Icklesham

Icklesham is what you drive through on the A259 on your way to somewhere with a better postcard, and the people who live here have made their peace with that. The sea left centuries ago, but the church kept the sailors' patron saint anyway. A village with a royal charter from the eighth century still went and built itself a stone circle by the main road in 2012, in case the place didn't look old enough. The Normans came for it and Napoleon nearly did, and now the most exciting thing on the hill is a Beatle recording in the old windmill while everyone else drives past without noticing.