High Rocks

High Rocks
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location within East Sussex
Area of Search	East Sussex
Grid reference	TQ560382
Coordinates	51°07′19″N 0°13′48″E / 51.122°N 0.230°E / 51.122; 0.230Coordinates: 51°07′19″N 0°13′48″E / 51.122°N 0.230°E / 51.122; 0.230
Interest	Geological
Area	3.2 ha (7.9 acres)
Notification	1953 (1953)
Natural England website

High Rocks is a 3.2 hectare (7.9 acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest 3 km (1.9 mi) west of Tunbridge Wells in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1986 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and is an important geomorphological site for sandstone weathering features.

Prehistory

The location was formed when a melting ice sheet at the end of the last ice age uncovered hardened silt deposited when the area was part of the Wealden Lake. There are traces of Middle Stone Age and Iron Age residents, including a 1st-century A.D. fort guarding against the Roman invasion.^[1]

Recent history

After King James II visited Tunbridge Wells and made the woodland a resort in the 17th century, High Rocks became a tourist attraction which also offered a maze, a bowling green, gambling rooms and cold baths. The Aerial Walk, a series of bridges linking the tops of the crags, was built in the 19th century.

A halt served by the local railway was established in 1907, and was used until 1952. The Spa Valley Railway, a heritage railway, now connects the High Rocks pub beyond the High Rocks turnstiles to Tunbridge Wells, Groombridge and Eridge (on the London-Uckfield line of Southern Railway).

Geology and geomorphology

High Rocks is a key geomorphological site for sandstone weathering features developed on the highest cliffs in the Weald. The Ardingly Sandstone has suffered gentle deformation, and joints have opened out to form spectacular gulls (tension cracks) which are wide enough in places for a person to enter.

Open gulls are comparatively rare in Britain, except in the central Weald, and they are nowhere better revealed than in the numerous open passages at High Rocks. The Ardingly Sandstone is friable and poorly cemented, but the surface develops a protective crust and displays a variety of micro-weathering features, notably honeycombing and polygonal cracking. The origin of this cracking is problematic but may relate to freezing and thawing under periglacial conditions during the Pleistocene. This type of cracking is found in Britain only on the sandstone outcrops in the central Weald, and is most strikingly displayed at High Rocks.

Steps leading up to the Aerial Walk.
The large chasm and one of the bridges.
A rock climber scaling a sandstone crag.
The Crooked Bridge of the Aerial Walk.

Current use

The crags are visited by rock climbers and other members of the public. It is also frequently used for wedding receptions. Footpaths lead around the rocks, and it is possible to walk across the top of crags on footbridges. The main area is fenced in and there is an entrance fee to enter the site.^[2] An unfenced and free access section of the ridge of rock outcrops can be reached by following the footpath west of the pub, next to the railway line.

References

↑ "High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells History". Penshurst Online. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
↑ "High Rocks National Monument" (PDF). The High Rocks. Retrieved 5 February 2013.

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Locations within Tunbridge Wells	Hawkenbury High Brooms Langton Green Rusthall The Pantiles

Buildings	High Brooms station High Rocks halt Holy Trinity Church Hungershall Forge Kent and Sussex Hospital King Charles the Martyr Church Royal Victoria Place St. Mark's Church St. Paul's Church Standings Mill The Opera House Tunbridge Wells station Tunbridge Wells West station

Businesses	BBC South East Freight Transport Association Kent and Sussex Courier Subbuteo

People	List of people from Royal Tunbridge Wells Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

Political	Tunbridge Wells constituency (since 1974) Tunbridge Wells borough (since 1974) Local elections

Schools and colleges	Bennett Memorial Skinners' St. Gregory's Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School K College

Sport, leisure and the arts	Assembly Hall Theatre BBC Radio Kent Dunorlan Park High Rocks Ice Melters Curling Club KMFM West Kent Linden Park Cricket Club Nevill Ground South East Today Spa Valley Railway Trinity Theatre Tunbridge ware Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week Tunbridge Wells Cricket Club Tunbridge Wells Football club Tunbridge Wells Forum Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon Tunbridge Wells Rugby club

Twin towns	Wiesbaden

Italics denote places in East Sussex included as they are generally considered part of Tunbridge Wells.

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Arlington Reservoir Asham Quarry Ashburnham Park Ashdown Forest Bingletts Wood Blackhorse Quarry Bream Wood Brede Pit and Cutting Brighton to Newhaven Cliffs Burgh Hill Farm Meadow Buxted Park Castle Hill Chailey Common Clayton to Offham Escarpment Combe Haven Dallington Forest Darwell Wood Ditchling Common Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay Eridge Green Eridge Park Firle Escarpment Folkington Reservoir Fore Wood Hastingford Cutting Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach Heathfield Park Hemingfold Meadow Herstmonceux Park High Rocks High Woods Houghton Green Cliff Kingston Escarpment and Iford Hill Leasam Heronry Wood Lewes Brooks Lewes Downs Lower Dicker Lullington Heath Maplehurst Wood Marline Valley Woods Milton Gate Marsh Northiam Offham Marshes Paines Cross Meadow Park Corner Heath Penn's Rocks Pevensey Levels Plashett Park Wood River Line Rock Wood Rye Harbour Sapperton Meadows Seaford to Beachy Head Southerham Grey Pit Southerham Machine Bottom Pit Southerham Works Pit St. Dunstan's Farm Meadows Stockland Farm Meadows Waldron Cutting Weir Wood Reservoir Willingdon Down Willingford Meadows Wilmington Downs Winchelsea Cutting

List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest by Area of Search

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