Cowdray Old RC Chapel

A crumbling red-brick ruin tucked away near Petworth, Cowdray Old RC Chapel is exactly the sort of place that stops you mid-walk and makes you wonder what brought you there. Built in the 1870s, it's a proper little Victorian gem - or rather, what's left of one - sitting quietly in the Sussex countryside with barely any fanfare. The walls still stand, the arched windows frame nothing but sky now, and moss creeps across the brickwork in that satisfying way old buildings do when nobody's fussed about restoring them. Inside, you're essentially walking through a shell, though the structure and proportions give you a real sense of how it would have felt when it was actually a functioning chapel. It's free and open to wander around, which is refreshing. Catholics needed their own places of worship when they weren't exactly welcome everywhere, so there's a quiet dignity to what remains. Don't expect much more than ten or fifteen minutes here - it's not vast - but the real pleasure is stumbling across it during a longer ramble through this part of Sussex. It works brilliantly as a stop-off if you're camping at Graffham or based at Woodfire at Westerlands. Both sites are within striking distance, and the chapel makes a logical waypoint on a country walk between Petworth and the surrounding parks. Bring decent boots; the ground can be muddy, and access is informal - you're basically walking into a field.