Cuckmere Valley

On the seafront at Seaford is a martello tower built in 1806 after the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, The martello tower has a original cannon on the roof that dates from the 19th century the tower is one of 103 that are along the south coast that were built as a precaution against an invasion by napoleon, Each martello tower is 30 foot high by 25 foot in diameter with walls of each tower at 6 foot thick, The lower floor of these tower' s were used to store gun powder ammunition food and water while the upper floor was used for men a martello tower housed 24 men, A martello tower is named after a fort of this type at cape mortella in Corsica luckily napoleon never put any of the martello tower' s to the test ? so the cannon on top of the tower at Seaford has never been fired !, Well its believed the cannon was never fired.

If you head east along the coast past Seaford head you will come to `hope gap` it was here in the second world war that a telephone cable went from London to the white house in America, So that Winston Churchill could talk to Roosevelt and its still there !, If you look down to the beach you will see a row of bricks or blocks in a straight line this is the telephone cable, If you now go down to the beach you should be able to see the cable ?, If you now walk from hope gap you will come to the cottages at `cuckmere haven` it was thought that the cottages were used earlier in the 20th century as coastguard cottages, It was thought that where the golf course is on Seaford head they found remains from a camp that dated from pre-roman times, If you look down from Seaford head and trace the road that goes from Seaford to Newhaven well back in medieval times that road was the course of the river Ouse !.

On the downs by high and over there is a white horse carved into the downs by high and over this horse was carved by a local man back in the mid 19th century , It was then recarved In 1924 by a local school master and the children since then the horse has been looked after by the children and teachers from a local school, Below high and over run' s the river cuckmere said to be the longest meandering river in Sussex as well as the country, It was along the cuckmere during the second world war that lights were placed by the side of the river these light' s were switched on whenever there were ships in Newhaven harbour so that when German bombers came over, The lights in Newhaven were switched off and the light' s on the bank's of the river cuckmere were switched on !, So that the German's thought that the light' s below was the harbour at Newhaven and dropped their bomb' s, But instead the bomb' s fell along the bank' s of the cuckmere, If you climb to the top of high and over you will come to a bridlepath known as the `comp`, It was thought that the comp was used during the 17th and 18th century's by smuggler's especially the Stanton Collins gang that came from alfriston to move contraband from the coast. Just west of Seaford is the little village of Bishopstone, It was thought that the church in the village dates from the 10th century a fine example of this is the Saxon carvings on the archway of the church just by the door, the church was then restored in the 19th century, The word Seaford for anyone who want's to know means `ford` by the sea ( a ford a shallow place to cross a river) from the old English sae (sea) and ford.

The pretty village of Alfriston at the time of the doomsday book of 1086, Was known as" `Alvriceston`, The church of alfriston St Andrew's was built in 1360 and is known as the `cathedral of the south downs` the bells inside the church date from 1690 and were cast in alfriston by john wood who was a well known bell founder of the time, There was a strange custom that was formally carried out in alfriston that was the carrying of `virgin garlands` it was said that when a young unmarried woman died a wreath of white flowers was carried by young girls into the church or they were put on the coffin, The wreath' s were then hung inside the church until the flowers disintegrated, There is this story about a man called Charles springate-brooker who was so terrified of being buried alive that he had a grating made in his coffin as well as a grating inside the church so that if he was buried alive he could get out !, If you look inside the church there are frescoes that date from the 14th century that were uncovered in 1877 and then recovered in plaster to preserve them ?, There is this story that when they were building the church they had arranged to build the church on a piece of land to the west of the village, Part of this land was called `savyne Croft` (savyne is a Saxon word for seven) so the workmen moved the stone from the `tye` where the church is today to savyne Croft during the day but when the night came the stone would mysteriously be hurled back to the tye, So come the next morning the workmen would move the stone by oxen back to savyne Croft ! but once again during the night the stone would end up back on the tye this went on for a few days the stone would by moved during the day to savyne Croft and during the night hurled back to the tye !, It was said that it was a ghost of a Saxon lord who was hurling the stone form savyne Croft to the tye, But then a wise man saw four oxen lying in the form of a cross this was said to have been a sign from heaven so the church was built on the tye !.

It was in the village of alfriston that Stanton Collins the smuggler was born, It was on the night of the 11th of march 1851 that smugglers led by Stanton Collins knocked on the door of one of the cottages in alfriston this boy came to the door Stanton then said to the boy `are your parents at home?` to which the boy said no, Stanton then said to the boy (the boy' s name was Benjamin) `there is a barrel of brandy in it for you if you go down to the coast and say that you were stopped by smugglers to the custom's men and that they headed for friston forest`, So then off went the boy to the coast seeing the custom' s men (justice john' s) told them the story that Stanton Collins had just told him, So off went the custom's men to friston forest in search of smugglers so that Stanton Collins and his gang as well as some of the villagers from alfriston had more time to get away and to move the contraband to the village of Jevington as well as the inside of the church, and then to move again when the coast was clear.

The George inn in the high street was built in 1397 that on the inside has murals on the upstairs rooms that date from the 15th century, The rooms had to be closed because people would chip bits of paint off the murals and keep it and take it home with them ?.

