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Sussex
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Sussex , from the Old English Suþseaxe ('South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West Sussex and East Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove. The city of Brighton & Hove was created a unitary authority in 1997; and was granted City status in 2000. Until then Chichester had been Sussex's only city.
The divisions of West Sussex and East Sussex were originally established in 1189, and had obtained separate administrations (Quarter Sessions) by the 16th century.
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Sussex , from the Old English Suþseaxe ('South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West Sussex and East Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove. The city of Brighton & Hove was created a unitary authority in 1997; and was granted City status in 2000. Until then Chichester had been Sussex's only city.
The divisions of West Sussex and East Sussex were originally established in 1189, and had obtained separate administrations (Quarter Sessions) by the 16th century. This situation was recognised by the County of Sussex Act 1865. Under the Local Government Act 1888 the two divisions became two administrative counties (along with three county boroughs: Brighton, Hastings and, from 1911, Eastbourne).
The appellation Sussex remained in use as a ceremonial county until 1974, when the Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex was replaced with one each for East and West Sussex. The whole of Sussex has had a single police force since 1968.
Sussex still retains a strong local identity and the county's unofficial anthem is Sussex by the Sea. The county's motto, "We wun't be druv", reflects the strong-willed nature of its people in past centuries. Sussex's device shows six martlets. Sussex's county flower is the round-headed rampion, also known as the Pride of Sussex. June 16, the feast day of the county's patron saint St Richard, has been declared Sussex Day by West Sussex County Council.
Although it retains a strong identity, most people say West Sussex and East Sussex today and even use
them in lists of traditional counties sometimes.
Geography
Relief
The physical geography of Sussex relies heavily on its lying on the southern part of the Wealden anticline. The major features of that are the high lands which cross the county in a west to east direction: the Weald itself, and the South Downs. The former consists of clays and sands; the latter chalk. Between those two ridges, mainly in West Sussex, lies the ‘’Vale of Sussex’’; at the eastern end of the county is the valley of the River Rother, which flows into what was a long sea inlet to reach the sea at Rye Bay.
The Weald
The Weald runs in an easterly direction from St Leonards Forest, south-west of Crawley, and continues to Ashdown Forest. Its eastern extremity is in two sections, divided by the River Rother valley. The northern arm reaches the sea at Folkestone (in Kent); the southern at Fairlight Down east of Hastings,
Within the Weald lies Sussex's highest point, the pine-clad Black Down, close to the Surrey border at . Another high point is in the part called Forest Ridges: a height of about is reached at Beacon Hill in the neighbourhood of Crowborough.
The High Weald, as the main area is known, gets its name from ’’wilderness’’ or forest, and it retains the highest proportion of ancient woodlands in the country. Around 1660 the total area under forest was estimated to exceed , and supplied the furnaces of the ironworks which formed an important industry in the county until the 17th century, and which survived even until the early years of the 19th century.
South Downs
The South Downs start from a point near Petersfield in Hampshire. On entering Sussex, their summit is about from the sea. They run east for some , gradually approaching the coast, and terminating in the bold promontory of Beachy Head near Eastbourne. Their average height is about though Ditchling Beacon is (the third highest summit) and many other summits exceed .
Vale of Sussex
The Vale of Sussex is the lower undulating land which came into being when the softer clays between the Weald and the Downs were worn away. Crossing the Vale are most of the rivers in Sussex: those rising on the slopes of the Weald and cutting through the Downs to reach the sea (see Drainage).
Coastal plain
This is a fertile narrow belt from Chichester to Brighton. Once noted for market gardening, it is now heavily built-up into a sprawling coastal conurbation. The beaches along the coast vary from sandy to shingle: that factor, together with the mild climate of the coast, sheltered by the hills from north and east winds, resulted in the growth of numerous resort towns, of which the most popular are (east to west) Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne, Seaford, Brighton, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis.
