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Rifle Butt Road

Photo:The east side of Rifle Butt Road in September 1971, from the corner of Marine Parade

The east side of Rifle Butt Road in September 1971, from the corner of Marine Parade

Photo by David Fisher

Photo:The east side of Rifle Butt Road in September 1971, looking towards the sea

The east side of Rifle Butt Road in September 1971, looking towards the sea

Photo by David Fisher

The final days
By David Fisher

Rifle Butt Road is one of the 'lost streets' of Brighton. Built in the late 1860s, it was removed in the 1970s to make way for the approach road to the Marina. Within living memory it was part of a lively community at Black Rock. In its length of no more than 200 yards it included a bakery and other shops, a Quaker burial ground, a builders yard, a gas works and housing. In the days before the National Health Service there had also been a branch of the Brighton, Hove and Preston Provident Dispensary, providing low-cost health care. The bakery pre-dated the road: its painted sign says it was established in 1856.

By the time these photos were taken in September 1971 the street's days were clearly numbered and it has the forlorn look of a place awaiting the developers. The bakery is still there on the corner but other shops and houses were already boarded up. The gas holder on the corner with Roedean Road can be seen over the rooftops.

Added to the site on 02-11-04 
This page was added on 22/03/2006.

Comments:

I would be very interested to know of any photographs or information about the 'Black Rock Ironworks' (in Rifle Butt Lane), that closed down in about the 60s. It was started in 1887. Many pieces of ironwork have been made, namely Roedean Gates, the Public Library gates and some at the Royal Pavilion. It was run by my great grandfather and his father before him (William Saunders Jnr/Snr) who were both church wardens at the Chapel Royal in Brighton. Any information on my relatives or the iron foundry would be greatly appreciated.

