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Author: paynot | Total views: 23 Comments: 0
Word Count: 720 Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 4:25 AM

East Sussex, Info For Visitors

The County of East Sussex is in South East Britain. It shares its borders with Brighton, Hove, Kent, Surrey and on the southern side with the English Channel.

After the Romans left Britain, this county became part of the Saxon Kingdom in the 5th century. Archeologists however have found many remains of the people living here, many centuries before that. Various Kings invaded this county due to its splendid coastline and the county also had some ancient industries like wool trade, iron works and fishing etc. These days it is famous for its tourist industry with many tourist seaside resorts coming in most of the cities situated on its lovely coastline.

Geologically speaking, East Sussex has a range of chalk hills that exist in the southern part of the county and they go from west to east. Ridges and valleys lie horizontally on its northern side. The apex ridge here is called Weald and The Downs are found at Beachey Head where clay and sandstone is found on its beautiful beaches.

At 162m or 530ft above sea level are the seven sisters and situated here are the remains of dry valleys that penetrated in to the chalk hills and culminates at Beachey Head. The land starts elevating at Bexhill where clays and sand of the Weald meets the sea, it forms spectacular beaches and sandstone cliffs. Beyond these are many marshlands, rivers, estuaries and hills with the highest peak, Ditchling Beacon at 814 ft or 248 m.

Further near Weald on the borders is where many rivers and streams occupy the region. This area is heavily wooded and a portion of this area has a forest called Ashdown Forest.

A lot of settlements have depended on this county's geography and its sources as most of these are near the sea or at Weald. Fishing and iron mining and agriculture are at these places respectively. These days it is the tourist industry that is gaining momentum, especially near the seacoast.

Many market towns also lie in its interiors like the Lewes, which is its county town. There is another significant town called Battle, from where the Norman invasion started in UK. Regional gross value added of this county of East Sussex at present basic prices published by office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Many historical landmarks are there, such as castles, defense works, Rudyard Kipling's house and the University of Sussex. It also has many towers like Martello Towers and Eastbourne Redoubt. Some buildings have been constructed to commemorate the famous battles that had taken place on this county's land. It also has several great and magnificent parks that are suitable for visitors.

With no motorways, some radial style roads come from London and touch it e.g. A21 to Hastings, A22 to Eastbourne, A23 toBrighton and A26 which goes from Lewes and Newhaven to Kent. A259 trunk road becomes A 27 trunk road when it passes near Eastbourne and heads towards west. It is one of the busiest trunk roads of UK. Bus routes do service to all the main populated areas and many of the villages in the county.

The railways play an important role in serving the public just like the roads. Many branch railways were closed during the 20th century in rural east Sussex, but some lines were saved from the Beeching Axe so that main line services still are working.

There still are three heritage lines serving the people, which are at Lavender Line Steam Railway near Lewes, Kent and East Sussex Railway Tenterden to Bodiam and Bluebell Railway from Sheffield Park to Kingscote. East Coastway Line, London Hasting and Oxted lines are also serving the people.

Sussex Border Path, South Downs Way, Saxon Shore Way, 1066 Country Walk, Sussex Ouse Valley Way, High Weald Landscape Trail, Vanguard Way and the Wealdway are very long distance footpaths existing in East Sussex.

With 27 state secondary and 12 independent secondary schools, it makes the education system a real comprehensive one. All big cities in the county have independent boarding schools. Located at Sedlescombe is an international foundation called Pestalozzi Childrens Village school. A new university is also functioning in East Sussex.