Lovers' Seat

Reputed to be the site where, in 1786, two young lovers (named as being Charles Lamb and Elizabeth Boys) met secretly prior to marrying in London. This was due to the girl coming from a family of some renown and her young suitor being considered beneath her. Boys had been sent to Fairlight Place (then a farm) by her father in the hope that she would forget her beloved. Lamb was an officer in the Preventive service commanding The Stag and the story relates how he brought his vessel in to shore beneath the seat and scrambled up the cliff to meet her. They then headed for London where they married, her father disowning her as a result. Following many years of marriage, Charles drowned off the coast, his body washing up in Bognor Regis. Elizabeth distraught with grief was reported to have hurled herself off the cliff at the site of the clandestine rendezvous. A researcher in 1995, however proved most of the story with the exception of how Elizabeth met her demise. Peter Waters discovered marriage certificates and other documents about the couple's life, however a burial certificate found in the archives at Chichester revealed that Elizabeth actually died peacefully in her sleep in a vicarage at Dallington during 1824/5 (prior to this, in 1857, however, a relative of Elizabeth stated she died in 1824, also confirming their marriage in 1796 at St. Clement Danes church in London) and was buried next to her husband in Thakeham. Descendents of the couple were also found by Peter to be living in South Africa and they travelled to England to meet him. This is the most likely of several outlandish stories told about the location.

The seat was originally a bench placed on a ledge about 360 feet (110 m) up the cliffs overlooking the sea, with a large slab of rock portrayed in early images of the site to the left of the bench. A Hawthorn and Oak tree provided shelter to the seat. These were reportedly broken and burned by vandals in December of 1882. A landslip in 1910 removed much of the space on the ledge and the slab of rock leaving it in a precarious state. A short-lived fence was added to protect visitors from falling from the ledge (this would appear to have only lasted some four years between 1910 and 1914 from photographic evidence). During the Second World War, the bench was removed and replaced by two lengths of 4x2 (10cm x 5cm) timber. Mrs. L. C. Prideaux donated funds after the war that permitted the bench to be re-instated, however by 1960 the whole area was fenced off following safety concerns. A further landslip in February 1961 removed the ledge and seat permanently.

An alternative site was found in March of 1961, however this too was lost to a landslip in 1979.