By Alison Tessier (02/08/2004)
As a child I often wondered what the unfinished structure was at the bottom of Rifle Butt Road. It was no more than a few concrete pillars, a building project that was never finished. After all these years can someone enlighten me? I often wondered as a child when the builders would return, they never did.
By Terry Anderson (07/11/2004)
I too remember those concrete columns with the reinforcing sticking out. I lived just round the corner in Arundel St and my son went to school and used to play with the Stevens boy from the bakery.
By Tony Viney (08/11/2004)
Today I was at the Brighton Museum and was very suprised from looking at an old map that Marine Gate where I live used to be an old burial ground for the Quakers and was the place for the meeting house. The remains were dug up and moved to Woodingdean in 1974.
By Maria (25/11/2004)
As a young boy in the 40s & 50s, I lived locally in Reading Road so remember quite a bit about Rifle Butt Road. Starting at the northern end: there was a garage and bakery on the eastern corner with Roedean Road. This was known as the Orange garage and bakery. (The bakery had originally been tea rooms). Moving southwards, there were several terraced cottages on the eastern side of Rifle Butt Road the line of which was broken roughly in the middle by a Quakers' chapel and cemetary. At the southern end and on the western side were the remaing terraced cottages culminating in the mysterious part-completed building site beside Stephens bakery. Although I well remember playing amongst the reinforced concrete pillars, unfortunately I only have a vague recollection of being told that it was originally going to be a theatre or picture house. I think Stevens bakery was No.1 Rifle Butt Road followed by the cottages 2, 3, 4 and 5. My grandfather, Richard Guy, owned the builders' yard of No.3 and subsequently also owned 4 and 5. These properties remained in our family till I think approx the mid 1950s. When the cottages were being demolished to make way for the Marina project, a large flagstone was removed from within the front doorway of one of them only to reveal a hitherto unknown deep well shaft. Although it was considered to be a well it is possible that it was originally a ventilation shaft dug when the underground coal tunnels were built from the cliff face to service the gas works. My father, Lou Guy, was a blacksmith working for the gas works in the 1930s and early 40s.
By Peter Guy (12/12/2004)
Between 1947 and 1957 I lived at 1 Arundel Street which backed on to the old concrete pillar site. It was our cat's favourite hunting ground and provided an ideal launch-site for my unsuccessful model rockets, one of which landed right in front of a rapidly decelerating Southdown bus on the coast road! I was told that it was the proposed site of a bakery, abandoned because of the war. One of my old mates was Michael Viney, Tony Viney's brother. I have just again made contact with Michael after 50 years. (Hi Tony). Lots of good memories of living at Black Rock: sea and lido just across the road, excellent bus links to most of Brighton and Hove, etc. Just a bit miffed that they've plonked the Marina right on top of my favourite prawning grounds. The biggest ones were always under Mr Volk's spider railway concrete support blocks!
By Derek Miles (17/01/2005)
I was a classmate of the the twin sons of the builder in Rifle Butt Road, John and Peter King. We went to St Luke's Terrace Junior School until 1949. I don't know what happened to the twins after taking the 11 plus in that year, as I went off to the the Building School. My aunt and cousin lived in the end house opposite the King's builders' yard, their name was Stevens, (no relation or link to the bakers shop at No 1).
By Vic Bath (08/05/2005)
I lived at 4 Hillside Cottages ('44-'68), just north of the graveyard, but still only 100 yards from the super baker, Stevens. Sad that the Marina buried some popular 'undercliff' beaches. Tramps used to sleep in the unfinished concrete structure. Campers from East Brighton Park used to steal our milk off the doorstep en route to the beach!
By Don Grant (27/07/2005)
With regard to the comments about the structure at the bottom of Rifle Butt Road by Terry Anderson 07/11/2004: I too always wondered what they were. After going to Saturday morning pictures at the Odeon Kemp Town, we would walk along the seafront and spend a bit of time in some disused shelters and then make our way up to Rifle Butt Road and play in that derelict building. I remember at the back of the basement there was a staircase which led up to the top. My parents lived in Rifle Butt Road and my sister was born there. The family then moved to Whitehawk Avenue where I was born. I also remember Mr Stevens' bakery and went to school with his daughter, Marion, at Whitehawk Secondary School. My grandfather lived at 4 Black Rock Cottages with his mother and stepfather. His half-brother lived with his grandparents at 2 Hillside Cottages. My father also worked at the Brighton Hove and Worthing Gas Company until the outbreak of WWII.
By Derek Piper (27/08/2006)

As a child I lived in Sadler Way. Rifle Butt Road was on my direct route to Black Rock Pool or the beach. I mostly remember us all believing that the cemetery was haunted. We always made haste as we passed it. I also remember the petrol station at the top end somewhere, and receiving an enormous balloon as a gift for my dad filling up our Ford Anglia. It was nearly as big as the car!

By Paul Hubbard (21/10/2006)

Researching about my past and found this website. My grandparents ran Stevens Brothers bakery. I have great memories of the place as I spent most of my school holidays there.

By Jane Webber (15/11/2006)

I moved to Cliffe Road, around the corner from Rifle Butt Lane in about 1962 and the Ironworks was gone by then. I do have a memory of a small bakery in Rifle Butt Road that sold the most delicious 1d rolls to a hungry 14 year old.

By John Bennett (10/12/2006)

Was Peter Guy any relation to the hairdresser Mr. Guy who had a barber's shop in Whitehawk Road in the 50s? When we were kids he always had a line that he cut his hair with a knife and fork.

By Mick Peirson (03/02/2007)

I'm very pleased to have found this site as my Father and Aunt grew up in Rifle Butt Road and they always spoke fondly of those years. One memory always brought a special smile to my Dad's face, and that was the smell of the bakery! I wonder if anyone knew them? The Vines and the Kennards.

By Lynda (26/06/2007)

I was driving along the coast road this afternoon with my wife (who used to live in Whitehawk years ago) and she mentioned Rifle Butt Road as we passed, and I wonder where the name Rifle Butt Road came from?

