only his heavy boots and sword, which just showed beneath his petticoats, gave the game away!

The Jevington Gang allegedly left their mark on the buildings in the village: it was said that there was once a tunnel linking the Eight bells to Thorpe Cottage: and to the nearby church, tombs in the churchyard were reputedly once used to store contraband. It is rumoured Filching Manor has a subterranean passage heading away from the cellars: and a concealed cupboard in what is now the drawing room. Jevington Rectory also had large cellars that formed a convenient storage spot.

Researching smuggling in Sussex, local crews revelled in nicknames to preserve their anonymity with names such as Flushing Jack, Bulverhythe Tom, Towzer, Old Joll, Toll, The Miller and Yorkshire George.

My personal favourites have to be Nasty Face and Cream Pot Tom…… Although we'll probably never know, I would love to know the story behind Cream Pot Tom's name!!

08/11/2024

Curious and possibly cursed Sussex: In the grounds of Cowdray Park at Midhurst, are the imposing and magnificent Tudor ruins of a grand house once visited by Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. The ruins are Grade I listed.
Cowdray House was owned by a number of influential members of Henry VIII’s court. In 1533, Sir William Fitzwilliam was granted a licence by the King to “empark” 600 acres of nearby land and Cowdray Park as it now is, was born.
Legends about the house and its occupants abound, as you might expect. In 1536, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Sir William was given the nearby Easebourne Priory, whilst his half-brother (who later inherited Cowdray) received Battle Abbey. It is this that is thought to be the source of a curse (by one of the monks from Battle) that foretold destruction at Cowdray by fire and water. But for the time being, the house continued to play its part in our English heritage and amongst other events, the last surviving member of the House of Plantagenet was imprisoned at Cowdray. She was the niece of Richard III. And in later years, Guy Fawkes was employed for a short time as a footman.
Over the following centuries, the grounds and gardens were developed and in particular in the 18th century by the well known Capability Brown. By September 1793, renovations were afoot. Cowdray was going to host the grand wedding of the 8th Viscount Montague to the daughter of the Countess of Guildford. Unfortunately, workmen left a fire burning and most of the house was destroyed, with many of its contents then being looted and stolen. Tragically, the Viscount was drowned a short later time later on holiday in Switzerland. Locals believed this was finally fulfilment of the Curse of Cowdray foretold by the Battle monk so many years before.
So you decide whether cursed or just incredibly unlucky????

04/10/2024

Curious Sussex and celebrating unsung women: How did a Russian Princess come to be buried in an ancient Sussex church in Shoreham on Sea?......May I present Princess Lydia Bariatinsky, she Started life as the daughter of a local police chief in Kiev, Lydia's quest and drive to be an actress took her to Moscow where she became a national star.
During this time she met and married Prince Bariatinsky, the cousin of Tsar Nicholas II.
The marriage shocked elite Imperial circles at the time, partly because of her occupation but also because of an alleged affair with the playwright Anton Chekov. The couple moved to St Petersburg and founded a theatre which became famous for hosting avant-garde work.
The pair also held liberal views at the time - founding a newspaper which was closed down after a year for publishing anti-Tsarist views. They were forced to leave Russia and ended up touring Europe, where Lydia continued to perform and wow audiences.
In 1909 then settled in London and it was then that the Russian Princess first got a taste for Sussex and the South Downs. By then she was a major international star, with her picture appearing in magazines across Europe.
Her notoriety was in part to her performance as the lead in the first theatrical version of Anna Karenina, a show that made a record-breaking run of more than 300 shows until it was cut short by the outbreak of World War One. Lydia was never afraid of using her celebrity for political reasons - and she became a regular campaigner for the suffragette movement.
During this time, she also began to separate from the Prince and the couple divorced in 1911 after the alleged intervention of Rasputin. Lydia loved her homeland and so when war broke out, she began raising money to support some of the injured soldiers on the Eastern front. In 1917, she returned to Russia to work as a volunteer in the relief effort with her then partner (and playwright) John Po***ck. After Russian revolution exploded Lydia and John had to run for their lives to avoid being caught up in the red terror. They made it safely back to England in 1919 and married shortly after.
It was while she was on a trip to the south coast to visit a friend that she died in a rented home in Hove. Her grave is in Old Shoreham in 1921 in the grounds of a church that is named after the patron saint of Russia. Time to celebrate and tell the story of this amazing woman is well overdue……

21/09/2024

Curious, and Kent! St Leonard’s Church Hythe has one the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain and one of only two ossaries in England.

Their latest estimate is a maximum number of 1,200 skulls in the crypt with the total number of individuals represented as 2,000

There is no clear evidence of where the people originated. Studies, of which the earliest was in 1908, have been undertaken by measuring up to 30 different dimensions of each of a group of skulls (a technique known as craniometry). The 1908 study, based on just the ratio of the maximum breadth of a skull to its maximum length, indicated a number were of Italian descent. This could have been a possible link with the Romans in view of the nearby Roman port at Lympne (Portus Lemanis), or with traders visiting Hythe when it was an important medieval trading port.

The more detailed studies in the past five years indicated that some people could have been of Scandinavian descent, and one or two skulls appear to show African origins. It is hoped that more definitive evidence of origin can be obtained by a possible future isotope analysis study. (Info from St Leonards website) ...... Although no one really knows........

29/07/2024

Respectful Sussex. Remberbance comes in many different ways. The Chattri is a memorial built to honour the Indian dead of the First World War. It stands on the Downs near Patcham at the place where Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton war hospitals during 1914-1915 were cremated. It was unveiled on 21st February 1921.

The memorial commemorates 53 men of the Indian Army who died and were cremated at Patcham Down ghat during the First World War.

During the First World War injured Indian soldiers were hospitalised in the Royal Pavilion, Dome and Corn Exchange. The Royal Pavilion was the first Indian hospital to open in Brighton.

The Hindus and Sikhs who died were cremated on the Downs and, in 1921, the Chattri memorial was constructed on the cremation site.

Some 1.5 million Indians served in the Indian Army during World War I and, of those, slightly more than one million deployed to battlefronts spanning Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. At the war's end, India had suffered more than 120,000 total casualties – men killed, wounded, or missing.

09/02/2024

Ancient Sussex
Supported by props and chains, this immense and magnificent yew is thought be approximately 1,600 years old. This exceptional ancient tree possibly a sacred site for our ancient ancestors, it grows at St Mary & St Peter, Wilmington which was built more than 600 years later St Mary and St Peter’s Church was built next to it in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. near the ruins of Wilmington Priory and the ‘Long Man of Wilmington’.

Allegedly a stone sits its base, reportedly Roman and uncovered by the local well digger. The yew has two trunks, originally thought to have been from one tree until it hollowed and split, and has a vast canopy spreading across the churchyard.

Ohhhh, and The distinct spire of these churches are known as 'Sussex Caps'

23/09/2023

Couple of technological wibbly photos there 😳

23/09/2023

Outstanding Sussex: Pevensey Castle. Founded in the 4th century as one of the last of the Roman 'Saxon Shore' forts, Pevensey Castle was also the landing place of William the Conqueror's army in 1066. Later it was pressed back into service as an emergency stronghold in the Second World War. It's got the lot, ghosts, seiges, ancient history, preparation for invasion & in a different landscape to when it was first conceived. Where else you can still see machine gun posts camouflaged into the castle walls!!

Windog Tours

10/06/2025

24/03/2025

08/11/2024

04/10/2024

21/09/2024

29/07/2024

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