a potted history of the cuckmere estuary

Pre-historic period

Before the formation of the English Channel and during periods of low sea level, the Cuckmere would have formed a tributary of the English Channel river system. As such it would have offered a natural routeway into the main body of the Wealden landscape for game herds and hunting groups of early humans.

Deposits can be seen in the cliff face on the western side of the Cuckmere Haven, containing sands, silts and gravels deposited during the tertiary and Pleistocene ages. They are complex and poorly understood, but it has been suggested that they may represent an exposure of sediments laid down hundreds off thousands of years ago by the River Cuckmere. The deposits have produced both Pleistocene mammal remains and a single flint handaxe.

Mesolithic to Roman period

Rising sea levels severed the land link between southern England and Europe around 8500 year ago, and Mesolithic groups in Britain developed a different culture to those in continental Europe. The climate became warmer, and cool tundra-like landscapes were replaced by deciduous woodlands of hazel, lime and oak, broken by isolated patches of grassland. Finds from the surrounding valleys sides and Downlands demonstrate that the area was actively used from the Mesolithic through to the Roman period and it is likely that remains of the period lie buried within deposits of the Estuary.

Studies of alluvial, colluvial (hill wash) and peat deposits in South East England indicate that there was deliberate forest clearance in the Mesolithic period to create areas for pasture and to increase agricultural productivity.

Soil samples taken from the deposits of the upper Cuckmere Valley show these deep alluvial deposits, which may represent sediment that has accumulated after the removal of vegetation during this period. As the river transported this sediment downstream, the estuary and coastal plain were formed. Much of the plain is now submerged along the East Sussex coastline.

As sea levels continued to rise during the last 8500 years, the estuary was subject to fluctuating periods of marine transgression (flooding, scouring and deposition of alluvium) and regression (drying out and the formation of marshland and meadowland).

There is some limited archaeological evidence for salt production, and finds that might indicate small scale associated settlement in the estuary during the Roman period.

There is currently no recorded archaeological evidence related to the subsequent Saxon period, although the place name Chyngton is likely to be of Saxon origin. It is possible that remains from these periods lie buried within the sediments of the Estuary.

Medieval period

In the 12th century attempts were made to create a port and on the higher ground to the west a new settlement called Poynings Town. This venture appears to have been short lived and no physical evidence for the port has been found to date. During this period it is likely that the valley floor would have been salt marsh, cut by the meandering river.

In the 13th century the manor of Chyngtynges was granted to Michelham Priory. It is likely that it was from this time onwards that the Priory began the reclamation of parts of the valley to provide valuable pasture land through the management of innings and brooks. Evidence for these embankments and ditches can still be seen today along the western side of the valley. The eastern side does not appear to have been ‘improved’ to the same degree and retains its salt marsh character.

Documentary records of the Cuckmere Levels Water Court attest to the ongoing problems of drainage, flooding and scouring, which continued until the creation of the New Cut in the mid-19th century.

Post Medieval period

During the Napoleonic Wars the Estuary was seen as potential landing point for invading armies and was defended by two garrisons of militia stationed either side of the river mouth.

Remains still survive of the eastern camp, in the form of water tanks and building platforms.

The 20th century

During the early 20th century, beach shingle was extracted from the Cuckmere
Estuary for construction, and transported using narrow gauge railway from the beach to Exceat, traces of which still remain.

Around this time, cross-channel communication cables were landed at the estuary mouth.

Conflict has also left its mark on the estuary. In World War I the area was used for the training of troops who used it as a firing range.

During World War II, as a response to the threat of invasion, the area was heavily defended with a network of pillboxes, anti-tank blocks, earthworks and mine fields. Later in the war, Cuckmere Haven was used as a decoy lighting site for Newhaven.

The World War II beach defences at the Cuckmere Estuary are still a relatively complete set, and to a large degree they remain in the same landscape setting as when they were built.

[Source: Cuckmere Estuary Partnership]