Dispatches from the South: In My Own Backyard

Some years back, while perusing a “Scenic Views of the Britain” calendar, I found a picture of a stunning coastal cliff, stark white and undulating along the edge of the sea like a ruffle of lace. I proposed to myself then and there that I, one day, would see this spectacle in person.

“Those cliffs,” I said to my wife. “Could we visit them someday?”

“Sure. They’re called the Seven Sisters, and they’re just over at Cuckmere Haven; it’s a half-hour drive from here.”

And so, on a sunny Sunday afternoon soon after, we went. A short, scenic drive through the downs brought us to the coast and an invigorating walk took us out to and up upon these magnificent cliffs. It was a marvellous experience. (By the by, a scene from “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was filmed on the largest of “The Sisters.”)

The Seven Sisters

Since then, I’ve been keen to find other treasures close to home. We visited the Hundred Acre Wood one day, and played Pooh-sticks with about three hundred other A. A. Milne (or, more likely, Walt Disney) fans, and we’ve been to the stately homes of Rudyard Kipling and Winston Churchill, even though neither of them live there anymore.

And this past weekend, I saw one of the wonders of the Victorian age—the Balcombe Viaduct.

This came about surprisingly like the visit to The Seven Sisters. I was looking at a scenic calendar and saw an impressive railway bridge and, although I’m not a train spotter or anything, decided I’d like to see it.

The Balcombe Viaduct turned out to be, as one might expect, near Balcombe, which is a little village not far from my home. In fact, I cross the Balcombe Viaduct on a routine basis, but it’s hard to see from the train. It’s also not easy to get to; the roads are narrow and there is hardly any room to pull over safely. And it’s too big to get a full view of it from the road, yet at the same time, it’s too far away to fully appreciate the true grandeur of the structure.

The Balcombe Viaduct

It was built in 1841 by John Urpeth Rastrick and is still part of the main London to Brighton line. What makes it special is the slim, elegant design, which is not fully apparent from these photos. It is composed of 37 arches, is 100 feet high, 1,500 feet long and contains 11 million bricks.

Standing at the side of the road looking at this majestic structure spanning across the distant field, I could only imagine what the local farmers and passers-by made of the construction of such an impossibly large structure. Were they sceptical? Did it anger them? (After all, that field had to belong to someone.) Did the fast pace of progress frighten them, or did they, like the builders, designers and dreamers who made the viaduct possible, look forward to a brighter future? You can say what you like about the Victorians, but they were energetic, enthusiastic and motivated.

So now it’s time to get back to the scenic calendars and hunt up another local treasure; there must be a castle or something lurking nearby.