The Sussex Border Walk - Part Fourteen: From Elmer to Middleton
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- I am continuing my Sussex Border Walk. I left Climping and Atherington and have headed west across to Elmer and Middleton-on-Sea, where the sea bashes the coastline. The story of erosion continues, and the history of the people and their communities are once again lost to the sea's encroachment.
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A great video. Thankyou Richard
Thank you
Amazing place.
Thanks
Brilliant episode with some very interesting history within 👍
Thanks, Ricky
Absolutely fascinating Richard. Thanks for this. What a shame that I have only recently discovered your channel.
Glad you enjoyed it
I love these videos richard 👍🤘
Thanks so much.
Another wonderful video full of facts and morbid history, thanks Richard. Regards, Jonathan :)
My pleasure!
Yep there are a lot of private estates along that bit of coast with some quite assertive notices (I've cycled along where I'm allowed!) but to be fair they do keep the coastline public routes impeccable for all to enjoy so happy to respect that
I wonder if that is part of the agreement they have with the council.
Oohh, that sea IS close there isn’t it! Another great video, thank you!
I shocked me how close it was to the houses.
Richard, the power of nature reminds, or should remind us, that we can only avoid the real world so much. In the closing shot, the washing of the waves was a very appropriate ending to a sad story.
I know - we think we are in control of nature, but it really is in control of us.
So interesting. I used to come to Middleton on Sea back in the late 90's. Even swam in the sea around the unique rock defenses.
I bet that was fun.
@@RichardVobes It was. Now I'm along the Sussex coast at Winchelsea Beach. Just as good to swim!
I've wondered how the Elmer name came about, it always reminds me of the patchwork elephant! I know what you mean about the private estates, I've gone through some on my cycling travels and even once looked at a potential house for sale - but it all seemed a bit like a scene off of XFiles (esp at night time), you feel you are being watched by invisible force, lol!
I think holiday homes initially - gypsy caravans/old railway wagons, then upgraded.
There are a lot more private estates on both sides of Bognor to come. I remember clay cliffs with Tamarisk trees which got eroded and replaced at Felpham with a seawall and promenade in the sixties. At first, part of the promenade was fenced off, because home owners claimed it was their land. After a number of years they did get removed. If they hadn't built the sea wall they would not now have any back gardens.
I may have to avoid the private estate. Too smug for me.
@@RichardVobes You really have got a chip on your shoulder. I can put you in contact with people from Elmer Sands so you can be educated.
Interesting how the place names are associated with the eel which has a fascinating life cycle which is worth reading about if you are unfamiliar. They would have been a welcome suppliment to people's diet at one time . when the young elvers the size of shoe laces were caught annually in great numbers when they ascended the streams , rivers , ditches and even crossed overland
We always thought the eel a nuisance when fishing as every piece of water in the land seemed infested with them as the evening approached and they would make a right pig's ear of your line with slime and tangle it up , but we watched fascinated as we released them away from the water, they instinctively knew which way the water was and would slither towards it and disappear . In recent years , they have become an interesting novelty , sadly it's not common to catch one, and no one seems to know why .
Thanks for that Rik - a fisherman's perspective.
Great story about the receding coastline! Puts a new perspective on the current fears about global warming and sea level rise. I wonder if some human activity a few centuries ago (or the start of the Industrial Revolution?) hastened this local problem?
It's been happening for ever, well before the Industrial Revolution.
ON THE BORDER (verse 17 of ???)
To search the windy byways
like some latter day Defoe
First Elmer before Middleton
then Felpham him to go
Cold leafy Sussex places
bathed in salty Solent air
All bide their time through leafless days
for springtime to prepare JB20
Your poetry must fly from your pen, John.
It might seem that way Richard but I employ a couple of good ghost writers !!! Please don't tell anyone.
Great poetry
@@lesleymetthews4590 Ah so kind, thank you. J
I love to walk on the beach when it is wild, probably not so good trying to film though.
Anyway, loved the vid as always 👍
I do enjoy walking when nature is against you - a headache though trying to film it accurately.
Thanks for visiting Elmer Richard as my mother in law moved there many years ago and your right about the residents associations of the many private estates being a little unfriendly to outsiders, it wasnt always like that but in recent years the "new money" moving into these estates IMHO has somehow changed the atmosphere there as it always used to be a lot friendlier there.
Sadly my MIL passed away earlier this year so my wife and I have spent a lot of time there this year sorting out her house and effects, not a nice job as you must well know but one that has to be done, the family have been very lucky however as Vera's house has been bought by a young couple who are family friends who have along with their parents and grandparents have lived in Elmer for many years, so we will still have an attachment to Elmer where we have so many happy memories.
There was a definite change in atmosphere there that I didn't get from Rustington or even East Preston.
