Sussex

Sussex is an area of South East England that was historically a kingdom and, later, a county. Its name comes from the Old English for the South Saxons. The present ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex cover roughly the same ground, and the area borders Surrey to the north, Kent to the north-east, Hampshire to the west and the English Channel to the south. Its coastline runs for about 220 kilometres, and it holds the city of Brighton and Hove, part of the South Downs National Park, the High Weald landscape and Chichester Harbour. The Kingdom of Sussex arose in the fifth century where the Regni tribe had lived in Romano-British times, passed to Wessex around 827 and became part of the Kingdom of England in 927. In the Norman period it was divided into six rapes. East and West Sussex were set up as separate administrative counties in 1889, yet Sussex is still treated as one unit for some services, food and drink, sport and the yearly Sussex Day.