Seascapes | Maritime Eastbourne

Seascapes

For this study program a Seascape is defined as a coastal space exploited by humans.
Along a coastal margin this space encompasses the land adjacent to the beach, the low tide zone and nearshore environment. With fresh water, close-by sources of wood for construction and access to tool technology these spaces have been settled and exploited across the globe. Each can be identified by the maritime environment, geomorphological processes and human cultural traits, and more particularly their boats.
There have been two phases of marine transgression over Pevensey Levels within the past 5,500 years. Therefore, two periods where Pevensey Levels could be classified as fully marine. During the period when sea levels were lower there were rivers, lakes and marshland, as such are classified as brackish and fresh water environments that were also exploited.
The Seascapes of Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay are underpinned by a variety of sediments overlying solid strata that outcrops between Beachy Head and the Pier. Sea level rise since the Romans has redistributed these to reform and re-align the coastline with a barrier beach.
The last marine phase was after the end of the early Iron Age and allowed the Romans followed by the Normans to navigate up to Pevensey Castle.
During the Medieval period Pevensey was associated with the Cinque Ports, but siltation and development of the shingle barrier beach slowly restricted navigation until becoming un-navigable in the late 13th Century. The increase in storm events from this time moved shingle that had accumulated along the Seven Sisters beaches further enclosing the Levels.
Around 1645 the shingle barrier beach was complete cutting Pevensey Levels off from the sea. From this point in time the Seascapes of Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay were built on the barrier beach looking out to sea.
The information and details from the above studies are currently being compiled onto QGIS database and will be accessible via this web-site in the near future.

Figure 1: The red shading defines the predicted coastline if the sea was allowed to flood Pevensey Levels. During the periods of marine transgression outcropping Gault and Sandstone would have appeared as islands that were later settled, such as Northeye and Hooe.