@@RichardVobes You should have made the effort to speak to Elmer Sands residents.
Really interesting and a joy to see it in its winter glory! It is sad there are houses but is that better or worse than a promenade and blocks of flats?
Worse. (You did ask)
No offence at ALL, but they're welcome to their private estate. I spent most of my 20's living and working on a private farming estate, that NOW (at 30), I much prefer the city vibe. I like a NISA on every street corner, I enjoy my chats with the homeless folk, and I love the sounds of trains rumbling above my head. (Makes me feel complete somehow). I'm looking to move back to London as SOON as humanly possible.
Good luck
ON THE BORDER (verse 16 of ???)
The sea in all magnificence
crashes white on shingle shore
As breaker after breaker
amplify the ocean's roar
Banking low on salty breeze
through rising rainbow spray
Ever present wheeling gull
this fleeting winter day JB20
Wonderfully evocative, John.
The sea is a very inspiring subject whatever it is doing and even when it seems to be doing nothing it is doing something.
@@arriesone1 That really is so kind and a good spur. This Sussex Border
Poem runs to 140 verses approx and all inspired by none other than the good Explorer himself !
@@arriesone1 Many of the border stages feature more than 1 verse. Good luck !
A different kind of walk today Richard, but just as illuminating. Erosion and coastal development have had a profound effect on both our southern and eastern shores, and your film today was a sobering reminder of how the power of nature metaphorically, has the last word over human endeavour. You couldn't have picked a better day to illustrate this point. As an afterthought, was Elmer at anytime 'Eel's mere' ?.
Yes, I think that must be where the name came from, the eel pool - hence mere.
The sea erosion quite frightening but fascinating . Beautiful filming . Breezy enjoyable walk. Can't get over the amount of private estates down there on your walks. Ps.found, your bread recipes. Will try them. Thank you again. Brilliant vlog.
I could happily have skirted the private estates if the sea had been just a smidge further out. :)
Hello Richard. I abhor those self-imposed 'gated communities'- what an oxymoron if ever there was one, the last thing they promote is a community. There may be decent folk living there but I sense a kind of pretentiousness which comes from the farce of masquerading as the Squire of the village.
The area is very beautiful and still remains rural and charming, however.
I do agree with you. Perhaps the people there don't care or don't realise that is how it can be perceived.
@@RichardVobes Absolutely inaccurate, particularly in reference to the Elmer Sands estate.
You have educated me today, I knew there was serious coastal erosion in the east of England. - awful images of homes tumbling into the sea but I hadn’t realised how badly the coast of Sussex is affected. In another 300 years, those jealously guarded houses will be the playground of fishes!
Me too Audrey - but 300 years? more like 30 I think by the look of that sea!!
I will have to visit in 30 years and see what has happened there.
Hi Richard...I've written before..but you have yet to respond so dunno if you see my posts...I am a musician (My channel has 18.5k subs) and wrote two instrumental albums in the 80s...as a duo called England Under Snow...you might like to use the music as incidental music...free...and I have the copyright (would need to check with my co-writer) but I guess I'm thinking out loud...
Danny
Makes me laugh. Those private estates. Nearly all the through traffic. Builders doing extension work, gardeners, paving companies and pharmaceutical delivery vans. :)
I hated it, I have to say - I am sure the people are lovely, but there was a horrid atmosphere of smugness.
I have some friends that live in Wiston. They love the beauty of the area, and wildlife, but hate the snobbery and living with 100 alphas who think they are better than everybody else! 🤭
No through traffic on most of the private bits Martin...most of those areas are, (quite literally!), dead-ends...but so far as I'm concerned as long as they support local shops and businesses, they're welcome to live out the rest of their days alone behind the fences with all their woes...
@@RichardVobes Lovely? People are people. So we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done? Depeche Mode.
@@RichardVobes that so funny I lived here when I was young and I try and explain to people that it was not a good placefor a teenager but the atmosphere I think is due to it being a dead end, which no-one visits apart from to walk a dog or if your relative lives there. No-one passes through. It is out on a limb.
The Elmer sands estate never used to be posh, even in the 1980s it was just mainly small holiday chalet style bungalows that have been modernised and extended or knocked down and rebuilt.
I would love to have seen the earlier Elmer Sands I must confess.
Yes, this is not a posh estate at all it is only recently people have been buying up the old shacks and doing them up and pretending it is something it is not! It just has a sad atmosphere because of its situation that no-one passes through.
@@RichardVobes Some of your quotes: "Very exclusive housing", "very, very posh" - you should walk the whole area before making such inaccurate statements. "Busy mess of new builds", "rather cluttered area" - even if that was true, this is the UK! "All to gated and I don't like that" - there were precisely zero gated properties on your film when you made this statement.
Ha i always find that estate oppressive too! So many signs threatening fines, seems like a place for stuffy folk and busybodies.
