Cissbury Ring: the back story

About Cissbury Ring: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Brighton Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Cissbury Ring, cared for by the National Trust, is the largest hill fort in Sussex: about sixty-five acres inside ditch and ramparts on a chalk promontory above Worthing, with a history going back over 5,000 years.

On a clear day from the top of Cissbury Ring you can see the chalk cliffs beyond Brighton to the east and the Isle of Wight to the west, with the whole of Worthing spread out below. Few places on the south coast show so plainly how long people have lived here.

The flint miners

From around 4000 BC the Downs above Worthing were the earliest and largest flint-mining area in Britain. At Cissbury the Neolithic miners dug about 270 shafts, some as deep as twelve metres, following the seams of flint they shaped into axes and tools.

Check opening times and trains on the official sites before you travel.

The hill fort

Thousands of years later, in the Iron Age, the hill was enclosed by a great ditch and rampart. The fort encloses about sixty-five acres, making it the largest hill fort in Sussex and one of the largest in Britain. Walking the circuit of the ramparts is the best way to take in its scale.

Flowers, butterflies and birds

Centuries of grazing have kept the chalk grassland open, and it is rich in butterflies and flowers, including the round-headed rampion, the “Pride of Sussex”. In spring and autumn migrating birds use the hill as one of their first landfalls after crossing the Channel.

Visiting

There is no National Trust car park. The nearest, at Storrington Rise (BN14 0HT), is free and open 24 hours, with about thirty spaces, and is roughly a twenty-minute walk uphill, through kissing gates and over stiles. There are no toilets on site; the nearest are in Findon Valley near the library. Dogs on leads are welcome. The National Trust publishes two walks: a three-mile circular butterfly walk and a 2.2-mile history and nature trail along an ancient road. The South Downs Way passes about two miles to the north.

Our advice: go on a still, clear morning in high summer for the butterflies and the rampion, wear proper boots, and bring water: there is nothing to buy on the hill.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Cissbury Ring: the back story before you go.