rn on Sunday can neither be hanged nor
drowned.

[Sidenote: "CLIMPING FOR PERFECTION"]

West of Littlehampton is an architectural treasure, in the shape of
Climping church, which no one should miss. The way is over the ferry and
along the road to the first signboard, when one strikes northward
towards Ford, and comes suddenly upon this squat and solid fane. A Saxon
church stood here, built by the Prioress of Leominster, before the
Conquest: to Roger de Montgomerie was the manor given by the Conqueror,
as part of the earldom of Arundel and Chichester, together with
Atherington manor, much of which is now, like Selsey's park, under the
Channel. De Montgomerie gave Climping manor to the nuns of Almanesches,
by whom the present Norman fortress-tower (with walls 4-1/4 feet thick)
was added, and in 1253 John de Climping, the vicar, rebuilt the
remainder. The church is thus six and a half centuries old, and parts of
it are older. "Bosham, for antiquity; Boxgrove, for beauty; and
Climping, for perfection" is the dictum of an antiquary quoted by the
present vicar in a little pamphlet-history of his parish. As regards the
Norman doorway, at any rate, he is right: there is nothing in Sussex to
excel that; while in general architectural attraction the building is of
the richest. It is also a curiously homely and ingratiating church.

One of the new windows, representing St. Paul, has a peculiar interest,
as the vicar tells us:--"St. Paul was a prisoner at Rome shortly after
Caractacus, the British Chief, whose daughter, Claudia, married Pudens,
both friends of the Apostle (2 Tim. iv. 21). Pudens afterwards commanded
the Roman soldiers stationed at Regnum (Chichester), and if St. Paul
came to Britain, at Claudia's request (as ancient writers testify), he
certainly would visit Sussex. How close this brings us here in Sussex to
the Bible story!"

At Baylies Court, now a farmhouse, the Benedictine monks of Seez, also
proteges of Robert de Montgomerie, had their chapel, remains of which
are still to be seen.

Climping, which otherwise lives its own life, is the resort of golfers
(who to the vicar's regret play all Sunday and turn Easter Day into "a
Heathen Festival") and of the sportsmen of the Sussex Coursing Club, who
find that the terrified Climping hare gives satisfaction beyond most in
the county.

Of Ford, north of Climping, there is nothing to say, except that popular
rumour has it that its minute and uninteresting church