How much more developments can Sussex withstand...? Very interesting though, as always.
Good question!
I could sit and watch a video of the sea and be happy. It does seem to be a rather weird place. Fascinating about the church being inundated. I am guessing that the rocks in the earlier part of the video are imported to bolster the sea defence.
It will be interesting to see how well the sea defence works in 50 years time.
That was interesting for me as my dad lives at Middleton on Sea. Didnt see his road though...thats awful about the original church!
Great bit of filming Richard, I could almost feel the spray on my face as I watched, and an amazing story of the church and graves being washed away by the encroaching sea! Thank you.
So pleased you enjoyed it.
Good to see you back on the trail Richard...For a moment I didn't think you would today!
I forgot to set the schedule last night - but luckily I spotted it this morning. :)
@@RichardVobes Well thank God for that Richard ! I would also hate to live in that gated community. Very oppressive. You never see anyone either. What do they all do I wonder...Have a lovely day from France.
@@AnonyMous-zy4wu Do they indeed!
That was invigorating, both to watch and for you to make! Give it another 50 years tops and the sea will clear many of those houses away.
And the "lovely" people in them! Wonderful...I remember living on the north coast of Kent in 1953 when we were the lovely people who nearly had to leave home in a hurry with the terrible flooding from the North Sea. I was just a wee laddie! But we survived and were cut off from the outside world for many weeks. Food was brought in by the Army.
Where I live there are two beaches close by, one is the usual rocky beach, with bigger, rounded off rocks then yours, and the other is a beach made with brought in sand. Rocky beaches are very noisy, because every wave moves the stones against each other and they cause that crackling sound you hear. The sand beach on the other hand is always quieter, if you listen you can hear the hissing sound made by the tiny grains of sand as they rub against each other. The gated housing communities, may feel safe, but they are cut off from the rest of the community, in time of trouble they are less likely to help them. I've seen this happen before, here and in Florida; when there is a storm the community pitches in to help everyone except the gated communities!
That is very interesting - human nature at work there I think.
What a fasinating vlog Richard. I didn't think that The English Channel was a violent stretch of water, given the close proximity to the European coast, unlike the Atlantic. The thought of your relatives bones being washed up on a beach, quite disturbing.
And the thought it was God doing it, being annoyed at them, must have made it worse.
There's quite a lot of non-private populace in between the private bits Richard, though the Cabin, (where you saw the bus turning), is about the limit - aside the bit beyond the gates (erected to keep them in?) most of the nobs are on strips to the sea-side of the Middleton road...clearly still enough ordinary folk up that end though to support a bus service!
Thanks for that Dave. I hadn't thought about the bus service.
A very interesting video - I hadn’t heard of Elmer before (I keep thinking of Elmer Fudd from looney tunes and bugs bunny!)
It doesn’t look like a very welcoming place although the beach does look stunning even this time of year.
Oh, and that poor family house has been so mangled - what was going on with that roof?
I did love the drama of the sea - although the spray was killing my gimbal and camera lens.
So many private estates - creates a strange feeling I'm sure
I lived in Middleton on sea when I was 5 to 6 years old I remember going to Sunday school in that church it was different then there was a room which I stepped down into from the outside of the church it would have been 1959-1960
Interesting video thanks Richard. Shame the farm has long gone but at least the farmhouse remains. Reminds me about two very old manor houses in Crawley which now sit in the middle of housing estates.
A crying shame.
Hi Richard Thanks for peservering though the windy conditions and the private estates to bring us another QF video which I really enjoyed. I like those little islands off Elmer. However the vibe there is a little repressed and weird to say the least. Very Stepford Wives!!
Still as Charlotte Smith put it: -
Murmuring responses to the dashing surf?
In moody sadness, on the giddy brink,
I did find it an odd place, although I bet in its early seaside life, it was a fun one.
@@RichardVobes I think you will find it's a perfectly fun place to live now. Perhaps you ought to revisit next summer.
Richard.When we ever learn,about coastal erosion it happened in 17th century and we still do it in 21st century it is time to stop
And have think what we are doing t to our coast.from Tom
So interesting to hear about Middleton church . At Nicolas being taken by the sea. We used to holiday in Middleton in the late 70s
Another interesting, informative video. Thank you Richard.
Very welcome
legend has it / old wives tale, that on a low spring tide you can faintly hear the church bells ring from the original st nicholas church!
Great filming on the beach - a wonderful atmosphere with that rough sea and the light. I was interested to see Elmer Sands, I often wondered what it was like round there. Nothing how I imagined though!!
I felt the soul had been striped out of the place.
Excellent film Richard.
I love the shots of the beach and seafront, plus the sound of the waves.
I know exactly what you mean about the unwelcome feeling you get in that area, but I presume that is intensional to keep us visitors away.
