Pathways through Time
Holloways, ancient sunken lanes worn deep into the earth by centuries of use are living connections to our past, telling stories of movement, trade and daily life.
Holloways and droveways formed part of a wider network of trackways and paths in this area, connecting communities and the agricultural, economic and cultural resources available for 1000s of years.
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One of the droveways identified in Eastbourne can be traced from Pococks (near the hospital on Kings Drive), to the Beachy Head area where it takes the form of a double lynchet trackway dating to the Iron Age before it was incorporated into a Roman field system.
An important holloway linking the wetland area of Eastbourne with the Downland was first used in the late Saxon period around 900CE and although parts of the holloway are still visible in the landscape today, it continued to be used until at least 1900. The route had a few minor changes as the settlements and town developed. This holloway was marked on maps from the 17th century and, given the amount of archaeological and historical discoveries uncovered along its route, was clearly a vital part of the landscape. Not merely a path but an enduring imprint of human activity etched into the earth.
On this 18th century map, we can see the route starts (or ends) at the Crumbles area on the coast, probably following the route of Lottbridge Drove, then towards Pocock’s Field, up the hill around Eldon Road then back up towards the downland around Central Avenue then along the ridge towards Beachy Head and Belle Tout.
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In the 1920s, several Iron Age pots and wasters (pots that went wrong in the firing process) were found near what was Green Street Drove (now around Royal Sussex Crescent/Filching Road area) by Rev. W Budgen. These finds suggest that people in the Iron Age were making pottery on this site. The similarities between the pots found there and some of the pottery used in the saltworking process at Pocock’s Field might mean that it was made at this site at Green Street Drove, which is just the other side of the Holloway (And likely route of the earlier droveway) passing the settlement at Pocock’s Field.
