Site Updates

23rd December 2004

Our new Christmas Gallery is in place and take a look around Rottingdean to find out the history of Rottingdean Church and Rudyard Kipling’s House. Next come back across Brighton via The Old Steine and go for a pub crawl around our Brighton Boozers Gallery 3. Now that you’re feeling a bit merry, have a look at this picture of North Road taken in 1929, and ask yourself if your eyes are deceiving you.

16th December 2004

12 more pubs have been added to our Brighton Boozersgallery: do you know them? can you date any of the ‘then’ photographs (please leave a comment on the relevant page if you can)? Following the pub theme, we have a personal historical contribution about a previous landlady of the Windmill pub. Also read about the origins of the St Johns Ambulance in Regency Square as well as some personal memories of the old Brighton Hippodrome. And there is a rather nice photograph of William Friese-Greene to accompany last month’s biography.

9th December 2004

This week we have some more pubs, period views of the seafront and some family business – in all, 36 new pages for you to enjoy. Our Brighton Boozersgallery has now expanded to 12 pubs with the following six additions: The Marlborough Hotel; Bat & Ball; Admiral Napier (Cornerstone); Martha Gunns (Gunn); Queen Anne (Standard) and Regency Tavern. We also have two new galleries of seafront images by Bert Clayton – Seafront Gallery 1 & Seafront Gallery 2. Can anyone date these seafront photos? (leave a comment on the relevant page if you can). And finally, we have a detailed account of the various business ventures carried out by the Trangmar family.

2nd December 2004

Take a step back in time to hear the dramatic events that affected a couple of Brighton’s individuals: John Hollingdale who signed his fortune away with a single cross and the kidnapped baby who was found safely in St James Place. Discover what West Hill Road was like during the war and the history of Hodsons Windmill. Move forward in time to see images of the remains of The Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway. Finally take off into the sky to get a bird’s eye view of Brighton today.

25th November 2004

Food and drink! The first of our ‘then and now’ photos of Brighton pubs, taken for the 2005 Brighton Boozers exhibition at Brighton Museum. Plus a mouth-watering look at the interior of the Metropole Hotel. Followed by memories of World War II and a new introduction to Rottingdean.

18th November 2004

An eerie story from St Nicholas’ Church graveyard; a detailed description of the old Dyke Road Workhouse as well as a fascinating account of the building of the Woodingdean Well; a reminder of a famous old Brightonian – William Friese-Greene; and some lovely old photos taken from and of the West Pier in 1870. All this as well as an introduction to our exciting new project where we are looking to gather stories, photos and other memories about all our old pubs – ‘Brighton Boozers’ (this is being done in conjunction with the Brighton Museum).

9th November 2004

This week we have a mixture of memories and of history past and in the making…The Long Barn at Patcham is fondly remembered – along with its smell! The life story of Harry Bennett, ‘A Brighton Man of Letters’ is detailed. We also reveal the history of Preston Barracks prior to most of its demolition. And talking of demolition, we have a recent photo of the Brighton Station redevelopment.

2nd November 2004

Our focus is definitely on history this week! We have a history of the The French Convalescent Home in De Courcel Road, as well as some new information about the origins of the Kemptown Enclosures, there’s a look back at the now-disappeared Rifle Butt Road in Black Rock, a programme for a Preston Park Carnival held in 1888, a biography of the skaters John and Jenny Nicks and a photograph of Sir Harry Preston with the famous cricketer, W.G.Grace, together with a delightful anecdote.

20th October 2004

Have you ever wondered what its like inside The Yellow House? We have an interesting gallery of images showing ceramics and wall hangings from the interior of one of Brighton Festival’s intriguing ‘Open Houses’. We also have another new gallery of evocative images from the 1950’s depicting various aspects of Brighton from half a century ago. The Chain Pier is brought back to life with a painting by Clem Lambert – all for 15p! And the origins of the Westdene Estate are detailed along with a copy of the original plans.

30th September 2004

This week we have some wonderful memories of children’s paintings beneath the West Pier in 1992 and also of the heavy snowfall in 1979. We also have a fascinating gallery of images depicting various scenes from 1967 including the Seafront Sputnik! In addition, we have a brand new introduction to Westdene and finally some fond memories of the former locomotive works.

16th September 2004

Going, going, gone! Summer is over and the old warehouses by the station car park bite the dust. A mock Tudor house by Preston Park gets flattened as well. Fred Pipes uploaded these photos with our new easy PageMaker software. Plus, from 1896, the poignant story of the last man off the Chain Pier. And a gorgeous new gallery of Brighton’s wildlife.

8th September 2004

A photo of the enormous temporary advertisement covering Embassy Court during the renovations. A fascinating history of God’s Acre at Ovingdean and some of its long term residents. An aerial view of Sussex University in the 90’s which is collected into the new Aerial View Tour. You can also see how we used to travel in the Animal Transport Gallery.

In addition we have used the Wanted page to highlight some of the current opportunities that exist for individual volunteers to carry out interviews or take photos for the site. Please follow the instructions on the page if you can help in this way.

