| Beacon Hill | |
|---|---|
 Rottingdean Windmill | |
 | |
| Type | Local Nature Reserve |
| Location | Rottingdean, East Sussex |
| Area | 18.6 hectares (46 acres) |
| Elevation | 216 ft (66 m) |
| Managed by | Brighton and Hove Council |
Beacon Hill is an 18.6-hectare (46-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Rottingdean, on the eastern outskirts of Brighton in East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove Council. [1] [2]
This chalk grassland site has extensive views out to sea and inland. Flora include round-headed rampion, vetches, wild thyme and several species of orchid, while there are birds such as skylarks. [1] Rottingdean Windmill is a grade II listed building towards the south of the site. [3]
Beacon Hill has been grazed chalk grassland for at least six thousand years, like the rest of the South Downs. In all those years, affinities with the Downs could be drawn with great range-grazed pastures of the steppes that stretched from Hungary eastwards all the way to Mongolia, or with the American prairies and pampas. In these grazed environments there is great biodiversity of species. The key difference between the South Downs and those habitats is that grazing has been maintained by human intervention by means of sheep farming. Grazed chalk grasslands have been likened to a rainforest in miniature due to the small flowers that compete to survive on the low nutrient soils and the animals this wide range of flora supports. [4]
Unfortunately, due to changes in farming practices and use of the land since the Second World War, in most places the South Downs is no longer sheep grazed and much of the land has been ploughed and had fertiliser and pesticides added. [5] Beacon Hill however has been preserved and is currently managed to protect the grazed chalk grassland habitat and the many habitat and the many species that have evolved to live on it. As a result of the people working to preserve this area, Beacon Hill won the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Britain in Bloom Conservation & Environment award in 2005 and the RHS Bloomin' Wild Discretionary award in 2007. [6]
Within the site is the historic Rottingdean Windmill. The Windmill was built in 1803 and is opened to the public over some weekends during the summer months. [6]
Beacon Hill was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2004. Other designated chalk grassland LNR around Brighton and Hove include Benfield Hill, Bevendean Down, Ladies Mile and Whitehawk Hill. Nearby is also the National Nature Reserve of Castle Hill.
Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority with city status in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administered by Brighton and Hove City Council, which is currently under Labour majority control.
Shoreham-by-Sea is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England.
Falmer is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, lying between Brighton and Lewes, approximately five miles (8 km) north-east of the former. It is also the site of Brighton & Hove Albion's Falmer Stadium.
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about 260 sq mi (670 km2) across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. The Downs are bounded on the northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose crest there are extensive views northwards across the Weald. The South Downs National Park forms a much larger area than the chalk range of the South Downs, and includes large parts of the Weald.
Bevendean is a district of the city of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex, England.
Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling.
Hamsey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. The parish covers a large area and also consists of the villages Offham and Cooksbridge. The main centres of population in the parish are now Offham and Cooksbridge. Around the main settlements are enlarged fields, isolated old cottages and farms. The winding and undulating parish lanes between banks, old hedge rows, trees, flowery verges and ditches are popular with cyclists and give good views of the Downs. In 2011 the parish had a population of 632.
Kingston near Lewes is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Lewes and is nestled in the South Downs. The parish is par of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest: the Lewes Brooks and Kingston Escarpment and Iford Hill.
Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, separated from the main part of the city by downland and the Brighton Racecourse. The name Woodingdean came from Woodendean Farm which was situated in the south end of what is now Ovingdean.
Ditchling Beacon is the highest point in East Sussex, England, with an elevation of 248 m (814 ft). It is south of Ditchling and to the north-east of Brighton. It is a large chalk hill with a particularly steep northern face, covered with open grassland and sheep-grazing areas. It is the third-highest point on the South Downs, behind Butser Hill and Crown Tegleaze.
Wild Park is a 239.8-hectare (593-acre) Local Nature Reserve adjacent to Lewes Road in Brighton, East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council. It includes Hollingbury Castle, an Iron Age hillfort which is a Scheduled Monument, and Hollingbury Park golf course.
Sussex is a historic county and cultural region in the south of England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, north-east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West Sussex and East Sussex and the city of Brighton and Hove. The city of Brighton & Hove was created a unitary authority in 1997, and was granted City status in 2000. Until then Chichester had been Sussex's only city. By convention, Chichester is Sussex's capital city and Lewes is Sussex's county town.
Beacon Mill or New Mill is a grade II listed smock mill at Rottingdean, Sussex, England which has been restored as a seamark. It sits within the boundary of the Beacon Hill Local Nature Reserve.
Clayton to Offham Escarpment is a 422.5-hectare (1,044-acre) linear biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which runs from Clayton in West Sussex to Lewes in East Sussex. Its ownership and management is divided between over fifteen landowners and farmers. Parts of Ditchling's Downs, e.g. TQ 323 133, and the scarp between Blackcap and Mount Harry, e.g. TQ 378 124, are owned by the National Trust. What remains of Ditchling Tenantry Down common at Ditchling Beacon is leased to the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
Blackcap is a hill and nature reserve in East Sussex, England. It is on a peak of the South Downs, just south east of Plumpton and west of Lewes. The flatter landscape is made up of open ground with chalk paths, surrounded by thickets. The steeper ground leading up to the ridge is low-density woodland. The top is more open, with patches of pine woodland and gorse bushes.
The Brighton and Lewes Downs Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in Sussex on the southeast coast of England near the city of Brighton and Hove. Forming a central unit of the hills of the South Downs National Park, it is centred on the Brighton chalk block that lies between the River Adur in the west and the River Ouse in the east. Chalk downland makes up the principal terrestrial landscape of the area, bounded at each end by the two river valleys. The coastline is dominated by high chalk cliffs in the east and urbanized plains in the west, running to the estuary of the River Adur at Shoreham-by-Sea.
Benfield Hill is an 11.8-hectare (29-acre) Local Nature Reserve (LNR) on the northern outskirts of Hove in East Sussex and is within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council.
Bevendean Down is a 64.6-hectare (160-acre) Local Nature Reserve in the Bevendean district in Brighton, East Sussex and is within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park. It is owned by Brighton and Hove Council and managed by tenant farmers and others. It is mainly chalk grassland and there are also areas of woodland and scrub. This site is in five separate blocks.
Ladies Mile is a 13.6-hectare (34-acre) Local Nature Reserve to the east of Patcham, on the northern outskirts of Brighton in East Sussex. The area was designated in 2003 and is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council.
Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill is a 321 ha (790-acre) biological and geological Downland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) north of Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and it includes Devil's Dyke Geological Conservation Review site.