Marshland
There are several areas of low-lying marshland along the coast; from west to east these are:
- in the west of the county, south of Chichester, lying between Chichester Harbour and Pagham Harbour;
- beyond Beachy Head, the ‘’Pevensey Levels’’;
- beyond Hastings, the ‘’Pett Levels’’;
- beyond Rye, the ‘’Walland Marsh’’ part of Romney Marsh.
All were originally bays; natural coastal deposition and man-made protective walls have given rise to alluvial deposition.
Drainage
The rivers wholly within the county are relatively short. All rise in the Weald (St Leonard’s Forest area) and, apart from the eastern River Rother, flow south to the English Channel, using gaps in the South Downs as they do so. The mouths of all have been affected by longshore drift, particularly during violent storms during the Middle Ages. From west to east they are:
Climate
South East England combines the highest average daytime temperatures found in the British Isles with the highest sunshine averages on the British mainland. There are between 25 and 30 inches (635-760 mm) of rainfall; and there can be high variation of temperature between day and night.
The climate of the coastal districts is strongly influenced by the sea, which because of its tendency to warm up slower than land, can result in cooler temperatures than inland in the summer. In the autumn months, the coast sometimes has higher temperatures. Rainfall during the summer months is mainly from thunderstorms and thundery showers; from January to March the heavier rainfall is due to south-westerly frontal systems. The coast has consistently more sunshine than the inland areas: sea breezes, blowing off the sea, clear any cloud from the coast.
Industries
Agriculture
Sussex has retained much of its rural nature: apart from the coastal strip, it has few large towns. Although in 1841 over 40% of the population were employed in agriculture (including fishing}, today less than 2% are so employed. The wide range of soil types in the county leads to great variations in the patterns of farming. The Wealden parts are mostly wet sticky clays or drought prone acid sands and often broken up into to small irregular fields and woods by the topography, making it unsuitable for intensive arable farming. Pastoral or mixed farming has always been the pattern here with field boundaries often little changed since the medieval period. Sussex cattle are the descendants of the draught oxen which continued to be used in the Weald longer than in other parts of England. Agriculturalist Arthur Young commented in the early 18th century that the cattle of the Weald "must be unquestionably ranked among the best of the kingdom." William Cobbett, riding through Ashdown Forest, said he had seen some of the finest cattle in the country on some of the poorest farms. Areas of cereals grown on the Weald have risen and declined with the price of grain. The chalk downlands were traditionally grazed by large numbers of small South Down sheep, suited to the low fertility of the pasture, until the coming of artificial fertiliser made cereal growing worthwhile. Yields are still limited by the alkalinity of the soil. Apart from a few areas of alluvial loam soil in the river valleys the best and most intensively farmed soils are on the coastal plain, where large scale vegetable growing is commonplace. Glasshouse production is also concentrated along the coast where hours of sunshine are greater than inland.
There are still fishing fleets, notably at Rye and Hastings, but the number of boats is much reduced. Historically, the fisheries were of great importance, including cod, herring, mackerel, sprats, plaice, sole, turbot, shrimps, crabs, lobsters, oysters, mussels, cockles, whelks and periwinkles. Bede records that St Wilfrid, when he visited the county in 681, taught the people the art of netfishing. At the time of the Domesday survey the fisheries were extensive, and no fewer than 285 salinae (saltworks) existed. The customs of the Brighton fishermen were documented in 1579.
There are working harbours at Rye, Hastings, Newhaven and Shoreham; whilst Pagham and Chichester harbours cater for leisure craft, as does Brighton Marina.
Clay Working (Pottery, Tiles, Bricks)
As much of the Mid Sussex area has clay not far under the surface, clay has in the past been a focus of industry in central Sussex, in particular in the Burgess Hill area. Although in the first quarter of the 20th century, Burgess Hill, and the Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint areas had many kilns, clay pits and similar infrastructure to support the clay industry, nowadays the majority of this form of industry has left the area, but it still can be seen in place names such as "Meeds Road", "The Kiln", or Oakmeeds Community College, which is named after the oak trees in the area and Meeds Pottery, a once significant pottery in the centre of Burgess Hill. At the height of the success of this industry, tiles and bricks from Sussex were used to build landmarks such as Manchester's G-Mex, but now there is just one main tileworks in the area, Keymer Tileworks. Plans have been submitted to develop the area into housing, so even this tileworks now has a closing date, albeit one not in the near future.
