The Weald is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre, the clay "Low Weald" periphery and the Greensand Ridge, which stretches around the north and west of the Weald and includes its highest points. The Weald once was covered with forest and its name, Old English in origin, signifies "woodland". The term is still used, as scattered farms and villages sometimes refer to the Weald in their names.
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs. The North Downs Way National Trail runs along the North Downs from Farnham to Dover.
Ide Hill is a village within the civil parish of Sundridge with Ide Hill, in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It stands on one of the highest points of the Greensand Ridge about three miles south-west of Sevenoaks. Its name first appears on record in 1250 as Edythehelle. It is an eponymic denoting 'Edith's hill', from the Old English hyll 'hill'. The village lies within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Kent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Kent, England. They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover, including a small section of the London Borough of Bromley. The AONB also includes the Greensand Ridge, a prominent sandstone escarpment which lies south of the chalk escarpment of the North Downs.
Brasted is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. Brasted lies on the A25 road, between Sundridge and Westerham; the road is named Westerham Road, High Street and Main Road as it passes through the village east to west. Brasted is 6 km west of Sevenoaks town. The parish had a population of 1321 and includes the hamlets of Brasted Chart, Toys Hill and Puddledock. The village of Brasted has a number of 18th-century houses with several antique shops, pubs and residences. The parish church is dedicated to St Martin.
The Greensand Way is a long-distance path of 108 miles (174 km) in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and alongside fruit orchards and hop farms in Kent and links with the Stour Valley Walk near Pluckley in Kent. The trail was opened on 15 June 1980 and is jointly managed by Surrey and Kent Councils who fully updated it in 2012.
Blackdown, or Black Down, summit elevation 279.7 metres (918 ft) AMSL, is the highest point in both the historic county of Sussex and the South Downs National Park. It is one of the highest points in the south east of England, exceeded by Walbury Hill, Leith Hill and Pilot Hill. Blackdown is protected as part of the South Downs National Park.
The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand, is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it runs to and from the East Sussex coast, wrapping around the High Weald and Low Weald. It reaches its highest elevation, 294 metres (965 ft), at Leith Hill in Surrey—the second highest point in south-east England, while another hill in its range, Blackdown, is the highest point in Sussex at 280 metres (919 ft). The eastern end of the ridge forms the northern boundary of Romney Marsh.
Kent is the south-easternmost county in England. It is bounded on the north by the River Thames and the North Sea, and on the south by the Straits of Dover and the English Channel. The continent of Europe is 21 miles across the straits.
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.
The western Weald is an area of undulating countryside in Hampshire and West Sussex containing a mixture of woodland and heathland areas.
The London to Lewes Way is a 71 kilometres (44 mi) long Roman road between Watling Street at Peckham and Lewes in Sussex. The road passes through Beckenham and West Wickham, then crosses the North Downs above Titsey, on the county boundary between Surrey and Kent, and is overlain by Edenbridge High Street. The road continues on this alignment onto the high ground of Ashdown Forest, where the more grassy vegetation on the silted up outer ditches contrasts very clearly with surrounding heather in aerial photographs, then descends through Piltdown to Lewes, linking with the Sussex Greensand Way at Barcombe Mills and with a network of roads at Lewes.
The Lower Greensand Group is a geological unit present across large areas of Southern England. It was deposited during the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It predominantly consists of sandstone and unconsolidated sand that were deposited in shallow marine conditions.
Holmbury Hill is a wooded area of 261 metres (856 ft) above sea level in Surrey, England, and the site of an Iron Age-period hillfort. The Old Saxon word "holm" can be translated as hill and "bury" means fortified place. It sits along the undulating Greensand Ridge, its summit being 805 feet (245 m) from the elevated and tightly clustered small village of Holmbury St. Mary which was traditionally part of Shere, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) away.
Stubbs Wood Country Park is in Sevenoaks, in Kent, England. It is located on the Greensand Ridge, close to Ide Hill village. The site is owned and managed by Sundridge with Ide Hill Parish Council.
The geology of Kent in southeast England largely consists of a succession of northward dipping late Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks overlain by a suite of unconsolidated deposits of more recent origin.
The geology of West Sussex in southeast England comprises a succession of sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous age overlain in the south by sediments of Palaeogene age. The sequence of strata from both periods consists of a variety of sandstones, mudstones, siltstones and limestones. These sediments were deposited within the Hampshire and Weald basins. Erosion subsequent to large scale but gentle folding associated with the Alpine Orogeny has resulted in the present outcrop pattern across the county, dominated by the north facing chalk scarp of the South Downs. The bedrock is overlain by a suite of Quaternary deposits of varied origin. Parts of both the bedrock and these superficial deposits have been worked for a variety of minerals for use in construction, industry and agriculture.
The geology of Surrey is dominated by sedimentary strata from the Cretaceous, overlaid by clay and superficial deposits from the Cenozoic.
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.
The geology of the South Downs National Park in South East England comprises a gently folded succession of sedimentary rocks from the Cretaceous and early Palaeogene periods overlain in places by a range of superficial deposits from the last 2.6 million years. Whereas the South Downs are formed from the Late Cretaceous age chalk, the South Downs National Park extends into the Weald to the north of the range and thereby includes older rock strata dating from the Early Cretaceous including sandstones and mudstones. The youngest solid rocks are found on the southern fringes of the National Park in the eastern extension of the Hampshire Basin and include sand, silt and clay deposited during the Palaeocene and Eocene epochs.
