Custom
The Shepherd's Line
No fence, no dog, no sheep lost.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Coastal farmland village on Chichester Harbour
- Legend from
- Hagiography
- Tone
- Heartwarming
A line drawn in the grass with a crook, and a flock that would not cross it.
Before he left home, Cuthman was a shepherd at Chidham, which the legend gives as his birthplace. One day he needed to go and fetch food, so he drew a line round his sheep with his staff. When he came back the flock had not crossed the invisible boundary. A field near Chidham was known for centuries as St Cuthman's Field, and a Guild of St Cuthman existed there in 1522.