How has the South Downs landscape influenced musicians?

The landscape of Sussex and the South Downs has long been celebrated as an inspiration for literature and visual art. Its significance as a site of musical creativity, however, is no less remarkable. Musicians have responded to the sites and sounds of the Downs, to the natural environment, and to the human stories associated with particular places and locations.
Collectors and composers
The Sussex Weald, at the foot of the Downs, was a crucial area for nineteenth-century folk-song collectors such as the Reverend John and Lucy Broadwood.
The Copper Family from Rottingdean near Brighton assembled a unique collection of Sussex tunes, many of which were notated by collector Kate Lee, one of the founders of the Folk-Song Society. Members of the family still maintain the tradition of live performance today.
Edward Elgar rented a cottage from the landscape painter Rex Vicat Cole at Brinkwells, near Petworth House, during the First World War; here he composed his Cello Concerto and a series of eloquent chamber works which evoke the countryside beneath the escarpment.
Summer Music
Elgar’s younger contemporary Arnold Bax lived in rooms above the White Horse Hotel at Storrington after the Second World War. His tone poem Summer Music was intended as the ‘depiction of a hot windless June mid-day in some wooded place of Southern England’. John Ireland’s Downland Suite for Brass Band was similarly motivated by the composer’s love for the area.
Popular influence
More recent musicians have been no less moved by the history and atmosphere of the Downs. Chanctonbury Ring was the title of Richard Hill’s 1978 prog rock album.
‘A Lost Village’, a track by the Brighton-based duo Grasscut from their cartographically-inspired 2010 album 1 Inch: ½ Mile, is based on the site of an abandoned settlement, Balsdean, tucked away in a hidden valley in the Downs.
Frank Bridge
Perhaps the most striking musician to have been inspired by the Downs was the early twentieth-century composer Frank Bridge. Born in Brighton in 1879, Bridge spent much of his professional career in London.
In 1923, he moved to Friston, near West Dean and Cuckmere Haven, where his friends included the artist Majorie Fass. Here, Bridge wrote his rhapsody Enter Spring—originally entitled ‘On Friston Down’.
Site specific
Bridge’s work was influenced by the work of European modernist contemporaries such as Stravinsky, Ravel, and Alban Berg, rather than folksong. But the soaring lines and striding rhythms of Enter Spring are no less inspired by walking along the coast path above the Seven Sisters.
It is hard to imagine a more evocative musical response to the Sussex landscape and to the graceful horizons of the Downs themselves.
Inspiring places in the South Downs National Park

Cuckmere Valley
Flower-rich chalk grassland with stunning views of the Cuckmere River

Cissbury Ring
The most historic hill on the South Downs

Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters
A popular coastal hub, where the South Downs meet the sea

Devil's Dyke, West Sussex
Explore this historic beauty spot on the South Downs Way, named after the huge dry valley (the largest in the country) that carves its way through ridges of rolling chalk grassland. Great for bike rides, walking and flying a kite, the area is rich in rare and colourful wildlife such as butterflies and orchids.

Ditchling Beacon
Panoramic views from the top of world

Lavington Common
A rare pocket of open heath amongst plantation woodland

Uppark House and Garden
Uppark, a tranquil and intimate 18th-century house

Saddlescombe Farm and Newtimber Hill
A hidden hamlet nestled in the downs

Alfriston Clergy House
The first building saved forever for the nation by the National Trust

Woolbeding Gardens
Nestled in a quiet corner of West Sussex, Woolbeding Gardens a true horticultural haven bursting with colourful planting, sensational views and a whole host of surprises. Woolbeding is still very much a private garden and we welcome visitors exclusively on Thursdays and Fridays only.

Petworth
A stately mansion nestled in the South Downs housing the finest art collection in the care of the National Trust.

Black Down
The highest point in the South Downs National Park

Slindon Estate
A great and ancient downland estate

Monk's House, East Sussex
Virginia Woolf is recognised as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century. She and her husband Leonard purchased Monk’s House in 1919, at the start of Virginia’s career as a published author. The cottage garden and surrounding Sussex landscape were a constant source of inspiration for Virginia. You can visit this intimate home, which is still full of their favourite things, and get the sense that the couple have just stepped out for a walk.

Hinton Ampner
Elegant country house with highly distinctive gardens

Drovers Estate
Nestled in undulating hills, step back to a timeless rural life