Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex
=How to get there.=–Train from Victoria or London Bridge. L.B.
and S.C. Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Billingshurst (3 miles from Thakeham).
=Distance from London.=–44 miles.
=Average Time.=–1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 7s. 2d. 4s. 8d. 3s. 6-1/2d.
Return 11s. 5d. 8s. 2d. 7s. 1d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–None at Thakeham. “King’s Arms"
at Billingshurst.
The little chapel where the great William Penn used to worship when he
lived at the old mansion of Warminghurst is so entirely buried in the
country that one must make careful inquiries in order to find one’s way
to it from Billingshurst. When one reaches the cottage at last, one
finds a gate right across the road, for beyond it the lane gradually
deteriorates to a mere grassy track between hedges. Locally this
Thakeham meeting-house is known as the “Blue Idol,” a name not
altogether explained when one discovers that for a long period the
interior of the chapel had blue-washed walls.
As one may see from the drawing given here, it is an exceedingly quaint
old building, the portion shown being used as a meeting-house, the other
half being a cottage occupied by the family who act as caretakers. The
cream-washed walls are broken up by the richly mellowed half-timber
work, and above is the roof of grey green Horsham slabs splashed over
with bright orange lichen.
Inside there are the very old oaken settles as well as less ancient
ones. The timber framing shows on the walls and roof, here, as on the
exterior, and the general quaintness of the place is enhanced by the old
stone-flagged floor. Of William Penn’s house at Warminghurst no traces
whatever remain, but this only helps to increase the interest in the
little chapel which has remained entirely unaltered for over two
centuries. Penn, who bought the house in 1682, probably chose its site
on account of its remoteness, for those were the days when their
meetings were at any moment liable to interruption–when the members of
the congregation met together knowing well that discovery meant
imprisonment. In the quaint little meeting-house it is easy to feel the
spirit of the Quakers, and one may almost imagine that one hears outside
the rumble of the wheels of the heavy ox-waggon in which Penn drove over
from Warminghurst Place.
[Illustration: THE OLD CHAPEL AT THAKEHAM NEAR BILLINGSHURST.
Where William Penn used to worship.]
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