George Clineh—Sculpturings of the Chalk Downs, 51 
The neighbourhood of Beachy Head presents many interesting 
points which illustrate the sculpturing of the Chalk Downs. The 
Chalk here ends abruptly in a lofty cliff, which once extended much 
farther to the south. The western slopes of the Downs in this part 
of Sussex are somewhat precipitous and form part of the watershed of 
the River Cuckmere, an important watercourse whose most distant 
source may be traced to Heathfield Park. The river has several 
tributaries, and drains a large part of the Sussex Weald. Its former 
importance is indicated much more vividly by the valley through 
which it flows than by the present volume of its waters. 
Between Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap the sea-coast presents 
a remarkable series of gable-like cliffs, known, from the number of its 
eminences, as the Seven Sisters (see Pl. VI, Fig.2). These elevated 
points of Downland are divided by eight valleys leading in a practically 
north and south direction, but six of them are short and of simple 
form, dying out about a mile to the north of the sea-coast. The 
others are of more complicated form. It is clear that they all form 
parts of a complete system of branching valleys, which formerly 
drained the district. All the southern part has been eroded by the 
sea, and what may be called the midrib of the series was situated 
Fic. 2. Diagram showing the Dry ¢ Chalk Valleys of the ‘ Seven Sisters ’, and 
a suggested restoration of the valley system in the neighbourhood. 
perhaps within 2 miles of the present coastline (see Fig. 2). The 
destruction of this series of dry valleys was probably due partly 
to marine erosion and partly to the forces which excavated the valley 
through which the Cuckmere Rivernow flows. The nature of those 
forces will be considered at a later stage in the paper.’ 
1 See a paper ‘‘On the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Seaford ’’, by J.V. Elsden: 
Q.J.G.S., vol. Ixy, pp. 442-61. 
