The sombre South Downs trail for carrying the dead

While the South Downs is famed for its walking paths, the restoration of one of its more solemn routes reveals a Sussex parish's old tradition.

Between West Burton and Bury, just over a mile apart, lies the "coffin trail", a 1,000-year-old route named for its history of mourners carrying loved ones to their final resting place.

Despite being a rather scenic walk, it is also one that harks back to a time of rituals and religion.

Richard Champness, chair of Bury Parish Council, told Secret Sussex: "For more than 1,000 years the deceased were carried down here, either by hand or by horse-drawn cart."

He added: "There was no consecrated ground in West Burton, so people were required to carry the deceased along the path to St John the Evangelist Church in Bury.

"It's absolutely beautiful and changes throughout the seasons. In the springtime we would be surrounded by wild garlic."

To transport their loved ones to church, many mourners would use a bier, a stand which coffins could be placed on to carry them.

While the ground may be easy going in the spring and summer, Champness said it could get "incredibly wet and slippery" in the damp and cold autumn and winter months, making the task all the more difficult.

The trail was restored in May 2026 and now connects to the South Downs Way. Volunteer Greg Brown, who helped to clear the path, said he gave "history a future" through the project.

St John's church still holds a late-17th century bier which would have been used on the route.

"This was the way life was in those days," said Martin Poll, the church's canon.

He added: "People would have been very grateful to be bringing their loved ones to the burial ground where generations would have been buried.

"The bier was something special belonging to the whole parish."

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