Once a stopover for pilgrims en route to Chichester Cathedral, the medieval village of Alfriston at the foot of the rolling South Downs seems hardly to have changed in the centuries since. The narrow streets are lined with wonky tile-hung and timber-framed houses, and the tiny village square holds a rare medieval market cross.
On the village green (or tye in Sussex parlance) stand a pair of important buildings dating back to that time. The thatched, 14th-century Clergy House was the very first building acquired by the National Trust, back in 1896, for the princely sum of £10.founder Octavia Hill described it.
