on the south and west of the Hastings Sands, it consists of blue and mottled clays with thin sand layers and beds of hard limestone, the "Sussex marble" with the shells of Paludina. The Horsham Stone is another local hard bed. Near Tilgate the remains of Iguanodon have been found in this formation. Bordering the outcrop of the Weald Clay is the Lower Greensand; it appears a little north of
Eastbourne and passes thence through Ringmer, Storrington,
Pulborough, Petworth, Midhurst and Linchmere. It contains the
following divisions in ascending order—the Atherfield Clay, Hythe
Beds (sandy limestone, sandstone and chert), Sandgate Beds and
Folkestone Beds. The Eocene strata lying south of the Downs and
west of Brighton—with the exception of some outliers of Reading
Beds near Seaford—include the Woolwich and Reading Beds,
London Clay (with hard “Bognor Rock”), the Bagshot and Bracklesham
Beds; the last-named formation is very fossiliferous in the bay
of that name. As already mentioned, superficial deposits cover
much of the low ground west of Brighton; these include glacial
deposits with large boulders, raised beaches, brick earth and gravels,
marine and estuarine, and the interesting Coombe rock or Brighton
Elephant Bed, a coarse rubble of chalk waste formed late in the
Glacial period, well exposed in the cliff at Black Rock east of
Brighton, where it rests on a raised beach. The natural gas of
Heathfield comes from the Lower Wealden and Purbeck Beds. The
Wadhurst Clay was formerly an important source of iron ore.
Climate and Agriculture.—The climate of the coast district is mild, equable and dry, while that of the Wealden shows greater extremes of temperature, and is rather wetter. The mean daily range of temperature in the Weald is about half as much again as on the coast. The influence of the sea in modifying the temperature of the coast district is specially noticeable in the autumn months, when the temperature is higher than in the Weald and other parts of England northwards. The coast district is specially suitable for market gardens and for growing fruit trees. The fig gardens of West Tarring are celebrated. About seven-tenths of the total area is under cultivation, and of this nearly three-fifths is in permanent pasture. Sussex is still one of the best-wooded counties in England. The acreage under grain crops shows a large decrease; nearly the whole of it is occupied by oats and wheat. The acreage under green crops is mainly devoted to turnips and other food for cattle and to the supply of vegetables for the London market. The growing of hops has not kept pace with that in the neighbouring county of Kent. Cattle are kept in increasing numbers both for breeding and for dairy purposes. The South Downs afford excellent pasture for sheep and Sussex is famed for a special breed of black-faced sheep. The numbers, however, show a steady decrease. Poultry farming is largely carried on in some parts. The custom of borough-English, by which land descends to the youngest son, prevailed to an extra- ordinary degree in Sussex, and no fewer than 140 manors have been catalogued in which it was found. Gavelkind tenure existed in Rye, in the large manor of Brede, and in Coustard manor (in Brede parish).
Other Industries.—The manufacturing industries are meagre. The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Company has large works at Brighton. At Heathfield in 1901 the development of the field of natural gas was begun by a private company. The fisheries are of great importance, including cod, herrings, mackerel, sprats, plaice, soles, turbot, shrimps, crabs, lobsters, oysters, mussels, cockles, whelks and periwinkles. Bede records that St Wilfrid, when he visited the county in 681, taught the people the art of net- fishing. At the time of the Domesday survey the fisheries were extensive, and no fewer than 285 salinae (saltworks) existed. The customs of the Brighton fishermen were reduced to writing in 1579.
Communications.—Communications are provided by the London, Brighton & South Coast railway by lines from the north to St Leonards and Hastings, to Eastbourne, to Lewes and Newhaven, to Brighton, to Shoreham, and to Arundel and Chichester, with numerous branches and a connecting line along the coast. The South-Eastern & Chatham railway serves Bexhill, St Leonards and Hastings, with a coastal branch eastward by Rye. Light railways run from Chichester to Selsey (Selsey railway) and from Robertsbridge to Bodiam and Tenterden (Rother Valley railway). There are no good harbours, and none of the ports is of first importance. From Newhaven, however, a large trade is carried on with France, and daily services of passenger steamers of the Brighton Railway Company ply to Dieppe.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 933,887 acres, with a population in 1891 of 550,446 and in 1901 of 605,202. The earliest statement as to the population is made by Bede, who describes the county as containing in the year 681 land of 7000 families; allowing ten to a family (not an unreasonable estimate at that date), the total population would be 70,000. In 1693 the county is stated to have contained 21,537 houses. If seven were allowed to a house at that date, the total population would be 150,759. It is curious, therefore, to observe that in 1801 the population was only 159,311. The decline of the Sussex ironworks probably accounts for the small increase of population during several centuries, although after the massacre of St Bartholomew upwards of 1500 Huguenots landed at Rye, and in 1685, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many more refugees were added to the county.
