CoastView - Bastion Steps and Friars Bay, Peacehaven

Peacehaven, like Saltdean, grew up between the wars. Advertisements for Peacehaven in the 1920s described it as "A Garden City by the Sea". Not everyone agreed, however. In a House of Lords Committee in 1934 it was dismissed as "a disgusting blot on the landscape"!


Peacehaven from the air, in about 1928. The grid-like road system and scattered nature of the housing are well shown. Most houses are situated well back from the cliff edge.

Another aerial view, from about 1980, showing the eastern end of Peacehaven and Friar's Bay. Notice how much denser the housing has become. The cliffs are now much closer to the housing area, but are protected at their base by a newly built sea wall and undercliff walk.

The Bastion Steps were built soon after World War 1 to give Peacehaven residents ready access to the beach. This card was posted in May 1923.
Charles Neville, the founder of Peacehaven, was careful to leave quite a wide grassy strip between his estate and the sea where people could walk and enjoy the sea views. Unfortunately, cliff erosion steadily reduced the width of this strip, at an average of about 40 cm a year. After much political agitation, it was agreed that sea defences were needed. Two sections of sea wall and undercliff walkway were built at the eastern end of Peacehaven and at Bastion Steps between 1975 and 1977. Other sections followed, and by 1997 the entire Peacehaven frontage was protected.
The photograph shows the scene at Bastion Steps in July 2002. The seawall and undercliff walk conceal the base of the cliffs. Only the upper section of the original steps is preserved. Note the contrasting appearance of the natural and trimmed cliffs.


The sea defences erected in the 1970s are beginning to show their age. These photographs show the easternmost groyne at Peacehaven (near Friars Bay), which has started to break up.
The groyne in June 2001. The seaward face is about 1.6 m high. The groyne has already had to be repaired once. Remnants of the original blockwork litter the beach to the east of the groyne (on the right of the photograph). The same groyne photographed in September 2002. A 2 m long block of concrete has broken away and toppled on its side, presumably under the force of westerly waves.