Whitehawk Hill, on which the Racecourse stands, is one of Europe’s finest and most neglected Neolithic  gathering places, complete with magnificent multiple ringed defences.

Called Whitehawk Camp by those in the know, it’s a causewayed camp built by the Windmill Hill culture, used up until around 2700 BC. A scheduled ancient monument, it’s one of three similar camps that once existed on the Downs.

Some local archaeologists believe if it wasn’t for the estate’s bad reputation, the feature would be a world-renowned site of historic interest. As it is, the hill’s fascinating ancient history is a well-kept local secret, and the site has never been properly excavated.

The camp has been recognised as the first Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM) in Sussex. But who knows what amazing artefacts lie under the racecourse, and beneath those very ordinary-looking allotments?

Having said that, Whitehawk Hill, as an ancient habitat, has been made a Local Nature Reserve, home to colonies of rare Adonis and Chalkhill Blue butterflies. From the top, on a clear day you can see the Isle of Wight.

Anglo Saxon origins

The estate itself is built in a dry downland valley which has been called Whitehawk Bottom for as long as anyone can remember. The name Whitehawk is thought to originate from ‘Vied Ac’, Saxon for holy oak.

Pig farms and smallholdings

In the early 1920s the area looked very different, mainly made up of pig farms and allotments.

Between 1920 and 1931 Brighton Corporation started a slum clearance project, and the people whose city centre homes had been pulled down were re-housed in 1200 or so homes on the Whitehawk site, built in 1933 – 37 and rebuilt in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The Swanborough flats were added in 1967.

From 1975 onwards the estate was remodelled, knocking down large areas of sub-standard housing and replacing the original roads with cul-de-sacs so more homes could be fitted in. The final stage of the scheme was completed in 1988.

The White Hawk chalk carving

Walk up Wilson Avenue, look right and you’ll see a chalk carving of a White Hawk on the hill to the east, at Sheepcote Valley. It was carved by local artists in 2001 and recently renovated.

Sheep ahoy

Sheepcote valley is home to a small flock of council-owned sheep from autumn to spring, put there to eat the long grasses so indigenous wild flowers can grow through.

The project has been running for a few years now and as a result, in the spring and summer, large areas of the valley (much of which was used as a massive town refuse tip from around 1916) are already blanketed with beautiful and often rare species, home to incredibly varied insect and bird life.

What’s your experience of Whitehawk?

If you were born and bred in Whitehawk, or live there now, we’d love to know what you think about life in one of the city’s oldest estates.