Chattri Memorial Walk

2.1 miles (3.3 km)

This walk climbs to the Chattri Memorial on the South Downs north of Brighton. You can start the walk from the roadside parking area on St Gabriel's Lane just south of the memorial.... From here you pick up the Sussex Border Path and follow it north to Ewebottom Hill and Hogtrough Bottom before coming to the historic memorial.
The route navigates the open chalk downland characteristic of this section of the South Downs National Park, leading hikers through deep combes and across exposed ridges. The main landmark is the Chattri itself, a distinctive white Sicilian marble monument erected on a peaceful hillside in 1921 to mark the exact site where 53 Hindu and Sikh soldiers from the Indian Army were cremated. These soldiers had been brought to military hospitals in Brighton, including the Royal Pavilion, after serving on the Western Front during the First World War. The panoramic views from the memorial site extend southwards across the rolling downland slopes directly towards the coastal architecture and seafront of Brighton.
The short-cropped chalk grassland surrounding Ewebottom Hill and Hogtrough Bottom forms a protected habitat for a diverse array of specialised British wildlife and seasonal flora. Walkers can regularly hear the distinctive song of skylarks nesting in the open pastures, spot kestrel hawks hovering on the thermal air currents above the valley slopes, and observe rare adonis blue and chalkhill blue butterflies feeding on the abundant wild thyme and horseshoe vetch that carpet the hillsides during the summer months.