It was wonderful to read Sylvia's memories of Crescent Place. In 1958 I married Philip Compton, and we lived in the top flat of his parent's house, Number 9 Crescent Place until 1961. I remember Sylvia's housepainter father - always looking busy, and dressed in paint-spattered overalls, he was rushing in and out of his house. I am guessing he was Irish, maybe named Paddy.

Philip's parents bought Number 9 in 1943, and he has many memories of people who lived on the street, including the famous actor Lawrence Naismith. Dennis Powell and his parents lived at Number 5. Olga Dee and son David lived at Number 6. Joan Powell and her parents lived at (maybe) Number 12.

The house next to the old pub at the top of Crescent Place (maybe Number 13, or 12) was one of the last in Kemp Town to have NO electricity. I was amazed to see gas lamps when I was a district nurse in training in 1954. I became friendly with Dora Bryan the day she and her famous cricketer husband moved in to their nice house across Crescent Place from Number 7 in 1960, with their son Daniel, and then two more children. Daniel and my older son Anthony were friends until we bought our first house on College Street in 1961 (for one thousand pounds!) In those days we shopped at Brampton's the butchers of course, Leach's the greengrocers, and the newsagents, sweets and tobacconist shop, owned by two brothers. Once a week friends of mine and I - all young mothers - would walk with the babies in their prams along the sea front down to Woolworths on St James' Street, for ice cream, after going to the Health Clinic at the bottom of Eastern Road for the children's check ups. We would leave the prams outside any shop, and know the babies would be safe. Can you imagine doing that now? Happy memories. We moved to the USA in 1962.

Philip and I walked down Crescent Place and all along St George's Road in 2006, and we were surprised how small all the streets looked, and how shabby a lot of the fronts of the houses in Kemp Town were, especially along College Street. An interesting trip down memory lane.

I've just come back to this page after a long absence and was delighted to find Colinette's response to my original comment. So nice to hear from someone who lived in Crescent Place during my childhood and can even remember my dad! His name was actually John Carroll, so yes, he was of Irish descent, and always busy painting - for instance Dora Bryan's house across the road. I vaguely remember the name Compton, but didn't know all of our neighbours very well. Perhaps, Colinette, you remember the Pauseys from no. 8 (Gill, Pat, Christine and Sarah - who I used to play with) or the Silversons (Edie, Reg, Louisa and Alfie) who lived at the house with the gas mantles (the only other place I ever saw gas mantles was at the Continentale Cinema!). Their daughter was another of my playmates. When they moved away, the house was bought by the Scahill family, who modernized it. I remember babysitting their young sons, Nicky and Christian, when I was a teenager. Like Colinette, I've been back in recent years and found everything looks so much smaller, and the distances between places shorter, than I remembered. We'd often catch the no. 7 bus down to Woolworths in St.James's Street - a short distance I'd always do on foot these days - and Western Road seemed miles away! Recently I've enjoyed taking a virtual stroll around Kemp Town with Google Maps - great to see all the old places, some of which haven't changed much at all.

Could anyone tell me where Crescent Cottages were/are. I understand my Great Great Great Grandfather, Thomas Thorpe and his wife Ellen (nee Dyer), lived at No 2 in the 1850s

In reply to Maureen Buckmaster: I believe Crescent Cottages used to be somewhere off Upper Bedford Street, near Eastern Road. My mother can vaguely remember it from the 1930s or 40s.