By Bob Pickett (01/07/2007)

My parents lived in Rifle Butt Road between 1947 and 1949, in the terraced cottage closest to the gasometer. I was a small baby, 18 months old when they moved away to Hollingbury. But I remember my mother telling me that the cottage was damp because the wall near the gasometer had been cracked by a near miss from a wartime bomb. My father had a story about his uncle saying, "So you live in Rifle Butt Road now, that's good because we can go for a drink in the Abergavenny Arms" - and my father then told him that the cliff had slipped and the pub gone into the sea years before. By the way, the name Rifle Butt Road is because from the 1870s, it was the site of a rifle range laid out for volunteer soldiers, (Encyclopaedia of Brighton, Timothy Carder, East Sussex County Libraries, ISBN 086 147 3159)

By Helen Logan (12/07/2007)

My grandmother was brought up at the bakery in Rifle Butt Road. Their family name was Souch. She used to deliver bread with her father on his horse and cart across the area. She told me of how they would make a small charge to cook the Sunday lunch for local residents using the baking ovens of the bakery. She was born about 1890s I think and knew of Kings shop. Her father was Charles Stephen Webster Souch and her mother was Edith. They also had a son Tom who remained in the Brighton area. Nan told me that Rudyard Kipling was a customer at the bakery. Her uncle was a photograher in Brighton and she said he contributed to a book called Breezy Brighton Photos, though I have never been able to find any evidence of it.

By Catherine Andrews (06/08/2007)

My father was the local Taxi in Arundel Street, Madeira mansions, backing on to boundary Road; of course no longer there as this made way for the flats called Coursels. As a young lad I spent a lot of time in and around Rifle Butt Road, I used to pick up my mum's bread from Stevens the Bakers and pick off the crust on the way home. I am still in touch with Pat Stevens.

By Tony Freeman (31/03/2008)

We moved to Wilson Avenue in January 1961, and I remember Rifle Butt Road, it comprised of the gasworks on one side and a row of cottages on the other, plus a graveyard, and there was a bakers at the bottom, and I think their surname was Stevens/Stephens as their son was in the same class as me at Whitehawk Seniors.  I used to walk down Rifle Butt Road on my way to night fish the beaches at Black Rock, next to the bakers was a derelict concrete building that eventually became a garage, as I used to use the bus stop outside that garage on occasions.

By Paul Fleet (27/04/2008)

We lived in Rifle Butt Road until they knocked it down; we lived at number 5. My mum used to send us to Stephens bakery with a pilllow case to buy day old bread for 6d to make bread pudding with. We were the last family to move out, we lived in the upstairs flat, Laura Humphreys and her family lived downstairs, her sons were Barry, John & Peter.

By Jon Walls (26/09/2008)

Hi

My name is Vic Lander. My father's family lived in Rifle Butt Road from the mid 1800s. The Vines, Kennards, Morleys and Souchs were all related to the Landers. My father was born in No 13 Rifle Butt Road in 1893. On marrying my mother they also lived at No 13, my brother Percy John Lander, (recently deceased) was also born there in 1923. When demolition took place in the 1930s to make way for Marine Gate, No 13 was the house were the demolition began. My family was re-housed in Whitehawk. I was born in 1940 when we lived at 42 Whitehawk Road. In 1942 the King family, who were family friends, offered us a house in Rifle Butt Road next to the meeting hall. In 1943 the house was made unhabitable by bombing and we were once again re-housed in Whitehawk. Bert and Kit Stevens were my god-parents and I grew up with their daughters Marion and Janet. Tom Souch was the publican at "The Northumberland Arms" in St Georges Road, now a dental surgery I believe. He left there in the 1960s and moved to Arundel Street. The concrete structure that seems to have created some mystery was to have been a showrooms and distrbution centre for the Gas Board. Work was halted on the outbreak of WW2 and never recommenced. Vagrants used to sleep in the structure and buy stale bread from the bakery.

By Vic Lander (21/11/2008)

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