The area was settled in pre-Roman times with many tumuli in the surrounding hills originating in the Iron Age.

There was a wooden roundhouse built originally (about 50 AD) before Roman construction began towards the end of the century.

The fill of the cut contains a mix of Late Roman and Early Saxon pottery, suggesting some degree of continuity of settlement.

[8] Once back in Saxon possession, the land was bequeathed by King Alfred to his nephew Æthelhelm, and the manor later held by Earl Godwin.

The 13th-century Itford Farm house (Grade II* listed) was converted into the YHA South Downs youth hostel in 2013.

The track that runs from Little Dene up to the Firle Escarpment was laid down as a tank road during the Second World War.

[15] Peggy Angus rented Furlongs, a cottage beneath the South Downs, to host a circle of artistic friends, including Eric Ravilious, Tirzah Garwood and John Piper.

In 1927 the chemist Geoffrey Martin had patented a kiln designed to enable cement to be manufactured more cheaply.

In 1979 the cement works and quarry were converted into a landfill site that was above a water table and was not initially lined.

The first two were relatively low lying, penetrating below the depth of the groundwater table, and were not lined; these were filled and capped in 1985.

[22] (Year site closed) The landfill material at Beddingham has consistently been 60% domestic, 30% non-hazardous industrial/commercial and 10% cover (clay/chalk capping).

[26] By the early 1990s the Environment Agency was authorising the disposal of low-level radioactive waste at the site,[27] including some from the University of Sussex.

The groundwater flows westwards and is assumed to discharge where the chalk meets the alluvial Ouse flood plain.

[32] The leachate from the first two pits is typical of older landfill sites, being neutral in pH, but with high concentrations of NH3-N (260–350 mg/L), Cl (1300–1500 mg/L) and metals including Fe (5–15 mg/L).