Boxgrove Priory

While meandering down the south coast on Tuesday, we saw signs for Boxgrove Priory and decided to make a quick detour. The sun shone, the grass was verdant and the sky richly blue, and hardly anything stirred. Apart from the distant roar of traffic on the A27, this was a beautiful and peaceful place. The interior was cool and still, with effortlessly soaring arches and richly decorated ceiling. Some of the details reminded me strongly of a small Salisbury Cathedral. The acoustic was near perfect, warmly supportive and clear, naturally suited to polyphony. I noticed that the choir is to sing Byrd's 5-part Mass for Easter Sunday morning, and the music list for Holy Week was dominated by Latin polyphony, an increasingly rare treasure outside of professional music departments. Well worth a visit if passing.