m 



SUSSEX. 



SUSSEX. 



723 



in a circuitous course, passes Hardham and Amberley, in which part 

 the stream is celebrated for trout, through the marshes forming the 

 rich Tale of Arundel, and flowing through Arundel town enters the 

 sea at Littlehampton. The channel is led in a southerly direction into 

 the sea between two piers composed of piles with an extension of 

 dicker-work. The larger vessels which enter usually remain near the 

 river's mouth at Littlehampton, but a vessel of 13 feet draught can 

 proceed to Arundel bridge, a distance of six miles. The lower part of 

 the river is famous for its mullet. A canal, called the Arun and Wey 

 Junction Canal, connecting the Arun with the Wey, completes an 

 inland communication by water with London. The Arundel and 

 Portsmouth Canal also enters the Arun at Ford, connecting it with 

 Chichester Harbour ; and a canal following the course of the Rother has 

 made a navigable water-communication from Stopham bridge to Mid- 

 hurst, with a branch to Haslingbourne, within half a mile of Fetworth. 

 The Cuctmere rises in the Forest Ridge near Heathfield Park, runs 

 through Warbleton to Hellingley, Arlington, and Littlington, and 

 empties itself into the sea at the opening in the South Down?, to the 

 westward of Beachy Head, about 2 miles S.E. from Seaford. The 

 channel is very narrow and crooked, but at high water it is navigable 

 for small barges to LongbrHge, about a mile above Alfriston. The 

 La-cant has its source in Charlton Forest, and runs through Singleton, 

 Binderton, and the Lavants, and, after circling the city of Chichester 

 on all sides except the north, falls into the harbour of Chichester, and 

 enters the -ea at the extreme south-west corner of the county. The 

 ojstuary at the mouth of the river is famous for its lobsters ; and the 

 rocks next Selsey Bill are celebrated for cockles. There are also two 

 smaller rivers which discharge themselves into the sea, the Ashbourne 

 at Pevensey, and the Asten near the spot where William the Con- 

 queror landed. The Asten runs through the battle-field of Hastings. 

 The Medicay rises in the northern part of the county. It flows in an 

 easterly direction through Forest-row, Hartfield, and Withyham. It 

 reaches the county of Kent between Groombridge and Ashurst, 

 forming the boundary between the two counties for about a mile, and 

 then turns at Ashurst directly into Kent, at a spot about four miles 

 from Tonbridge. 



The road from London to Hastings enters the county at Frant, near 

 Tonbridge, and runs through Robertsbridge and Battle ; the road 

 from London to Brighton enters the county in the parish of I field, 

 and runs thence through Cuckfield ; the road from London to Ports- 

 mouth traverses a small portion of the western division of the county 

 near Petersfield ; and the road from Dover to Portsmouth, which 

 runs parallel with the sea-shore, enters Sussex near Rye, and proceeds to 

 Winchelsea, Hastings, Brighton, Arundel, and Chichester, quitting the 

 county for Hampshire near Havaut. There are also many branch and 

 cross road*. 



The London Brighton and South Coast railway enters the county 

 at Three Bridges, and proceeds across it in a generally southward 

 direction to Brighton (204 miles). The coast-line of this company 

 runs at a little distance from the coast from the western extremity of 

 the county almost to the eastern, from a few miles beyond Chichester 

 on the west to Hastings on the east. From the Three Bridges station 

 of the main line a short branch runs south-west to Horsham. From 

 the Cuckfield station a branch runs south-east to Lewes, where it 

 unite* with the coast line. A short distance east from Lewes a branch 

 is carried south to Newhaven Harbour. Several miles farther east a 

 branch runs off north to Hailsham, and another south to Eastbourne. 

 The Hastings branch of the South-Eastern railway enters the county 

 at Tonbridge Wells, and runs south-east past Battle to Hastings. 

 From Hastings a branch, connected with the Coast line of the 

 Brighton and South Coast railway, runs north-east at a short distance 

 from the coast to Rye, where it enters Kent. 



Climate. The climate of the southern part of the county, near the 

 sea-coast, is mild, and not subject to many variations of temperature. 

 The mean temperature of the year is Sl'lO" Fiihr., or more than one 

 degree above the mean temperature of London. Largo towns have 

 consequently sprung up, to which invalids and others repair for health 

 and relaxation. The mean temperature of the three winter months 

 nt Hastings is 43, whilst the mean temperature of winter in the 

 adjoining southern counties is generally only 40-35". The higher or 

 northern part of the county, particularly the Forest Ridge, is of 

 considerably lower temperature. In the Weald the climate is cold 

 and damp. 



Ocoiogy. The greater portion of the southern part of the county is 

 occupied by the chalk formation, which constitutes its most striking 

 geological feature. The general dip or inclination of this, as indeed 

 of all the strata in the county, is to the south-east, with occasional 

 exceptions. The face of the chalk is marked with fissures or wells, 

 and 'cooped into deep hollows, furrows, and basins, which are more or 

 less filled with tertiary sand and gravel. In many places quarries 

 have been opened and kilns erected for converting the chalk into lime 

 for the use of the agriculturists, who annually consume large quanti- 

 ties. The Sussex chalk varies in colour from pure white to a bluish- 

 gray;, the harder varieties were in great request among the Normans 

 for building. The walls of several old castles and religious houses 

 were built with chalk faced with Caen stone or flints. The chalk is 

 regularly stratified. The upper division contains horizontal layers of 

 siliceous nodules with intersecting veins of tabular flint. Sulphurct 



ooo. orv. vor,. IT. 



of iron is found in irregular masses and in octahedral crystals. Chalk- 

 marl constitutes the foundation of the chalk-hills ; its outcrop con- 

 nects the detached parts of the range, and composes a fertile tract of 

 arable land, on which are some of the best farms in the county. 

