A medieval hall house in Alfriston that was the very first building the National Trust ever bought
Open to visitorsa National Trust place — check opening times and admission before you go
Alfriston Clergy House has a fair claim to being where the National Trust started. It was the first property the Trust ever bought, back in 1896, for the grand sum of £10, rescuing a building that had fallen into serious disrepair and was facing demolition. The Trust itself was barely a year old at the time.
The house is a textbook Wealden hall house, timber-framed and thatched, with a tall open hall in the middle and jettied wings at each end. It dates back to the 14th century, and standing inside, you can see why it was worth the effort: the timber roof structure is on show overhead, dark with age, without the later ceiling that usually boxes this kind of thing in.
It sits on the green in the middle of Alfriston, a South Downs village worth wandering round properly rather than just passing through. The chalk figure at Long Man of Wilmington is a short drive east, Charleston Manor a little way south, and the walking continues on down to Seven Sisters Country Park for a longer walk.
