Hastings Country Park | |
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Type | Woodland |
Location | Hastings, East Sussex, England |
OS grid | TQ 848 117 |
Coordinates | 50°52′19″N0°38′20″E / 50.87194°N 0.63889°E Coordinates: 50°52′19″N0°38′20″E / 50.87194°N 0.63889°E |
Area | 660 acres (2.7 km2) |
Created | 1974 or earlier |
Operated by | Hastings Borough Council [1] |
Open | 7 days a week, dawn until dusk |
Status | Open all year |
Hastings Country Park was formed in 1974 and covers 345 hectares (850 acres) east of Hastings in England. Sandstone cliffs, glens covered with gorse and trees, footpaths, nature trails, picnic areas and ample car parking are some of the features at the country park. Set in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, [2] it is also a Local Nature Reserve as Hastings Country Park & Fairlight Place Farm. [3] [4] An area of 184.5 hectares (456 acres) has been designated Hastings Cliffs Special Area of Conservation. [5] Most of the park is in Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach Site of Special Scientific Interest [6] [7] and it is also part of Hastings Cliffs Special Area of Conservation [8] and Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay Special Protection Area. [9] Two areas in the park are Geological Conservation Review sites. [10] [11]
The park supported considerable human activity in prehistoric times. Archaeological finds and landmarks date from Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Romano-British, Saxon, Medieval, post-Medieval, Victorian to World War II periods.
A large majority of the park has been identified as an Area of Archaeological Interest, within which, a large area of the East Hill is a designated Ancient Monument.
Many rare and scarce liverworts, mosses and lichens occur within the ghylls or ravines. Peregrines, black redstarts and fulmars breed on the cliffs. Dartford warblers, stonechats and yellowhammers breed on the gorse-covered hillsides. Many migrants pass through the site in spring and autumn and usually include a few rarities such as Sardinian warbler, red-rumped swallow, and Pallas's leaf warbler, which have all occurred in recent years.
Fairlight Glen lies about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the fishing port of Hastings and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the small village of Fairlight Cove on the East Sussex coast. It is a wooded area forming part of the Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve and leading down to Covehurst Bay. This is a naturist beach, but is shared by non-naturist visitors. The name Covehurst Bay is not normally used for the beach, but is marked on OS maps.
Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1958, previously known as the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. It aims to "work with people to restore, save and improve our natural spaces" and to "ensure that 30% of Kent and Medway – land and sea – is managed to create a healthy place for wildlife to flourish". In 2016 it had thirty-one thousand members and an annual income of £4 million. KWT manages over sixty-five nature reserves, of which twenty-four are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, two are national nature reserves, nine are Nature Conservation Review sites, seven are Special Areas of Conservation, three are Special Protection Areas, seven are local nature reserves, one is a Geological Conservation Review site, thirteen are in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and one is a scheduled monument.
Fairlight is a village in East Sussex, England within Rother district, three miles (5 km) to the east of Hastings. Fairlight is also the name of the civil parish forming part of the Rother district which includes the villages of Fairlight and Fairlight Cove. The village of Fairlight lies on a minor road between Ore, Pett and Winchelsea.
The Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) is a conservation charity which aims to protect natural life in Sussex. It was founded in 1961 and is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the UK and the Isle of Man and Alderney. As of 2019, it has 33,000 members and manages 2,000 hectares of land for nature. It is a registered charity and in the year to 31 March 2019 it had an income of £5.7 million and expenditure of £4 million, resulting in net income of £1.7 million.
Icklesham is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located about six miles (10 km) east of Hastings, on the main A259 Hastings to Rye road. The surrounding countryside is a made up of fields, hills, woods, orchards and vineyards.
Pett is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located 5 miles (8.0 km) north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the coast of Rye Bay.
Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay is a 10,172.9-hectare (25,138-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from New Romney in Kent to Winchelsea in East Sussex. An area of 5,129.5 hectares is a Special Protection Area, an area of 3,141.1 hectares is a Special Area of Conservation, and an area of 6,377.6 hectares is a Ramsar Site, a wetland site designated of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Part of the site is in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, parts are Geological Conservation Review sites, part is a Local Nature Reserve, and part is a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nature reserve, and part is a National Nature Reserve.
Rye Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest is a nature reserve located on the western side of the mouth of the River Rother at Rye Harbour, about 1 mile downstream from Rye East Sussex. It forms part of a wide network of SSSI's on the Kent-Sussex border that include the Romney & Walland Marsh, the Dungeness Peninsular, the lower Rother Valley and the Pett Levels.
Romney Warren or Romney Marsh is a 10.9-hectare (27-acre) country park and Local Nature Reserve in New Romney in Kent. It is owned by Folkestone and Hythe District Council and managed by the Romney Warren Project, which is a partnership between Folkestone and Hythe District Council, Romney Warren Charitable Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust and Romney Marsh Countryside Partnership. It is part of the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay Ramsar internationally important wetland site and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The Ashdown Formation is a geological unit, which forms part of the Wealden Group and the lowermost and oldest part of the now unofficial Hastings Beds. These geological units make up the core of the Weald in the English counties of East Sussex and Kent.
Sandwich and Pegwell Bay is a 615-hectare (1,520-acre) nature reserve in Kent, managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is a National Nature Reserve, and it includes a Geological Conservation Review site, Prince's Beachlands Local Nature Reserve and two Special Areas of Conservation, Sandwich Bay and Thanet Coast. It is part of Sandwich Bay and Thanet Coast Ramsar site and Special Protection Area. It is also of Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest and Sandwich/Pegwell Bay Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.
Morston Cliff is a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It is part of Blakeney National Nature Reserve, which is managed by the National Trust, and of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Rye Harbour LNR is a 325.4-hectare (804-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Rye in East Sussex. The site is part of the 465-hectare (1,150-acre) nature reserve managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. It is also part of Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay Ramsar site, Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest and Dungeness Special Area of Conservation.