The Seven Sisters are a series of

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

sea

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

s on the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

coast, and are a stretch of the sea-eroded section of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the ...

range of hills, in the county of

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, in south-east

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The Seven Sisters cliffs run between the mouth of the River Cuckmere near Seaford, and the chalk headland of Beachy Head outside of

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

. The dips or swales that separate each of the seven crests from the next are the remnants of dry valleys in the chalk South Downs which are being gradually eroded by the sea. Some of the cliffs and adjacent countryside make up the Seven Sisters Country Park, which is bounded on its inland side by the A259 road, and is itself a part of the larger

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

Cliffs

From west to east, the sequence starts just east of Cuckmere Haven. The cliff peaks and the dips between them are individually named. Listed below, the peaks are in italics. There are seven hills, with an eighth one being created by the erosion of the sea. *''Haven Brow'' *Short Bottom *''Short Brow'' *Limekiln Bottom *''Rough Brow'' *Rough Bottom *''Brass Point'' *Gap Bottom *''Flagstaff Point'' (continuing into Flagstaff Brow) *Flagstaff Bottom *''Flat Hill'' *Flathill Bottom *''Baily's Hill'' *Michel Dean *''Went Hill Brow'' (). Just east of the last peak is

Birling Gap East Dean and Friston is a civil parish in the Wealden District, Wealden District of East Sussex, England.The two villages in the parish are in a dry valley on the South Downs – between Eastbourne three miles (4.8 km) to the east and Sea ...

. Beyond, on the top of the next hill, is Belle Tout Lighthouse and beyond that Beachy Head. A lighthouse in the sea marks the latter headland. The South Downs Way runs along the edge of the cliffs, taking a very undulating course. Many landmarks around the area are named after the cliffs, including the Seven Sisters Sheep Centre.

Film and television

The Seven Sisters cliffs are occasionally used in

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

as a stand-in for the more famous White Cliffs of Dover, since they are relatively free of

anachronistic An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common typ ...

modern development and are also allowed to erode naturally. As a result, the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head remain a bright white colour, whereas the White Cliffs of Dover are protected due to the important port and are therefore increasingly covered in vegetation and are greening as a result. They are also featured at the beginning of the film '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,'' and at the end of the film '' Atonement'' where Robbie and Cecilia always wanted to live. The Seven Sisters are seen in the background of the

Quidditch Quidditch () is a fictional sport invented by author J. K. Rowling for her fantasy book series ''Harry Potter''. It first appeared in the novel ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997). In the series, Quidditch is portrayed as a dang ...

World Cup in the 2005 film '' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', and also when Slartibartfast is showing Arthur Dent the "new" Earth in ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

'', released the same year. Much of the 2015 feature film '' Mr. Holmes'' was filmed around the Seven Sisters. The 2019 film '' Hope Gap'', starring Bill Nighy and Annette Bening was against the backdrop of Seaford Head. The film is named after the distinctive area of chalk cliff between Seaford and Cuckmere Haven. In 2020, Jessica Swale's feature film debut '' Summerland'' premiered, shot around the Seaford area, featuring numerous views of the Seven Sisters. The

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Anatomy of a Scandal'' had shots of the Seven Sisters Cliffs that featured Sienna Miller and Rupert Friend. An east-facing photo of the Seven Sisters is included as one of the default landscape wallpapers packaged with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

. The Seven Sisters is featured in episode 5 of the Netflix series '' 3 Body Problem''.

References

{{Commons category Eastbourne Geography of East Sussex Nature Conservation Review sites Country parks in East Sussex Cliffs of England Chalk landforms