Location: Sussex Map
Age: 60- 130 million years
Height: 253 ft (77 m)
Seven Sisters is a prominent white chalk cliff on
the British shores situated in Sussex province in United
Kingdom. This prominent geological formation of the region was
formed 60- 130 million years ago. They are part of the South
Downs in East Sussex, between the towns of Seaford and
Eastbourne in southern England. They are inside the Seven
Sisters Country Park. They are the remains of dry valleys in the
chalk of the South Downs, which are slowly being eroded by the
sea.
The Siete Hermanas cliffs are occasionally used in movies and
television productions as a substitute for Dover's most famous
white cliffs, as they are relatively free of anachronistic
modern developments and are also allowed to erode naturally. As
a result, the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head are still bright
white, while the white cliffs of Dover are protected due to the
important port and therefore are increasingly covered by
vegetation and turn green as a result. These cliffs appear at
the beginning of the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and
also at the end of the film Atonement, where Robbie and Cecilia
always wanted to live.
From west to east, the sequence begins just east of Cuckmere
Haven. The peaks of the cliffs and the falls between them are
named individually. They are listed below. There are seven
hills, with an octave that is being created by the erosion of
the sea.
Since there are eight crests and seven depressions, it is debatable whether the name refers to the crests or the depressions. According to an exhibition at the National Trust Visitor Center at Birling Gap, the name Seven Sisters dates back to around 1600. Only then did another cliff, the eighth sister, form due to continuous erosion. However, the historical designation has been preserved.
From west to east, beginning east of Cuckmere Haven, they bear the
following names, with the valleys in between also having individual
designations. In the list, the cliffs are highlighted in bold:
Haven
Brow
Flat Hill
Gap Bottom
Flagstaff Point (continuing into
Flagstaff Brow)
Flathill Bottom
Baily's Hill
Michel Dean
Limekiln Bottom
Rough Brow
Rough Bottom
Brass Point
Short
Bottom
Short Brow
Flagstaff Bottom
Went Hill Brow
East
of the last rock is the village of Birling Gap, which is severely
threatened by erosion. Access to the beach is possible via a set of
stairs. Behind it is the Belle Tout lighthouse, which has already been
moved inland, and then the highest chalk cliff in Great Britain, Beachy
Head (162 m high), below which there is a lighthouse (44 m).
The Seven Sisters are sometimes presented in cinema and television to
replace the white cliffs of Dover due, in particular, to the low
urbanization of the place, which reduces the risk of anachronisms.
The Seven Sisters are introduced at the beginning of the film Robin
Hood, Prince of Thieves as well as at the end of the film Come Back to
Me.
An eastern view of the Seven Sisters is one of the wallpapers
available by default in Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.