DOWNS, the name of a system of chalk hills in the south east of England. It is most familiar in its application to the two ranges of the North and South Downs. Of these the North Downs are in the counties of Surrey and Kent, and the South in Sussex. Each forms a well-defined long range springing from the chalk area of Dorsetshire and Hampshire, to which latter the general name of the Western Downs is given. The Downs enclose the rich district of the Weald (q.v.).
The North Downs extend for 95 m. from Farnham to the English channel between Dover and Folkestone. The crest is not continuous, as the hills are breached by a series of deep gaps, through which northward flowing rivers, roads and railways pass. The entrances to these gaps are the locations of important town sites. The South Downs show similar characteristics, the rivers flowing southward. The river system of the Weald is an excellent example of a drainage system consequent upon an anticlinal structure. The western end of the North Downs is the Hog's Back, a narrow ridge, altitude 489 ft., a quarter of a mile broad on the top and sloping sharply north and south. At the west end is a depression, once occupied by the Blackwater, the head-waters of which have been captured by the Wey. In this depression lies Farnham. The Wey, flowing south of the Hog's Back, breaches the Downs at the Guildford gap. The next gap is that of the Mole, in which Dorking lies. Between Guildford and Dorking the main line of the Downs reaches ft., but a lateral depression, followed by the railway, marks off on the south a loftier range of lower Greensand, in which Leith hill is 965 ft. in height. East of the Mole the northward slope of the Downs is deeply cut by nar row valleys and the depression between Redhill and Croydon was once traversed by a stream subsequently beheaded by the Mole. A height of 868 ft. is attained east of Caterham. The next river to break through is the Darent, but here another lateral depression marks off the Ragstone ridge, south of Sevenoaks, reaching Boo feet. The lateral depression is continued eastward, so that as far as Ashford the Downs consist of two parallel ranges ; but the Medway itself breaches both, Maidstone lying in the gap. The elevation now begins to decrease, and 682 ft. is the extreme height east of the Medway. The final breach is made by the Great Stour, between Ashford and Canterbury, but the valley of the Little Stour offers a well-marked pass followed by the Folkestone Canterbury railway. The North Downs end in the white cliffs between Dover and Folkestone.
The South Downs present similar characteristics on a minor scale. Springing from the main mass of the chalk, south of Peters field, they have their greatest elevation (889 ft. in Butser hill), and extend for 65 m. to the English channel at Beachy Head. Here also a succession of rivers breach the hills, and towns mark the gaps. These are, from east to west, the Arun, with the town of Arundel, the Adur, with Shoreham, the Ouse, with Lewes and Newhaven and the Cuckmere, with no considerable town. The steep slope of the South Downs is northward. The southern slopes reach the coast east of Brighton, but west of this town a flat coastal belt, the Hampshire basin, intervenes, widening westward. Apart from the complete breaches, the South Downs, scored on the south with many deep vales, are generally more easily pene trable than the North Downs, and the coast is less continuous.
Smooth convex curves are characteristic of the Downs; their graceful and striking outline gives them an importance in the landscape in excess of their actual height ; their flanks are well wooded, their summits covered with close springy turf.
"THE DOWNS" is also the name of a roadstead in the English Channel off Deal between the North and the South Foreland. It forms a favourite anchorage during heavy weather, protected, except during severe southerly gales, by the Goodwin Sands. It has depths down to 12 fathoms.