I’m impressed by the sea defences that were shown in your film. Obviously West Sussex County Council, and government coastal protection agencies, have spent vast amounts of money trying to protect those expensive properties. Unfortunately they will not be completely safe from rising sea levels. Since 1970, globally, we have discharged 1,700 billion tonnes of CO2 type gases in to the atmosphere and now we are paying the price 🤭
The beach was dramatic, and I enjoyed that part of the walk.
Elmer is not a posh sea estate it was just old railway carriage houses and small chalet bungalows. It is a dead end that is why it has a weird feeling about it as it is out on a limb. The posh sea estates are in Middleton, Aldwick and East Preston.
You're probably feeling the mood. Some people purposely live in gated off from the locals and pay a lot for it. Perhaps they feel safer.
I didn't enjoy making that episode at all. Very oppressive I felt down there.
@@RichardVobes I'm sorry. Some places I have visited I felt a negative and not a positive. Tomorrow will be better. God bless you and your family.
@@RichardVobes Tell me exactly how many gated properties there are in Elmer Sands?
I’m going to go and read up about Middleton, as that was really interesting. I know about the erosion of the cliffs at Beachy Head, south of us but wasn’t aware of erosion in West Sussex.
There is a booklet available produced by Felpham and Middleton local history workshop called 'Swallowed by the Sea' with descriptions and images of the church and its demise.
Imagine what it must be like in a storm! Gulp.
Indeed!
More lovely beaches :) I do find it very annoying when its private roads and you think you shouldnt be there, personally I think we are all the same human beings and everyone should be aloud to go where they want without feeling uncomfortable. Lovely buildings though Richard. Of course there has to be a church haha. It's a lovely church. My gf said you should do a my top 10 Churches video. How close are those houses near the sea ? That is remarkable, I bet when there's a big storm them houses take a hit, could be quite worrying. Good video Richard as ever, enjoying the border walk series. :)
fabulous - thanks, Charlie.
We apparently lived in Middleton. But this was back in “history” during WW2. I can’t even remember it. I can remember living I Bournemouth with fortifications in the sea. That seems to be how it is. I talk to my sisters and we don’t all remember the same things.
It is funny how memory plays those tricks on you.
Very interesting as always 😉👍
Cheers, Damian.
Great video and what an eye opener: had no idea there was coastal erosion in Sussex!
Quite dramatic, eh?
Absolutely loved this … such a shame about the houses being built on the land near the beach , your footage of the beach , sea and waves is stunning I could watch that all day ….😊
Many thanks!
Hi Richard - another excellent episode, looks like it missed being added to the playlists and feels a bit like billy no-mates ;-)
Oh - I better add it to the play list.
Very enjoyable viewing !!
Fascinating and sad all at the same time. I just hate to see the old places disappear. We should preserve whenever possible.
Absolutely right.
Do you think the people who put their whole worldly wealth into a house by the beach would appreciate you making public videos talking about beach erosion and how unfriendly the place is?
And your point is?
@@RichardVobes Costal areas will not appreciate publicity of flood risks especially when associated to specific towns / villages. It's very damaging to suggest this especially since these risks may take 100s of years to come true.
Lovely seaside community! Nice that you can walk or drive thru. Can not blame them for fences and no parking else too many people might cut thru their property to get to the shore. Happens in US too, but there is usually a public walkway here and there to get to the shore. Keeping cut throughs under control helps to control erosion too.
Too clinical for me.
In defence of the signs. these are unadopted roads so residents have to pay for all the upkeep and damage unlike public roads and verges. So if they have people parking on verges they have to pay for the damage which people visiting may not consider.
Oh my! That would be ghastly!!! I just couldn't even imagine - not just the horror - but the pain of those families having to witness that.
It must have been horrid for them - (sorry for the late upload. I thought I had scheduled it but discovered I hadn't. )
@@RichardVobes I figured that's what had happened but knew you would wake up soon to realize it!!!😁👍
I survived the wait!😉😂
Not just erosion but post glacial rebound which means much of England is sinking while Scotland is rising. There is a map of uk on wiki if you look at 'post glacial rebound'. So those places you are documenting now literally have no future and maybe one day your vids will show people what it used to look like :)
Are you still looking to buy land for your own food etc
Yes, when I have the money and the right opportunity arises.
A really wild sea, I'd be a little worried at how close the water gets if I owned one of those houses. Another reason not to! For a VERY short time I lived on a similar development in W. Chiltington. So unfriendly and all to ready to look down their nose at you. I know exactly how you felt
The oppressive smugness ...
@@RichardVobes Unfortunately you created completely the wrong impression that has resulted in Linda Kane's comment. Poor and lazy journalism.
What a cold, unwelcoming place, the moneyed classes are welcome to it.