Pett

Pett is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located 5 miles (8.0 km) north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the coast of Rye Bay.[3]

For other uses, see Pett (disambiguation).

Pett
St Mary and St Peter's Church, Pett
Pett is located in East Sussex
Pett
Pett
Location within East Sussex
Area6.5 km2 (2.5 sq mi) [1]
Population846 (Parish-2011)[2]
• Density311/sq mi (120/km2)
OS grid referenceTQ873139
• London54 miles (87 km) NW
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHASTINGS
Postcode districtTN35
Dialling code01424
PoliceSussex
FireEast Sussex
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament

The road through the village leads down to the second village in the parish: Pett Level, the coastal part of which is known as Cliff End. Here there is a beach and, as the name suggests, the Weald sandstone cliffs reach their easternmost point. Pett Level marks the end of both the Royal Military Canal and the western end of the 1940s sea defence wall.[3] The Saxon Shore Way passes through Pett Level.[4] Pett parish church is dedicated to St Mary and St Peter.[5] Pett also has a Methodist chapel,[6] and a small Church of England church at Cliff End.[5]

History

The manor of Pett belonged to a succession of families, including the Halle family, the Levett family, the Fletchers and the Medleys, before eventually passing to the Earls of Liverpool.[7]

Landmarks
Cliff End at Pett Level showing the beach in the foreground, The ancient forest and the end of the sandstone cliffs in the distance.

There is a Site of Special Scientific Interest partly within the parish. Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach runs along the coast and is of both biological and geological interest. The cliffs hold many fossils and have many habitats, including ancient woodland and shingle beaches.[8] These include a sunken forest, a warship which is thought to have sunk in 1690, a lost series of Martello towers. At Cliff End the beach has some fossils and some dinosaur footprints made by iguanodons and ankylosaurus up to 100m years ago in the Lower Cretaceous.[9][10]

Sunken forest

A sunken forest that can be seen in the sand at low tide in the shore opposite the levels. It is a relic of a past  8000 years ago when sea levels were about 100 ft (30m) lower than today. The melting of glaciers has since raised the sea level worldwide. The forest can be seen as spongy wooden roots , fallen trunks and tree stumps across large areas in the sand. Sea conditions may bury the remains in sand from time to time until uncovered again by storms. The trees have been identified as oak, birch and hazel.[11]

Wreck of HMS Anne

HMS Anne was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched in 1678. She was badly damaged at the Battle of Beachy Head on 30 June 1690. Her captain beached her here and she was set on fire to prevent capture by the French. Her remains were discovered when the vessel was partly dug up by a mechanical excavator in 1974.[12] The wreck is usually exposed by low tides which are below 0.6m above the chart datum (Dover). She lies in sand on a firm clay substrate on top of the prehistoric submerged forest. An explanatory panel is placed opposite her location on the sea wall.[13]

Pett Level beach was the filming location for parts of the video of David Bowie's 1980 number one hit single "Ashes to Ashes."[14] Jonathan Miller filmed the beach scenes for his 1966 TV film of Alice in Wonderland at Pett Level. Sir John Gielgud played the Mock Turtle and Malcolm Muggeridge was the Gryphon.

References
  1. "East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  2. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  3. "Pett Level". Pett Level. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  4. "Hastings to Pett Level walking on beach". ViewRanger. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  5. "Fairlight & Pett Churches". Fairlight & Pett Churches. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  6. "Pett Methodist Chapel". Pett Methodist Chapel. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. Mark Antony Lower (1870). A Compendious History of Sussex.
  8. SSSI Citation — Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach (PDF) (Report). Natural England. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
  9. Tanya Gupta (14 August 2013). "'Little known' about ancient Pett Level sunken forest". BBC. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  10. Cockburn, Harry (16 June 2023). "One of Britain's largest sunken forests reveals its secrets". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  11. Gupta, Tanya (14 August 2013). "'Little known' about ancient Pett Level sunken forest". BBC News. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  12. Donnelly, Luke. "The incredible Sussex wrecks and ruins you only get to see at low tide". Sussex Live. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  13. "ANNE - 1000060 | Maritime Wreck, Historic England". Historic England. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  14. Pegg, Nicholas (2011). The Complete David Bowie (6th ed.). London: Titan Books. p. 30. ISBN 9780857682901.

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