Iron working
Deposits of ironstone which occur where sandstone strata overlie weald clay have been exploited from early in the iron age. The Romans made full use of this resource, and iron slag was widely used as paving material on the Roman roads of the area. In medieval times the Weald was of national importance in the iron industry, with numerous streams dammed to create furnace ponds, where water powered bellows drove blast furnaces, and hammer ponds where wrought iron was hammered out of the raw iron from the furnaces. This made the area strategically important for producing iron canons during the English Civil War, when the Yalding family of ironmasters at Fernhurst had a policy of armed neutrality, firing on soldiers from either side who tried to enter the parish.
Service industries
The string of holiday resorts, and the many tourist attractions, form part of the main economic base in Sussex.
The presence of the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton provide employment for many more; whilst reasonable rail connections allow many people to work in London.
Borough English
The custom of borough-English, by which land descends to the youngest son, prevailed to an extraordinary degree in Sussex, and no fewer than 140 manors have been catalogued in which it was found. Gavelkind tenure existed in Rye, in the large manor of Brede, and in Coustard manor (in Brede parish).
Population
The area of the ancient county is with a population in 1891 of 550,446 and in 1901 of 605,202. The earliest statement as to the population is made by Bede, who describes the county as containing in the year 681 land of 7,000 families; allowing ten to a family (a reasonable estimate at that date), the total population would be 70,000.
In 1693 the county is stated to have contained 21,537 houses. If seven were allowed to a house at that date, the total population would be 150,759. It is curious, therefore, to observe that in 1801 the population was only 159,311. The decline of the Sussex ironworks probably accounts for the small increase of population during several centuries, although after the massacre of St Bartholomew upwards of 1,500 Huguenots landed at Rye, and in 1685, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many more refugees were added to the county.
An act of Henry VII (1504) directed that for convenience the county court should be held at Lewes as well as at Chichester, and this apparently gave rise to the division of Sussex into east and west parts.
History
See main article: History of Sussex
Antiquities
From early times castles guarded three important entries from the coast through the South Downs into the interior provided by the valleys of the Ouse, the Adur and the Arun. These are respectively at Lewes, Bramber and Arundel. The ruins of the first two, though imposing, do not compare in grandeur with the third, which is still the seat of the dukes of Norfolk.
More famous than these are the massive remains, in part Norman but mainly of the 13th century, of the stronghold of Pevensey Castle, within the walls of Roman Anderitum. Other ruins are those of the finely situated Hastings Castle; the Norman remains at Knepp near West Grinstead; the picturesque and remarkably perfect moated fortress of Bodiam, of the 14th century; and Herstmonceux Castle, a beautiful 15th-century building of brick.
The county is also rich in moated sites, and smaller castles, mostly found in the low weald.
Towns and cities
Major towns and cities of Sussex include:
Flag
Sussex's flag was the winning entry in a competition held in 2008 under the auspices of the BBC and in collaboration with Graham Bartram of the Flag Institute.
See also
Further reading
- Angels in the Sussex Air. (1995). An anthology of poetry by Sussex authors chosen and edited by Patrick Garland, London: Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd. ISBN 1-85619-725-5.
- An Historical Atlas of Sussex. (1999). An Atlas of the History of the Counties of East and West Sussex, edited by Kim Leslie and Brian Short, with maps by Susan Rowland. Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd. ISBN 1-86077-112-2.
External links
- is a free website containing transcribed censuses from 1841 to 1901 of more than 20 Sussex parishes and is constantly updated.
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