The view towards the southward presents
a magnificent landscape; in the foreground,
the undulating ridges of the various hills,
interspersed with beautiful winding valleys,
presenting to the vision a lovely and rural scene.
Further on, the eye wanders over the
whole extent of the weald of Sussex,
rich in foliage, and only arrested to the
eastward by the bold and mountainous
ridge of Leith Hill, which rises to an ele-
vation of nearly 1,000 feet above the level
of the sea. This splendid panorama
is backed by the lofty outline of the South
Downs, which border the English Channel
and extend into Hampshire. “The most
fervent pencil of picturesque enthusiasm
would fail to depict in opposite colours
the glorious prospects from St. Martha’s Hill;
on every side, a rich and almost unbounded
view presents itself, intermingled with every
charm which landscape scenery, in all its
diversity of character, can exhibit. Towards
the south the prospect extends across the
weald of Surrey and Sussex to the South Downs
and the sea; and on the north, the eye
ranges over a portion of the valley of the
Thames as far as the high chalk range of
Oxfordshire near Nettlebed, from which the summit
and chapel of St. Martha’s are distinctly
seen” – History of Surrey V. p134. From other
points the view are equally extensive,
penetrating into the adjoining counties.
The extensive heaths, “though not un-
picturesque, are wild and barren in
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