A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



comes the lower region of the Weald, divisible into two belts : the one 

 generally fertile and formed by the alternating marl flats and ridges of 

 ferruginous sand, which He between the foot of the chalk downs and the 

 wide plain of the Weald Clay ; the other consisting of less fertile alter- 

 nate wastes of sand and wide flats of clay. Both of these latter belts till 

 well into historic times were covered with dense forest. We have thus in 

 the first two regions an area, open, settled and well peopled even in times 

 long before written history, and this part of the county has definite and 

 well marked physical boundaries — on the south the sea, on the east the 

 marshes about Dunge Ness, on the west a tidal harbour. Behind this 

 settled region extended the wide ' hinterland ' of the Weald, which 

 was gradually annexed by the settlers on the north and south till they 

 met at what is now the northern boundary of the county ; this line 

 however is very irregular and has no regard to physical features. On the 

 north-west the county has a similarly artificial boundary ; but here also 

 were extensive woodlands, for the Tertiary strata are here bare of gravel 

 and still support considerable oak woods, while even the chalk of this 

 particular area is covered by so deep a clay soil that it still supports 

 much beech. For a long period therefore the earlier settlements of 

 Sussex were almost isolated from the rest of the country by water or by 

 wide tracts of dense forest. Thus the county of Sussex has probably 

 existed as a natural division of Britain from very early prehistoric times, 

 though the fixing of its exact limits is of comparatively late date. It 

 is not unlikely that with better information we may be able to trace local 

 peculiarities in the manufactures as far back as the PaljEolithic period, 

 for even then it was essentially an open country cut off and surrounded 

 by water and forest. Subsequent articles relating to the history and 

 archaeology of the county will describe how this isolation was afterwards 

 broken down ; in this sketch we deal with its origin, and with the 

 leading changes which made Sussex as we now see it. 



We naturally inquire, What is the meaning of the striking diff'er- 

 ences already alluded to, and why should the geological structure of a 

 county like this, which contains no mountains and no hill reaching to 

 I, coo feet in altitude, have dominated so completely the position of its 

 settlements and also the occupation of its inhabitants ? We need not 

 go back to very early geological times ; the history of Sussex for our 

 purpose begins with the oldest strata seen at the surface in the Weald, 

 though other deposits somewhat older have been penetrated by a deep 

 boring near Battle. The geological formations known to exist in Sussex 

 may be grouped as in the following table ; but their thicknesses, it may 

 be observed, vary greatly even within this limited area. Though it is not 

 to be expected that a boring or shaft sunk at any one point would pene- 

 trate the whole of these strata, yet there is little doubt that at Selsey we 

 should have to descend fully 6,000 feet to reach the lowest deposit 

 shown in this table. Near Eastbourne and Newhaven on the other 

 hand far older strata may possibly be reached in less than 2,000 feet 

 below the surface ; though this remains to be proved. 



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