The Seven Sisters
In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sussex stood in for the White Cliffs of Dover, and the Seven Sisters are still crumbling for the camera.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- Between Seaford and Eastbourne on the East Sussex coast, stretching from Cuckmere Haven to Birling Gap
- What they are
- A line of chalk cliffs, the sea-cut ends of dry valleys in the South Downs
- Height
- Rising to roughly 80 metres at the highest points
- Age of the rock
- Chalk laid down in warm Cretaceous seas, tens of millions of years ago
- Retreat
- The cliff face wears back by tens of centimetres a year on average, and sometimes drops in one big fall
- Protection
- Part of the South Downs National Park and the Sussex Heritage Coast
- Nearest landmark
- Beachy Head and its red-and-white lighthouse, just to the east
- Screen fame
- Played the White Cliffs of Dover in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
The cliffs that played Dover
The most famous white cliffs in the movies are not always the ones in Kent. When Kevin Reynolds filmed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Kevin Costner's character landed on the shore below chalk that was meant to be Dover. It was actually Sussex, and the Seven Sisters did the job. It's an easy swap to make. The Sisters are whiter, more regular and arguably more photogenic than the real thing, with no ferry port in the way. Their clean rolling profile, one smooth hump after another, has made them one of the most photographed stretches of the English coast.
Why a cliff looks like a row of waves
The rippled skyline is not an accident of erosion alone. The South Downs are cut by dry valleys, carved when the climate was colder and meltwater ran across frozen chalk. Between the valleys lie rounded hills. Then the sea arrived and sliced across the end of the Downs. Each valley was left hanging in mid-air, and the hills between them became the peaks we now call the Sisters. Walk along the cliff top and you are really walking over the cut-off ends of ancient valleys, which is why the path feels like a roller coaster. The chalk itself began as the remains of tiny sea creatures that settled on a warm seabed in the Cretaceous. Bands of flint run through it, and those flints are scattered across the beach below.
A coastline that is eaten, not just admired
The whiteness of the cliffs is a sign they are on the move. Fresh chalk is bright, and old faces turn grey and green. So the dazzling white you see is recent damage, where rain, frost and waves have brought down a slab. The cliffs retreat tens of centimetres a year on average, though that happens in fits. A big winter storm can take a huge chunk at once. At Birling Gap, the row of coastguard cottages has been steadily losing its gardens and, over time, its neighbours, as the cliff edge creeps closer. Stay well back from the edge, and don't shelter beneath the face. It's the same force that moved Belle Tout lighthouse, on the Beachy Head side of Birling Gap. In 1999 the whole building was shifted back about 17 metres on rails to keep it from toppling over the edge.
The river that was straightened
At the western end, the Cuckmere River winds across its flat valley in a set of looping meanders before it reaches the sea at Cuckmere Haven. It is one of the most recognisable views in Sussex, particularly from the cliff top at Seaford Head or the Seven Sisters Country Park. The river hasn't been left entirely to its own devices. In 1846 a straight artificial cut was dug to help drain the valley and reduce flooding, leaving the old meanders as a scenic loop rather than the main channel. The open, unspoilt mouth of the valley also gave smugglers a quiet landing place, and during the Second World War it was fortified against invasion. Concrete defences from that time still sit around the Haven.
What to look for when you're there
Start with the walk. The South Downs Way comes over the Sisters on its last stretch to Eastbourne, and the steep ups and downs are all part of the experience. Haven Brow, at the western end, is a great place to take in the whole line of cliffs at once. At low tide, head down to the beach at Birling Gap and you'll see the chalk shelf stretching out under the water, with rock pools full of life. Look for flints in the cliff face, and for the line of the cliff edge itself, which changes from year to year. Finish at Beachy Head, where the chalk rises even higher and the red-and-white lighthouse stands at the foot of the cliff. Together they make one of the great chalk shorelines of Europe.
Notable people
- Kevin Reynolds