Timeline
10,000
BC - The dry valleys,
ridges and escarpments of the
Eastbourne Downland were formed
by glacial action during the Ice
Age. The chalk of the cliffs,
however, was formed over a period
of 30 million years when a warm
sub tropical sea covered the area,
between 95-65 million years ago.
The shells of billions of microscopic
planktonic algae formed a deposit
which eventually hardened into
layers of white rock a thousand
feet thick. This has since been
uplifted due to continental movement
and subsequent erosion has created
the Downs seen today.
8,000
BC - End of Ice Age as
temperatures increase. Sea levels
rise and flood a valley to form
the English Channel, enabling
the sea to flood through to the
South Downs. Marine erosion of
cliffs begins. Mesolithic hunter
gatherers explore the region.
4,000
BC - Neolithic Man attracted
to the well-drained chalklands
of the Eastbourne Downs which
offer fertile grounds for crops.
The area is gradually cleared
of wild wood for grazing &
crops. Flint tools from this period
have been found in the area and
there is a Neolithic causeway
camp on Combe Hill upon the Northern
Escarpment.
2,000-1,500
BC - Bronze Age peoples
clear woodland to create space
for settled agriculture - evidence
of hut sites and domestic pottery
found near Belle Tout. Numerous
burial mounds, 'round barrows',
are located upon the escarpment
ridges.
600
BC - New, Iron Age settlements
indicated by numerous field banks
in area, particularly at Bullock
Down and near Jevington.
50 BC - Romans
take control of south east England.
Increasingly efficient farming
- remains of Roman farm found
on Frost Hill.
400
AD - Romans leave Britain.
Eastbourne Downland used for grazing.
1250
AD - Medieval farms and
settlements established.
20th
Century - Farm mechanisation
and decline of traditional farming
methods. Increased demand for
food leads to loss of chalk grassland
to intensive farming with the
use of artificial fertilisers.
The loss of traditional landscapes
and habitats leads to the rise
of the conservation movement in
the late 20th Century
and the protection of the Eastbourne
Downland.
Chalk
Grassland
The
chalk grassland cover of the Eastbourne
Downland provides one of Britain's
richest wildlife habitats with
up to 40 plant species growing
in one square metre of turf. The
thin, poor quality soil encourages
slow growing plants and the long
history of sheep grazing, which
continues today, has led to the
development of the springy turf.
The
downland supports a wide variety
of plants which can only survive
in chalky soils and also the butterflies
and other insects that these plants
attract.
The
Eastbourne Downland is conserved
following the decline of chalk
grassland during the middle of
the 20th century due
to increased food production and
the use of pesticides and other
chemicals in arable farming. A
decline in grazing animals - sheep
due to a decline in sheep farming,
and rabbits due to myxomatosis
- meant that much of the chalk
grassland was taken over by coarse
grasses, scrub and pioneer woodland.
After the Second World War large
areas of chalk grassland were
ploughed up for arable farming
and in all 25% of the chalk grassland
of the South Downs was lost between
1966 and 1980.
Eastbourne
Borough Council today employs
shepherds to tend the Council's
flock of sheep which graze the
Open Downland in the traditional
manner in order to preserve and
enhance it. Much of the tenant
farmland is also now under grass,
with the farmers supported by
grant aid from the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries & Food
(the ESA Scheme).
Coastal
Erosion
One
of the most stunning aspects of
the Eastbourne Downland is the
Heritage Coastline of pure white
chalk cliffs. The erosion of these
cliffs by the sea is often thought
of as a destructive process but
it is this erosion which creates
and maintains the cliffs' magnificent
whiteness through constantly eroding
the old cliff face and revealing
the clean white chalk underneath.
The
white cliffs of Beachy Head and
the Seven Sisters have been eroding
for at least 10,000 years, ever
since the end of the last Ice
Age. The base of the cliff is
attacked with tremendous force
at high tide as the waves break
against the chalk. Shingle is
also thrown at the cliff and pockets
of air are trapped in the crevices
and alternately compressed and
decompressed.
These
forces combine to erode a notch
in the base of the cliff which
eventually cannot support the
upper parts of the cliff. The
cliff is also weakened from the
top during the winter as rain
water in the soil freezes and
expands, pushing the rock apart,
and then thaws and runs through
the crevices. A section of cliff
then tumbles to the beach, creating
a temporary defence against the
waves until it is broken up and
washed away.
One
of the key conditions of the management
of the Heritage Coast is that
it is left undeveloped in order
to preserve the landscape value.
This means that no sea defences
will be built to slow the natural
process of erosion, not even to
save existing buildings. Belle Toute
Lighthouse was moved back from the cliff edge on March 24
1999 in order to save it from
an imminent collapse into the
sea.
The
Heritage Coast recede an estimated
average of about � -1 metre a
year. Occasionally there will
be a larger than average cliff
fall, such as that on January
10 1999 when up to 6 metres of
cliff edge tumbled away, to a
depth of 17 metres over a 70 metre
long stretch. As global warming
continues and sea levels rise
the rate of erosion is expected
to increase and falls of this
size will become increasingly
common.
