Clouds move over the landscape like dark spirits

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/19/burpham-west-sussex-clouds-landscape-spirits

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It is not cold, but the late afternoon sky is blackening and the wind is picking up. Moisture hangs in the air. Clouds move over the landscape like dark spirits. I hurry down from the top of the hill, back towards Burpham. A thin streak of red runs across the bruised, blue-black sky above the village.

Burpham is what remains of a major Saxon settlement, now huddled on the hillside around the church of St Mary. I head for the square church tower with its small pyramid cap. A red kite swoops low across the path, flicking its forked tail from side to side as it glides down into a field behind a hedge. A buzzard is already on the ground in the open, just 20ft away from the track. It ignores me, hungrily ripping at its prey. A carrion crow and magpie hop around, keeping a respectful distance, but also attentive, waiting their turn.

The footpath leads into the churchyard, through a gap in the stone wall. Passing by the gravestones, I walk around one side of the church. There's a small, narrow window, lower in the wall than the others – a leper's window. A trackway that runs from Burpham across the downs is still called "the leper's path", and is thought to have led to a nearby lepers' colony by Harrow Hill, although little evidence remains. This small window, dating from the 1300s, was built into the wall to allow the lepers to listen to services, out of sight of the rest of the congregation.

Overhead, the trees rustle and creak in the wind, and the moon appears from behind the drifting cloud. I walk out of the churchyard through the black iron gate and stand by a field of peacefully grazing sheep. In the distance, the town of Arundel and its Victorian fairytale castle are silhouetted on the hillside. Bright streetlights glisten in the damp air. A dozen white mute swans settle down for the night in the dark meadows below.

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