Seaford

A coastal town in the county of East Sussex, situated east of Newhaven and Brighton and west of Eastbourne. It has a population of approximately 22,000 and since 1986 has been twinned with the town of Bonningstedt, Germany.

Seaford was one of the main ports serving southern England during the Middle Ages. However, the town's fortunes declined due to coastal sedimentation silting up its harbour and persistent raids by the French who burned the town down several times between 1350 and 1550. As the town’s prosperity dwindled further, Seaford became synonymous with smuggling. It was the arrival of the railway in the 19th century that enabled Seaford to capitalise on the Victorian fashion for sea bathing and, over the next 100 years, became an established seaside resort.

Seaford once had excellent beaches which were supplied with sand by longshore drift moving along the coast from west to east. However, dredging of the entrance to Newhaven harbour in the twentieth century cut off this supply of fresh sand and so by the 1980s the beaches had all but vanished. The shoreline became steep, narrow and made of pebbles. Although attractive to water-sports enthusiasts, since water visibility was clear and there was a rapid drop-off into deep water, it discouraged seaside visitors. Thus, in 1987 an enormous operation was carried out in which nearly one million tons of material was taken from sandbanks out to sea and deposited on the shore. This gave Seaford a broad beach of sand and shingle. The sand has been 'topped-up' many times since then.

The Seven Sisters are a series of chalk cliffs that form part of the South Downs between the towns of Seaford and Eastbourne and are located within the Seven Sisters Country Park. They are the remnants of dry valleys in the chalk South Downs gradually being eroded by the sea. The cliffs are occasionally used in film and television as a stand-in for the more famous white cliffs of Dover, since they are relatively free of anachronistic modern development. They also feature at the beginning of the film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Situated in the Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Seven Sisters Country Park comprises 280 hectares of chalk cliffs, meandering river valleys and open chalk grassland. It is a popular place for a number of outdoor activities including walking, bird-watching, cycling and canoeing. The park offers spectacular views of Belle Tout, Cuckmere Haven and Beachy Head.

Seaford has two impressive eighteen hole golf courses. The Seaford Head Golf Course set high on the cliffs with wonderful views across the coastline, and Seaford Golf Club at East Blatchington up on the Downs. Football is played at the Crouch Recreation Ground. The Downs Leisure Centre offers a variety of sports and pastimes including badminton, indoor bowls, fitness classes, and line dancing. There are tennis courts at the Salts Recreation Ground, a children’s playground and a new skate park. For swimmers there is the Seaford Head Swimming Pool.