 Below the marl is a bed of fire-stone, which is obscurely traced in tlits 

 eastern part of the county, but to the west forms a terrace of con- 

 siderable breadth. The gault, the lowest division of the chalk 

 formation, generally constitutes a valley within the central edge of 

 the chalk, and may be traced with little interruption from Eastbourne 

 westward along the whole county into Hampshire, forming a stiff soil, 

 but very rich. 



Next to the chalk, the most important formation is the Wealden. 

 It joins the gault, and extends through the centre of the county. It 

 U a series of clays and sands with subordinate beds of limestone-grit 

 and shale ; it forms an anticlinal axis of considerable elevation, the 

 direction of which is nearly from east to west. This district is an 

 irregular triangle, tho base extending from near Pevensey to Seabrook 

 in Kent, and the apex being situated uear Halting Comb in the 

 western part of Sussex. The Wealden clay is a tenacious clay of 

 various shades of blue and brown, containing subordinate beds of 

 limestone and sand with layers of septaria of argillaceous ironstone. 

 This formation is celebrated chiefly for the Iguanodons, Hylosaurians, 

 and other gigantic reptiles which have been found within it. The 

 Sussex marble occurs in layers in different parts of the district It 

 is a limestone of bluish-gray mottled with green and ochraceous- 

 yellow, and is composed of the remains of fresh-water univalves 

 formed by a calcareous cement into a beautiful compact marble which 

 bears a high polish. The central group of the Wealden is formed of 

 alternating sands, sandstone, and shale, which have been denominated 

 the Hastings beds. These beds form a line of irregular cliffs 30 or 40 

 miles in length, from 4 to 9 miles in width, and from 20 to upwards 

 of 600 feet in height. Below this are the Tilgate beds, the lowest 

 stratum of which contains large concretional or lenticular masses of 

 a compact calciferous grit or sandstone in three or four layers, each 

 varying in thickness from two to three inches, which was formerly 

 extensively quarried and nsed for paving and roofing. These beds 

 extend from the western extremity of the Hastings sands at Loxwood 

 to Hastings, and are separated from the next subdivision by blue clay 

 and shale. This subdivision, called the Worth Sands, consists of a 

 series of arenaceous strata, . some of which form a fine soft building- 

 stone extensively used. The last ' division of the Wealden is com- 

 posed of the Ashburnham beds, which occur beneath the Worthstone ; 

 they are composed of alternations of sand, friable sandstone, shale, 

 and clay : for the most part they are highly ferruginous, and inclose 

 rich argillaceous iron-ore and large manses of lignite. It was in the 

 Wealden strata, when wood was abundant and charcoal was employed 

 in smelting iron, that the chief iron-works of Sussex were situated, 

 the iron-ore being extracted from the ironstone of the argilla- 

 ceons beds. 



The plastic clay is the foundation of the flat maritime district 

 south of tho Downs, which extends from near Worthing to Brackle- 

 sham Bay, and thence into Hampshire, forming part of the Isle of 

 Wight basin; and is seen elsewhere in insulated patches. The London 

 clay, which in some localities includes beds of gi-ay limestone and 

 sandstone, is also found ; the clay constitutes the flat maritime 

 district of the south-west part of the county, and the limestone com- 

 poses groups of rocks on the coast. The valleys of all the rivers, and 

 the large levels of Lewes, Pevensey, and Brede, tho soil of which is 

 extremely fertile, being formed of alluvial deposits, furnish rich marsh 

 pastures almost equal to Romney Marsh. 



Agriculture. The rich marsh-lands, of which there are about 30,000 

 acres in the county, make an excellent pasture-ground, on which 

 many oxen and sheep are reared and fatted for market. There are 

 also about 50,000 acres of down-land, which are left in down, and 

 produce excellent pasture for the small sheep known as South Down 

 sheep. After the hay is cut and carried in the marsh-land tho pastures 

 are usually occupied by cattle and sheep. Stall-feeding is also much 

 and successfully practised in Sussex. The arable land on the Downs 

 consists of thin light layers of earth, not exceeding eight inches iu 

 depth, intermixed with flint pebbles, and is very favourable for tho 

 growth of barley. In some of the hollows the soil is deeper and 

 more loamy, and so dry as to allow of its being ploughed quite flat 

 without any ridges or water-furrows. Along the slopes of some of 

 tho hills the soil is of a tough tenacious nature, being a mixture of 

 chalk washed down from the hills by the rains and stiff clay, and in 

 very difficult to cultivate. In the spring it is extremely heavy, and 

 retains moisture for a long time ; but when dried it becomes very 

 hard. The rich arable laud in the county is about 120,000 acres. 

 Hops are cultivated to a considerable extent in the eastern part of tho 

 county : they have been introduced from Kent, and have gradually 

 extended themselves westward. There are still many extensive 

 woods in Sussex, amounting altogether to about 150,000 acres. Tho 

 county is noted for its breed of oxen and of sheep. The Sussex ox 

 bears a strong resemblance to the Devon, between which and tho 

 Hereford it holds an intermediate place, possessing the activity of tho 

 first and the strength of the second, with the propensity to fatten and 

 the fine-grained flesh of both. The South Down sheep are among the 

 best for all hill countries where the grass is short ; and their kindly 



