Boards on the Telscombe Tye outline the history of the Tye, meaning enclosure or common. The Tye is an area of registered common land owned by Telscombe Town Council and is within the South Downs National Park between Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs and Peacehaven.
It is an area for wildflowers and ground nesting birds to flourish and is one of the few places on the South Downs west of Seaford where the Downs meet the sea uninterrupted by development.
The 'funeral track' runs down the middle of the Tye and is a restricted byway. In the past it was a haunt for highwaymen and a route used by smugglers and funeral processions on their way to St Laurence Church in Telscombe Village.
The ground is undulating, with rabbit barrows over the entire Tye and there is a steady rise from north to south.
Important Bronze Age earthworks occur on the Tye. 'Bowl Barrows' or 'Tumuli' are burial mounds dating from 3000 years ago which were originally topped with chalk and stood out from the landscape. Urns holding human remains which were dug up from a Tye bowl barrow can now be seen in Brighton Museum. The 'Cross Dyke' which was probably used as a boundary marker is now covered in scrub.
For more information on the Tye go to https://www.telscombetowncouncil.gov.uk/telscombe-tye/
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