Cuckmere Haven

Cuckmere Haven lies where the river Cuckmere meets the English Channel between Eastbourne and Seaford in East Sussex. The wide flood plains stretch beside the river’s winding channel and several oxbow lakes. The shingle beach sits below the famous chalk cliffs known as the Seven Sisters. About 350,000 visitors come each year to walk the long paths or try water activities on the river. At low tide the wreck of the German sailing ship Polynesia appears on the shore west of Beachy Head. The site has a long history tied to smuggling gangs in the 16th to 18th centuries. During the Second World War the Luftwaffe studied the estuary for possible invasion landings. British forces then built pillboxes, anti-tank ditches and tank traps that still stand today. A narrow-gauge tramway once carried gravel from the beach to Exceat until it closed in the 1960s. The footpath east of the river follows the old tramway route. Visitors find sheep and cattle grazing across the meadows while oystercatchers feed in the water meadows. Woodpigeons and rooks search the stubble and rock pools appear along the shoreline at low tide. The coastguard cottages built in the 19th century now face erosion after the cliff has moved back more than 30 metres. Films such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire have used the landscape as their setting.