Many famous people have been inspired by the county of Sussex. Here are just a few:
J M Barrie – Playwright and author
Spent magical holidays with Arthur and Sylvia Llewellyn Davies and their five sons at Cudlow House in Rustington. The sons were a crucial influence in the creation of Peter Pan – Barrie created Peter ‘by rubbing the five of you violently together, as savages with two sticks produce a flame’. One of the boys was photographed by Barrie in the garden of Cudlow House, and this was the original inspiration for the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, London.
Jane Austin – Novelist
Her unfinished novel Sanditon, (1817) may have been based on London hatter Sir Richard Hotham’s Bognor. Scholars who have studied the books of Jane Austen, many of which have now been made into blockbuster films, have noticed marked similarities between Sanditon and the Bognor guides of 1807 and 1814.
George Eliot - Novelist
Her real name was Mary Ann, or Marian, Evans and she visited Littlehampton in 1861. She started writing Romola (1863) there.
Eleanor Farjeon - Poet and short story writer
Wrote A Sussex Alphabet (1939), which was printed by James Guthrie in Flansham, near Felpham. Also set books in the Adur Valley.
Alfred Lord Tennyson – Author and poet
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote some of his most famous works in West Sussex. Namely ‘Becket’, in which he wrote;
“Better have been a fisherman at Bosham, my good Herbert: Thy birthplace; the sea creek; the pretty rill that falls into it; the green field; the gray church; the simple lobster-basket and the mesh; the more or less of daily labour done”. Herbert of Bosham was secretary to Thomas à Becket.
William Blake, poet, artist, engraver and mystic
Lived in Felpham, in what is now known as Blake’s Cottage, for three years. Wrote most of Milton there, which includes the famous lines ‘England’s green and pleasant land’, which he was inspired to write after gazing at the South Downs, possibly from the Earl of March pub in Lavant. His verse to Mrs Anna Flaxman includes the lines, ‘Away to sweet Felpham, for Heaven is there’. He also wrote: “Chichester is a very handsome city, Sussex is certainly a happy place and Felpham in particular the sweetest spot on earth”. Blake’s poem ‘Jerusalem’ was inspired by the South Downs.
Eric Coates – Composer
From 1922 to 1952 lived at various homes in Selsey and Sidlesham. From 1952, until his death in 1957, he lived in Aldwick. The views across the bay towards Bognor Regis, from the Sidlesham end of East Beach, Selsey, inspired ‘By The Sleepy Lagoon’, which became the signature tune of BBC’s Desert Island Discs. He also wrote the Dambusters’ March.
Hilaire Belloc – Writer and historian
“If I ever become a rich man,
Or if ever I grow to be old,
I will build a house with deep thatch
To shelter me from the cold,
And there shall the Sussex songs be sung
And the story of Sussex told.”
This influential author spent much of his life in West Sussex. The young Belloc lived in Slindon, and then moved with his wife and family to Shipley, near Horsham, buying an ancient house called King’s Land, together with the adjacent windmill and land. He lived there for 47 years, until his death in 1953, regarding the area as the perfect rural retreat.
He spent a lot of time walking in the area, and had a deep love and life-long fascination with the West Sussex countryside, both Downs and Weald. It influenced some of his best writings, particularly the poems ‘The South Country’ and ‘Halnaker Mill’ and ‘The Four Men’, a rambling description of a walk through Sussex.
William Cobbett – Journalist and political writer
Visited West Sussex between 1821 and 1825 and his book Rural Rides includes reference to many West Sussex towns and villages including Crawley, Worth and Billingshurst. He was impressed by the productivity of the farms and the beauty of South Downs villages.
John Constable - Painter
Painted a harbour scene at Littlehampton and Petworth House from the Park. Arundel Mill was his last work. Other paintings inspired by West Sussex scenes include sketches of Findon, Cowdray and Littlehampton and an evening scene looking west over Shoreham.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Novelist
Holds the peculiar distinction of playing cricket both for and against Littlehampton! His novel ‘Rodney Stone’ is set in the world of 19th century prize-fighting, and much of the action takes place at the George Inn, Crawley. The nearby Crawley Down and Copthorne Common were the scene of numerous marathon bareknuckle bouts at this time. A number of other Sherlock Holmes stories have West Sussex settings too. Holmes’ only failure took place in Horsham in ‘The Five Orange Pips’, and ‘The Musgrave Ritual’ features Hurlstone Manor, thought to be based on Barton Manor at Nyetimber.
James Joyce - Novelist
Worked on the early stages of ‘Finnegans Wake’ in Bognor Regis. He was intrigued by local family and place names. He used an old Sidlesham family name for the central character of the book, the Dublin tavern-keeper H C Earwicker. He also turned the place name into a verb: sidleshomed.
John Keats - Poet
Inspired by the medieval atmosphere of historic Chichester, he started to write ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ at 11 Eastgate Square (then Hornet Square).
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