Downs Link

The Downs Link is a 36. 7-mile (58. 7 km) footpath and bridleway linking the North Downs Way at St. Martha's Hill in Surrey with the South Downs Way near Steyning in West Sussex and on via the Coastal Link to Shoreham-by-Sea. HistoryFor much of its route the Downs Link follows the course of two dismantled railways - the Cranleigh Line and the Steyning Line - both of which closed in the 1960s as a result of the Beeching Axe. Between 1965 and 1970 the track was lifted and much of the track ballast was removed. The coppiced woodland along many of the cuttings and embankment sides remained unmanaged until 2 April 1970 when ownership of much of the track was sold by the British Railways Board to Surrey County Council and Hambleton Rural District Council (which became Waverley Borough Council in 1974) for £17, 500. The local authorities managed the land until 1984, clearing scrub to allow the general public to use it as a recreational facility.

The Downs Link is a 36. 7-mile (58. 7 km) footpath and bridleway linking the North Downs Way at St. Martha's Hill in Surrey with the South Downs Way near Steyning in West Sussex and on via the Coastal Link to Shoreham-by-Sea. HistoryFor much of its route the Downs Link follows the course of two dismantled railways - the Cranleigh Line and the Steyning Line - both of which closed in the 1960s as a result of the Beeching Axe. Between 1965 and 1970 the track was lifted and much of the track ballast was removed. The coppiced woodland along many of the cuttings and embankment sides remained unmanaged until 2 April 1970 when ownership of much of the track was sold by the British Railways Board to Surrey County Council and Hambleton Rural District Council (which became Waverley Borough Council in 1974) for £17, 500. The local authorities managed the land until 1984, clearing scrub to allow the general public to use it as a recreational facility.