May 2005 Found this reference to stones at Hollingbury.
"One word in conclusion, on those earthworks to which I have alluded as, in my opinion, possessing strong claims to be considered of Druidical origin. I refer to the earthworks of Cauburn (sic) and Whitehawk Hill. Others may have possessed similar pretensions, and more particularly Hollingbury, in the vallum and within the inclosure of which portions of Druidical stones are still to be found; and at the southern most of its two western portae, the remains of an upright stone of this kind still stands, projecting a little above the sod, precisely in the position of the two stones at Stonehenge. "
from Turner, E. 1850 Military Earthworks of the Southdowns with a more enlarged Account of Cissbury, one of the principal of them. Sussex Archaeological Collections Volume 3: 173-184.
Well I don't buy a megalithic monument at Hollingbury for a second but the presence of (presumably) sarsens stones on the hill is interesting. They could have naturally occurred there, the hill being capped with remnant Tertiary deposits, they could well have been included in the fabric of the hillfort. What is clear is that nothing remains of the stones now, unless some lie recumbant beneath the turf, a fact unlikely given the thin soil depth. As with the supposed megalithcs at Church Hill and barrows at Whitehawk they remain a mystery, a part of Brighton's lost prehistory.
May 2005 Hollingbury Hillfort also has a place at the Archaeology Data Service site.
April 2005 Hollingbury Hillfort now has its very own presence on Julian Copes very impressive Modern Antiquarian Site. http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/7224. In fact we may well move our news as a blog to there in the near future. The site is a fantastic resource for the free-thinking but rigorous enough to moderate its submissions and curb any blatant inaccuracies without crushing imagination and originality.
February 2005 David Bangs and Peter Russel have just published the results of their survey of downland fungi from the Brighton area. This survey includes an acount of the fungi of Hollingbury, which as part of a relic chalk heath with a rich variety of waxcaps. You download the survey by clicking here.
December 2004: Ranger Visualisations have produced a fly-past for Brighton which includes a low-level pass of Hollingbury Hillfort. This movie takes us on a journey up the Lewes Road Valley, then turning west into Stanmer Park to join the Ditchling Road ridge. The viewer then turns to the south, passing Old Boat Corner and Hollingbury Hillfort. The remainder of the flight passes the Hollingdean 'Dip', Brighton Round Hill and the Steyne before flying out over a flooded Pool Valley. The team at RV have reconstructed a stripped-down deforested landscape typical of a late-glacial summer 12,000 years ago.
Click on this pic to view movie
(requires Flash 6)
November 2004: We were sent a photograph by the two founder (and I believe only) members of the British Trigpointing Society during their infamous1989 'Triangulation Tour'.
June 2004: Lanscape rendering of the Brighton Downlands produced by Ranger Visualisations. Camera placed 200m above Old Boat Corner looking south. The view shows the Brighton hills stripped down to grazed pasture, devoid of woodland or urban development. Hollingbury hill can be viewed clearly in the foreground.
May 2004: Its doesnt look as if Whitehawk will be included in the National Park but Hollingbury is still in the boundary.
September 2003: Sent a pic of the bonfire erected at the hill to celebrate King George V's Silver Jubliee.
May 2003: Misty May Day dawn but managed to get up in time for the morris men. Shared ginger cake and a nip of something from a hip flask before being treated to music dance including a fantastic rendition of the Padstow May Song. Who'd want to go to Cornwall anyway?
Summer/Autumn 2002: Didn't get up here as much as we wanted to. Few good evenings spent watching the sunset and the regular summer firework displays over Brighton. Autumn came too quickly though and looking forward now to Spring 2003.
Spring 2002: May at the Hillfort was wonderful, the best in years, the vegetation has been cut back enough to allow all the barrows to be visible and for hundreds of bluebells and spotted orchids to push their way through. Good news also on the plan to include Hollingbury in the National Park boundary which will protect the green corridor between the Downs and Brighton the hill provides and prevent the encroaching of future development. There are apparently plans to try and include Whitehawk Neolithic camp in the park as well, more news when we get it.