Hellingly Church

Settled on the weald near a vast derelict mental hospital complex is the curious circular churchyard of Hellingly. The church, originally built in the 12th century is just off the cukkoo trail walk, popular with cyclists. The circular mound on which the church sits commands a view of the flat plains around giving the impression of a holy Island. Here is a circular churchyard in East Sussex...I recently disacovered that local Historians reckon it to be a Ciric, a Celtic burial mound built around 150BC to keep the dead dry. The surrounding area had been covered in water but I think the Ciric theory is an assumption rather than a fully researched fact...