page_title: Sussex
section_title: Landscape
hierarchical_section_title: Sussex / Geography / Landscape
caption_attribution_description: English: Seven Sisters chalk cliffs in East Sussex. The number seven refers to the cliff peaks, which are individually named: from the west they are Haven Brow, Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flagstaff Point (continuing into Flagstaff Brow), Baily's Hill, and Went Hill Brow. Beyond, on the top of the next hill, is Belle Tout lighthouse. The dips between each Sister are also named: Short Bottom, Limekiln Bottom, Rough Bottom, Gap Bottom, Flagstaff Bottom, and Michel Dean. The South Downs Way runs along the edge of the cliffs, taking a very undulating course. Photograph by Stephen Dawson, 26 May 2003. commons:category:Cliffs commons:category:East Sussex
context_page_description: Sussex, from the Old English Sūþsēaxe, is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English Channel, and divided for many purposes into the ceremonial counties of West Sussex and East Sussex. Brighton and Hove, though part of East Sussex, was made a unitary authority in 1997, and as such, is administered independently of the rest of East Sussex. Brighton and Hove was granted City status in 2000. Until then, Chichester was Sussex's only city.
  Sussex has three main geographic sub-regions, each oriented approximately east to west. In the southwest is the fertile and densely populated coastal plain. North of this are the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, beyond which is the well-wooded Sussex Weald.
  The name derives from the Kingdom of Sussex, which was founded, according to legend, by Ælle of Sussex in AD 477. Around 827, it was absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex and subsequently into the kingdom of England. It was the home of some of Europe's earliest known humans, whose remains have been found at Boxgrove.
context_section_description: The physical geography of Sussex relies heavily on its lying on the southern part of the Wealden anticline, the major features of which are the high lands that cross the county in a west to east direction: the Weald itself and the South Downs. Natural England has identified the following seven national character areas in Sussex:
  South Coast Plain
  South Downs
  Wealden Greensand
  Low Weald
  High Weald
  Pevensey Levels
  Romney Marshes
  At 280m, Blackdown is the highest point in Sussex, or county top. Ditchling Beacon (248m) is the highest point in East Sussex. At 113 kilometres (70 miles) long, the River Medway is the longest river flowing through Sussex. The longest river entirely in Sussex is the River Arun, which is 60 kilometres (37 miles) long. Sussex's largest lakes are man-made reservoirs. The largest is Bewl Water on the Kent border, while the largest wholly within Sussex is Ardingly Reservoir.
caption: The South Downs meets the sea at the Seven Sisters
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S602 ZOOM", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2003:06:01 12:05:37", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "224", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "850", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3335", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/120", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:05:26 15:13:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:05:26 15:13:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3/2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "69/10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "209/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Shade", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "91/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "600", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2678", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2674", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}