Exceat church stone memorial seven sisters country park south downs east Sussex south east England UK

The memorial stone on Exceat Hill stands alone among the grasses of the South Downs, marking the site of the vanished medieval village of Exceat. Once home to a small church and community recorded in the Domesday Book, the village was abandoned in the fifteenth century after famine, plague, and raids left it deserted. The stone was set here in 1913 following an excavation, and today it serves as the only visible reminder of a settlement lost to history, overlooking the Cuckmere Valley and the sea beyond.