Crowborough Beacon: Rape of Pevensey High Point
View to the south-west from Crowborough Beacon Golf Club
Significance: Highest point in the Rape of Pevensey, High Point of High Weald National Landscape
Member of: Marilyns
Parent Peak: Ditchling Beacon
Nearest Higher Neighbour: Ditchling Beacon
Present Day County: East Sussex (of which Ditchling Beacon is the County Top)
Elevation: 242m
Date climbed: July 20th 2024
Coordinates: 51° 3' 17'' N, 0° 9' 15'' E
Route Start / End: Croft Road Car Park, Pine Grove, Crowborough, TN6 1AR
Route Distance: 3.9 km (2.4 miles)
Route Elevation Change: +/- 47m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other routes touched: None
OS Trig Pillar: TP2630 - Crowborough
Map: Ashdown Forest Map | Royal Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath & Crowborough | Ordnance Survey | OS Explorer Map 135
Links: Wikipedia (Rape of Pevensey, Crowborough, High Weald), Peakbagger, Hillbagging
I had high hopes for Crowborough as it has “Beacon” in it’s name as is the high point of both the Rape of Pevensey and The High Weald. It turns out that there’s not much to see. The high point is an unmarked spot outside a house called Deep Dene on Warren Road. It can easily be bagged as a drive-by but we chose to park in Crowborough village centre and bag it as a part of a short circular walk.
To follow the same route leave Croft Road Car Park and head north to join the A26 Beacon Road. Take a left onto the A26 and walk in a south-westerly direction for ~700m to the water reservoir opposite Beacon Road West. Here you’ll find the OS Trig Pillar next to a small brick building. Continue south for ~25m to reach the high point at Warren Road.
Continue further south along the A26 to a footpath at the edge of the woods at 2 km into the walk. This is a point marked in Peakbagger as Crowborough South Slope, the High Point of the High Weald. Although Crowborough is completely within The High Weald, the town isn’t part of the National Landscape, so this is technically the highest point rather than the spot at Deep Dene.
Take a left onto South View Road to find the best and only panoramic view of the walk across Crowborough Golf Course. Continue along South view road, then onto Croft Road to return to the Car Park
