The Land of the Brighton Line

This field-guide to the Middle Sussex and South East Surrey Weald is absolutely packed with information and photos on the history, geology, historic land use, ecosystems and wildlife of the Sussex and Surrey Weald.

This part of the rural Weald is one of the most intact, beautiful, and biologically rich areas of countryside in England. Yet it is profoundly threatened by the hyper-development of our region. This book is an essential tool for all who love this countryside and its wildlife and want to help defend and nurture it. Its chapters describe the area’s wildlife, geology, and landscape history. There are chapters on its forests, woods, ancient trees, archaic grassland and heath, rivers and waterlands, as well as farming and landownership, and the threats this countryside faces.

This book focusses on the unknown and little known green spaces of this countryside, for what the eye does not see, the heart will not grieve over.

Author David Bangs is a Brighton resident who has been in the leadership of several successful campaigns to stop the privatisation of Brighton Council’s huge Downland Estate, Worthing Council’s Downland Estate, and Eastbourne Council’s Downland Estate. He co-led the successful campaign against the privatisation (‘stock transfer’) of the City of Brighton’s council housing (2005-7). He co-lead the Sussex campaign for the ‘right to roam’ prior to the passing of the CROW Act (Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000) which brought in a right to roam on certain types of ‘open country’ – mountain, moor, heath, down, and common.He was raised in Hove, and returned to Brighton after 25 years away, largely living in Kings Cross, London. He’s been a public artist (mostly painting murals), a care worker, and a gardener.