Selsey

Another hot and clear day on Thursday persuaded me to zoom down to the south coast again, this time to Selsey. It was quite a long way to go mainly to sit by the sea and eat lunch, but doing so is such a pleasure it was worth doing. The coastline curves round to Eastbourne and I and Ms Kittywitch waved at each other via text.

I hadn't known that the town of Selsey is relatively new, having grown up from the late 1800s on the site of a few fishermen's cottages (some of which you can still pick out) to cater for seaside visitors. The church was moved stone by stone to a new location, leaving just the stump of the chancel at the original site, forming the Chapel of St Wilfrid. The chapel has a variety of interesting modern glass, including this window appropriately depicting water birds, and a much-defaced Tudor tomb (that's St George in the angle):

Not far from the chapel is a footpath leading to the nature reserve of Pagham Harbour. Marshland is a kind of landscape which often has a strange, isolated feel even when it's close to civilisation, and this is true of Pagham Harbour, a long-silted-up lagoon which was once of some importance. The alternate stripes of blue water and green reeds, speckled with occasional far-off flurries of birds, were completely unexpected and made me thankful I went along that path on a whim.