Fairlight Glen is within Hastings Country Park and is roughly half way between Hastings Old Town and the village of Fairlight Cove in East Sussex. It’s a steep wooded area that leads down to Covehurst Bay aka Fairlight Glen Beach just next to a landmark called Black Rock. Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve is both a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has Special Area of Conservation (SAC) status and this is a stunning and evocative corner of the Sussex coast.
Fairlight Glen Dripping Well
Fairlight Glen is relatively small and secluded but can be accessed from the north from the car park on the Ore to Fairlight road (near Fairlight Place) or from walking along the Saxon Shore Way and the coastal path from Rye to Hastings.
If you park to the north, you might want to make a fleeting visit to North’s Seat. There is a sign to it as you leave the car park. At one point, this was the home of a gibbet which held the remains of a local murderer. This was replaced with a memorial seat which was in turn replaced with a wooden viewing platform. Sadly this was demolished in 1982 leaving just a brass orientation plaque and a trig point but there are some good views.
From the car park, you walk directly south down a small private drive. The original route (and one I travelled down) is straight on to Place Farm and then down a narrow route to a river. I understand that you are discouraged from going that way, so when you come to the crossroads before the farm, turn right on to the 1066 Country Walk Hasting Link and then left at the first turn and it will bring you to the dripping well. As you’d expected for a glen, the valley has relatively steep and wooded sides which you can explore via a network of paths. This is a natural spring that tumbles from the rocks in amongst the trees forming a small pool before the water ambles away down the stream to the coast.
Lovers’ Seat
Not far from the dripping well was Lovers’ Seat, a rocky ledge about 340 feet above the sea with a wooden bench. The land beneath it used to be a gradual slope down to the sea but has now eroded due to landslides and the bench has been lost.
Lovers’ Seat has generated many a romantic story including one about a love affair between a Miss Elizabeth Boys exiled to Fairlight and her lover, an unsuitable officer in the ‘Preventative Service’ (think smuggler prevention), who would land his cutter on the beach below to meet Miss Boys. The couple eloped to London and married but Elizabeth was disinherited.
The couple went on to raise a family and lived in Saleshurst but many years later, he drowned near Bognor and is buried at Thakeham in West Sussex.
Fairlight Glen Beach / Fairlight Cove
The glen leads down to Covehurst Bay where you’ll find the Fairlight Glen Beach. From the dripping well, just follow the narrow path that leads along side the stream. When you come to a crossroads with the coastal path, go straight on – but at your own risk as the sign indicates.
Access to the beach is interesting. The coast here has eroded so the path comes to an end and you’re left with a rope by way of descent. It’s worth the effort as you start to see the beach through a break in the trees and then emerge at what feels like a forgotten place.
The cove is accessible by walking along the beach from Hastings but only at low tide and it’s hard work because the coast here is rocky. Alternative access can be had by turning off the coastal path and heading down a narrow wooded track.
It is a fairly well used naturist beach but everyone is welcome and you can keep your clothes on. However, there are no facilities of any kind on the beach or in the glen.
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