View from just south of the summit, looking towards the eastern side of Brighton. The road is named Ditchling Road at this point
Ditchling Beacon is the highest point in East Sussex, England, with an elevation of 248 m (814 ft).[1] It is south of Ditchling and to the north-east of Brighton. It is a large chalk hill with a particularly steep northern face, covered with open grassland and sheep-grazing areas. It is the third-highest point on the South Downs, behind Butser Hill (270 m (890 ft)) and Crown Tegleaze (253 m (830 ft)).
A road runs from Ditchling up and across the northern face and down into the northern suburbs of Brighton, and there are car parks at the summit and the northern base. Various charity, sporting and other events which are run regularly between London and Brighton incorporate this steep road as a challenging part of their route. It was also featured as a climb on the first of two days' racing in Britain in the 1994 Tour de France.[2] The Tour organisers gave Ditchling Beacon a climb category of 4. 20 years later it was included as part of the route of the seventh stage of the 2014 Tour of Britain from Camberley to Brighton.[3]
Ditchling Beacon is part of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment biological Site of Special Scientific Interest[4] and an area of 24 hectares (59 acres) is a nature reserve managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.[5] The slopes represent some of the best chalk downland in the area.
^ abBathurst, David (2012). Walking the county high points of England. Chichester: Summersdale. pp. 76–81. ISBN 978-1-84-953239-6.
^Whitfield, Martin (4 July 1994). "Cycling / Tour de France: Hills and sprints set to attract crowds". The Independent. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
^"Tour of Britain 2014 stage seven preview". Cycling Weekly. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^"Designated Sites View: Clayton to Offham Escarpment". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
^"Ditchling Beacon". Sussex Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
DitchlingBeacon is the highest point in East Sussex, England, with an elevation of 248 m (814 ft). It is south of Ditchling and to the north-east of Brighton...
delicatessen and other shops. Ditchling has community groups and societies, including the Ditchling Film Society and the Ditchling Singers. The village lies...
the countryside of The Weald, crossing the North and South Downs. DitchlingBeacon on the South Downs (near but not part of the A23) is a steep climb...
to DitchlingBeacon and the western end of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment. Tegdown Hill is the next hill to the west of the downland Ditchling Road...
the National Trust. What remains of Ditchling Tenantry Down common (24 hectares (59 acres)) at DitchlingBeacon is leased to the Sussex Wildlife Trust...
High Weald and second highest point in East Sussex (the highest is DitchlingBeacon). Its relative height is 159 m, meaning Crowborough qualifies as one...
6th Earl of Leicester and Henry III during the Second Barons' War. DitchlingBeacon probably due to its height, had for centuries been used to warn local...
The parish contains one scheduled monument: Round barrows West of DitchlingBeacon (List Entry Number 1005830), four bowl barrows, forming part of a round...
grassland on the west and south facing scarp slopes of the Meon valley; and Beacon Hill, a high quality chalk grassland 5 km west of Old Winchester Hill. In...
MacMichael, Simon (23 August 2017). "Sussex cyclists aged 13 and 14 in DitchlingBeacon 'Everesting' attempt". road.cc. Retrieved 15 June 2023. "Ex Newman...
to DitchlingBeacon and the western end of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment. Tegdown Hill is the next hill to the west of the downland Ditchling Road...
Bank, Cleveland Stuart Dangerfield Steve Hulme Jim Henderson 1995 DitchlingBeacon, East Sussex Stuart Dangerfield Jeff Wright Chris Newton 1994 Jackson...
Syrian Chief, a landscape painting by John Charles Dollman depicting DitchlingBeacon and a painting by T. Hardy depicting the Battle of Lewes. There is...
sections of the London to Brighton bike ride, perhaps second only to DitchlingBeacon, and every year causes severe congestion. Within the parish, there...
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