Sussex - Economy

Economy

Much of the Sussex Weald consists of wet sticky clays or drought-prone acid sands and is often broken up into to small irregular fields and woods by the topography, making it unsuitable for intensive arable farming. In these areas pastoral or mixed farming has always been the pattern, with field boundaries often little changed since the medieval period. Sussex cattle are the descendants of the draught oxen, which continued to be used in the Weald longer than in other parts of England. The chalk downlands were traditionally grazed by large numbers of small Southdown sheep, suited to the low fertility of the pasture, until the coming of artificial fertiliser made cereal growing worthwhile. There are still fishing fleets, notably at Rye and Hastings, but the number of boats is much reduced. There are working harbours at Rye, Hastings, Newhaven and Shoreham; whilst Pagham and Chichester harbours cater for leisure craft, as does Brighton Marina. Sussex had an iron working industry since the Roman period. The large supply of wood in the county made it a favourable centre for the industry, all smelting being done with charcoal till the middle of the 18th century. The glass making industry started on the Sussex/Surrey border in the early 13th century and flourished till the 17th century. The Mid Sussex area had a thriving clay industry in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Tourism in Sussex is well-established, and includes seaside resorts and the South Downs National Park. Brighton and Hove has a high density of businesses involved in media, particularly digital or "new media"; since the 1990s Brighton has been referred to as "Silicon Beach". The University of Sussex and the University of Brighton provide employment for many more. A large part of the county, centred on Gatwick Airport has been recognised as a key economic growth area for South East England whilst reasonable rail connections allow many people to work in London. Several large companies are based in Sussex including American Express (Brighton), The Body Shop (Littlehampton), Bowers & Wilkins (Worthing), Hastings Direct (Hastings), Ricardo plc (Shoreham-by-Sea), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (Goodwood), Thales UK (Crawley) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (Crawley).