An act of Henry VII. (1504) directed that for convenience the county court should be held at Lewes as well as at Chichester, and this apparently gave rise to the division of Sussex into east and west parts, each of which is an administrative county. East Sussex has an area of 528,807 acres and West Sussex of 403, 602 acres. Sussex includes the county boroughs of Brighton and Hastings. East Sussex contains the municipal boroughs of Bexhill (pop. 12,213), Brighton (123,478), Eastbourne (43,344), Hastings (65,528), Hove (36,535), Lewes (11,249) and Rye (3900). The urban districts in this division are Battle (2996), Burgess Hill (4888), Cuckfield (1813), East Grinstead (6094), Haywards Heath (3717), Newhaven (6772), Portslade-by-Sea (5217), Seaford (3355) and Uckfield (2895). In West Sussex the municipal boroughs are Arundel (2739), Chichester, a city (12,244) an d Worthing (20,015). The urban districts are Bognor (6180), Horsham (9446), Littlehampton (7363), Shoreham (3837) and Southwick (3364). The ancient county, which is almost entirely in the diocese of Chichester, contains 377 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. The total number of civil parishes is 338. Sussex is divided into the following parliamentary divisions: northern or East Grinstead, eastern or Rye, southern or Eastbourne, mid or Lewes, south-western or Chichester, north- western or Horsham, each returning one member; and contains the parliamentary boroughs of Brighton, returning two members, and Hastings, returning one.
History.—Apart from conclusions to be drawn from prehistoric remains, the history of Sussex begins in 477, when the Saxons landed in the west of the county under Ella and his three sons, and built up the kingdom of the South Saxons (see Sussex, Kingdom of, below). They took the Roman city of Regnum, which became Chichester, and drove the British westward, into the forest of Andred. The Roman fortress of Anderida, the site of the, castle of Pevensey, also fell to the Saxons. Ella became the most influential of the contemporary Saxon chiefs, and was, according to Bede, the first Bretwalda. After his time the kingdom of Sussex gradually declined, and fell entirely under the dominion of Wessex in 823. Interesting Saxon remains are found in numerous cemeteries, and scattered burial places along the south slopes of the Downs. The cemetery on High Down hill, where weapons, ornaments and vessels of various kinds were found, and the Chanctonbury hoard of coins, are among the most noticeable relics. A coin of Offa of Mercia, found at Beddingham, recalls the charter of Archbishop Wilfred in 825, in which Offa's connexion with the monastery in that place is recorded. From 895 Sussex suffered from constant raids by the Danes, till the accession of Canute, after which arose the two great forces of the house of Godwine and of the Normans. Godwine was. probably a native of Sussex, and by the end of the Confessor's reign a third part of the county was in the hands of his family. Norman influence was already strong in Sussex before the Conquest; the harbours of Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea and Steyning being in the power of the Norman abbey of Fecamp, while the Norman chaplain of Edward the Confessor, Osbern, afterwards bishop of Exeter, held the estate of Bosham.
The county was of great importance to the Normans; Hastings and Pevensey being on the most direct route for Normandy. William was accordingly careful to secure the lines of communication with London by placing the lands in the hands of men bound by close ties to himself, such as his half-brother, the count of Mortain,- who held Pevensey, and his son-in-law, William de Warenne, who held Lewes. With the exception of lands held by the Church and the Crown, the five rapes of Sussex were held by these and three other Norman tenants-in-chief: William de Braose, the count of Eu, and Roger, earl of Montgomery, who held respectively Bramber, Hastings and Arundel. The honour of Battle was afterwards made into a rape by the Conqueror, and provides one of the arguments in favour of the theory of the Norman origin of these unique divisions of the county. The county was divided into five (afterwards six) strips, running north and south, and having each a town of military, commercial and maritime importance. These were the rapes, and each had its sheriff, in addition to the sheriff of the whole county. Whether the origin of the rapes, as districts, is to be found in the Icelandic territorial division hreppr (rejected in the New English Dictionary), or in the Saxon rap, a rope, or is of Norman origin, as lordships
