Geologists have unveiled a dinosaur footprint that helps illustrate the titanic battles between the vegetarian and carnivorous prehistoric beasts of Sussex.

Members of the Hastings and District Geological Society discovered this footprint, measuring half a metre from heel to toe, by cliffs in Fairlight, near Hastings.

Made by an Iguanodon about 138 million years ago, it had hardened in siltstone to leave a near perfect impression.

Geologists were then making a cast of the print when they also found two rarer theropod footprints.

Ken Brooks, chairman of the society, said: "It's the condition of the Iguanodon print that makes it so special. I've seen hundreds of footprints at Fairlight over the years but this is by far the clearest.

"The dinosaur could have been anything from seven to eight metres in length, about 24ft. But the theropods were meat eaters and are actually a rarer find.

"Just like on the African Plains where you get a small number of lions to wilder bests, the ratio was about the same.

"They're a bit like the Tyrannosaurs and would stalk the Iguanodon. We've also found a theropod tooth in Bexhill so we know they lived in this area around 130 to 140 million years ago."

Both casts are now on display at the Shipwreck Heritage Centre, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings.

Student Mike Taylor recently uncovered the world's first recorded Xenoposeidon bone, originally dug up in Ecclesbourne Glen, near Hastings in the 1890s, locked in a case in the Natural History Museum.