- Location
Nestling under the northern flank of the South Downs and happily missed by most traffic up a little side road off the B2139 between Storrington and Bury Hill lies Amberley.
Amberley has all the ingredients of a picturebook village: thatched cottages, flint and
half timbered dwellings, well-tended gardens, the River Arun flowing gently through water-meadows, a castle, and a church. The lane past the church becomes a footpath to Amberley Wildfowl Brooks. These are protected wildfowl habitats.
St. Michael's church dates from about 1100 and has a Norman chancel arch. In the church is a fine 15th Century brass of John Wantele. The castle, initially built in the Norman period became one of three manor houses owned by the Bishops of Chichester, in the Middle Ages. The Parliamentarians dismantled it during the Civil War. Back on the 'main' road towards the river, next to Amberley Station is found the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum. Housed in an old chalk pit and lime works that plied its trade for roughly 100 years until the 1960's. In the 19th century, Amberley was a major centre for the production of lime, and smoke spewed out from the kilns in the chalk hillside. . This is an open-air museum of industrial archaeology and spreads over about 36 acres. The whole process of lime production is covered and around the site a blacksmith, potter, printer and boat builder work with traditional tools. Amberley Museum, situated
in a huge chalk quarry, brings local industries and crafts to life with vintage machinery and transport. Railway exhibition, quarrymen coaches, bus rides.... there's a lot here |