During the civil war the village of alfriston supported the king, As part of the village was destroyed by parliamentarian forces during the 17th century, There is this ghost story that one morning in one of the cottages a lady was doing the washing up when she heard a gentle tap on the back door so the lady said `come in` the back door opened and this ghost of a blue lady walked across the floor and then disappeared through the wall on the other side of the kitchen, It is said that this still goes on today for the last person to see the ghost was in the 1980's ?, During restoration of the old cottage workmen found a skeleton of a woman under the floorboards, It was said that the blue lady came to an untimely end but no one knows how ?, There are two other ghosts in alfriston one is that of an old man who's dressed like a groom ! while the other ghost is said to be an old woman who at one time was a governess.

At the other side of friston forest stand\rquote s the village of Eastdean, Next to the village green stand\rquote s the `tiger inn` built in the 13th century and was a local haunt for smugglers the tiger inn is said to be haunted by the ghosts of smugglers who came to an untimely end ?.

The church in the village of Eastdean dates from 1080 the tower walls of this church are three foot thick the church was used as a shelter during medieval times, just up from Eastdean is the village of friston with its church that dates from 1042, If you look on the right-hand side in the entrance of the church you will see medieval graffiti it was said that it was done by monks and pilgrims as they passed that way, By friston pond stand's a `tapsell gate`(gate on a central pivot) the gate is named after a local blacksmith called `tapsell`, The first gates were made of cast iron then later replaced by wood, Tapsell lived in the 19th century, By friston stand' s `friston forest` that's made up of beech and Corsican pines the pines in the forest are used as `nurse trees` to the slower growing beech trees, The pines are felled on a regular basis about a 100 acres a year, Friston forest is said to be one of the finest beech forest's in the south,

On the other side of friston forest you will come to the village of Westdean, It was said that in 870 ad king Alfred (the one who burnt the cakes) lived at Westdean and was also said to have built a palace in Westdean where the manor house is today, King Alfred had a shipyard built at Westdean when the river cuckmere came up that far !, By Westdean stand' s Charleston manor built in the 11th century it was said that Charleston manor was built on the foundations of king Alfred' s palace.

In between cuckmere haven and birling gap are the cliff' s known as the `seven sisters`, It is thought that the cliff' s are named after a kings seven sisters this would have been about 500 BC. The first of the seven sisters is called (or known as) `haven brow` at 295 feet high the second one is called `short brow` at 250 feet high and the third one of the seven sisters is called `rough brow` this one like the second one is 250 feet high, And then there is the forth one known as `brass point` at 246 feet high `flagstaff brow` at 246 feet high like brass point is the fifth one the sixth of the seven sisters is called `bailys hill` and the last of the sisters is `went hill`, Some say that the seven sisters go on further than birling gap !, But if you have just walked over the seven sisters you would have counted them and know that they would stop at birling gap ?, At birling gap there are a row of coastguard cottages that date from the 19th century these cottages are further than birling gap !, But if you have just walked over the seven sisters you would have counted them and know that they would stop at birling gap ?, At birling gap there are a row of coastguard cottages that date from the 19th century these cottages are perched on the edge of a 150 foot cliff and every so often bit of these cottages fall off this is due to erosion (well its more like years than often), By the cottages are step's that go down to the beach that every so often get taken away due to storm's and then when the weathers nice they get put back !, During the 18th century the gap was used by smugglers who brought their contraband in and stored it at the tiger inn at Eastdean amongst other villages.

At the time of smuggling Rudyard kipling wrote a poem about smugglers it went, If you wake at midnight, And hear a horse's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind, Or looking in the street, Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie, Watch the wall my darling, While gentlemen go by !, Five and twenty ponies trotting through the dark, Brandy for the parson, Baccy for the clerk, Laces for a lady, Letters for a spy, And watch the wall my darling while gentlemen go by !.

If you look up from birling gap you will see the `belle tout` lighthouse that is now disused, The one that works is the lighthouse at the bottom of beachy head it replaced the lighthouse at belle tout in 1831, In the year of 1706 the vicar of Eastdean Jonathan Derby excavated a cave and staircase at the base of the belle tout lighthouse which became known as parson Derby's hole !, Up until the 19th century this cave was the only refuge for crews of ships that were shipwrecked, The cave was the size of two and could house two ships crews and stores !, Jonathan Derby dug the caves and staircase all by himself with no help from others, It was said that the parson could be seen on stormy nights with a lantern to help passers by as well as ships in distress, It was said that Jonathan Derby saved 12 Dutch seamen this way and on another occasion saved the crew of a brig (a two masted square rigged vessel) 23 men in all, Jonathan Derby is remembered as a sturdy old man in knee breeches and a beaver hat ! swinging a lantern, The caves at the bottom of belle tout lighthouse remained until 1904 when they were washed away in a storm, It was said that the caves were dug not by Jonathan Derby but by smugglers to store contraband well before the parson' s time !, It could be possible that Jonathan Derby found the caves and just enlarged them ?, It was thought that Jonathan Derby went down to the caves not to look out for sailor's but to get away from his wife's temper tantrum's, This would seem not to be true for when his wife died in 1723 he was so desolate and missed her so that he had written on her gravestone `to my beloved Anne`, Jonathan died some five years later and is buried next to her.

On the cliff's by the belle tout lighthouse during the 18th century a custom's man (justice john) put lump's of chalk along the edge of the cliff to that he could find his way home in the dark, That was until smugglers moved the lump's of chalk so the custom' s man went over the edge of the cliff because he thought the line of stone's were on the edge ?, It is said that the custom's man now haunts the area still trying to get home.