The New International Encyclopædia/Downs

DOWNS (AS., OHG. dūn, Ger. Düne, Fr. dune, from Ir. dūn, Welsh din, hill, fort; ultimately connected with AS., Icel. tūn, Engl. town, OHG. zūn, Ger. Zaun, hedge). A term usually applied to hillocks of sand thrown up by the sea or the wind along the seacoast. It is also a general name for any undulating tract of upland too light for cultivation and covered with short grass. It is especially applied to two broad ridges of undulating hills in England south of the Thames, beginning in the middle of Hampshire and running eastward, the one (the North Downs) through the middle of Surrey and Kent to Dover (about 120 miles), and the other (the South Downs) through the southeast of Hampshire and near the Sussex coast to Beachy Head (about 80 miles). Between the two ridges lies the valley of the Weald, from which the chalk strata are supposed to have been removed by denudation. Toward the Weald the descent from both Downs is rapid, while the opposite slopes are gradual. The highest point of the North Downs is Botley Hill, 880 feet, and that of the South Downs, Ditchelling Beacon, 858 feet. These uplands are covered with fine pasture, forming excellent feeding ground for the famous Southdown sheep. The valleys occurring among the hills are usually fertile and admit of cultivation, so that an excellent field is furnished for mixed husbandry.