28th August 2004

A piece on the origins of the Waggon & Horses pub in Church Street. Some interesting information about the various Brighton buildings used as military hospitals during the First World War. A personal memory of boys swimming in the King Alfred Centre pool and at the nearby beach in the 1960s. As well as some great photos of the old Kemptown Railway Station and a 1960s Brighton bus.

In addition we have used the Wanted page to highlight some of the current opportunities that exist for individual volunteers to carry out interviews or take photos for the site. Please follow the instructions on the page if you can help in this way.

18th August 2004

Alan Hobden remembers his ancestor, who owned Hobdens Baths. Chris Kift celebrates the flower-gardens and spectacular views of the Bristol Estate. Bert Williams tells the history of the the Indian Gate at the Royal Pavilion. Plus details of an exciting new course about Exploring Memories of Brighton.

We have also radically improved our PageMaker feature to help people easily add their words and photos to the site. Without any technical expertise, you can now create a page, preview it and edit it, before submitting it to the site – and you can even come back and work on your pages at a later date!

11th August 2004

It’s Aerial View week! Enjoy birds eye views of Brighton University and the By-Pass under construction; St Nicholas Church; Brighton and Preston Park stations. Then fly over the London Road Viaduct; The Downs; the Racecourse and General Hospital; Lewes Crescent; The Marina; The West Pier and finally Central Hove.

1st August 2004

An interesting biography of Bobby Lee of the Brighton Tigers and a history of Ovingdean Hall. Personal memories of St Luke’s School and the Falmer blacksmith. And a modern day comment on Hollingdean as well as some very recent photographs of the work starting on Embassy Court.

23th July 2004

Blimey! A wealth of new content this week. Our new History Trail has been launched. We’ve created this guided walk from the train station to the museum for the 24 Hour Museum. The trail covers both tourist hot-spots like the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Pier and out-of-the-way nooks such as Trafalgar Terrace and the Friends Centre. A team of volunteers collected stories and photographs from those who live and work along the route. It’s best to follow the Trail using the interactive map! However, there’s a full list of new features below. Thank you and well done to all concerned!

The History Trail itself covers:

The Station
Trafalgar Terrace
Frederick Gardens
North Road
Brighthelm Centre
Clifton Terrace
St Nicholas Church
Wykeham Terrace
Duke Street
Dukes Lane
Friends Centre
Quadrophenia Alley
East Street
Brighton Pier
Old Steine
Royal Pavilion
Brighton Museum

The new material created for the History Trail is as follows:

New tour about Clifton Hill
New tour about Brighton’s building materials, from flint to mathematical tiles
New tour about ‘Brighton and Hove on film’
Interviews with overseas visitors about their first impressions of Brighton
A personal view of the Toy and Model Museum
Interview with a resident of Trafalgar Terrace
Article about the Community Base
Interviews with residents of Clifton Terrace
Interview about the recent history of the Friends Centre as a ‘People’s University’
Interview with Glenda Clarke, about her Quadrophenia tour
Interviews with street traders in East Street
Interview with the Keeper of the Royal Pavilion
Article about the Royal Pavilion gardeners
Article about the Pavilion Gardens Cafe, family business for 60 years
Interview with Brighton Museum’s Head of Collections
Details of Trafalgar Terrace census in 1901
Interview with Ken Fines, the town planner who saved the North Laine
Interview about the black history of Brighton and Hove
History of famous people buried in St Nicholas churchyard
History with old photos of the Quaker meeting-house
A potted history of Brighton, from Geoff Mead
Old photos of Clifton Terrace
Photos of modern life in St Nicholas graveyard

13th July 2004

Two photos of the old Kemp Town branch tunnel. Aerial views from 1991 of Amex House and the King Alfred Centre. A personal view of the Bristol Estate and some touching memories of Kemp Town.

8th July 2004

Two photos of the Royal Sussex County Hospital under construction in the 1960s. As well as a reminder of what our buses and amateur footballers looked like in the same decade! A lovely image of the old Regent Foundry and a couple of photos of the Rectory at Ovingdean to complement the history from a few weeks ago. A short history about the transient nature of St Marks School and a personal memory and drawing of the Church of the Good Shepherd.

29 June 2004

Three aerial views of the by-pass under construction – remember that? An illustrated history of Woodingdean Farm. A nostalgic photo of the old Regent Cinema and a misty shot of prefab housing on Wilson Avenue. Plus some history notes about the Chain Pier.

24 June 2004

A 1792 map of Brighton. A history of the Rectory at Ovingdean and the Old Diamond Works on Lewes Road (now the Big Yellow Self Storage Company). Memories of Elm Grove Junior school before the War. And more photos of the 1960s: atmospheric shots of cars, clothes and the day a Hove factory closed for ever.

10 June 2004

More photos from the 60s: a new sculpture in Churchill Square, the building of the Gardner Arts Centre, and a line-up at a finishing school. Plus a poignant image of the destruction of the aquarium clock, a greengrocers in St James Street and a query about the Hanover Arms.

27 May 2004

Thanks to Malcolm Shifrin for sending us a history of Turkish baths in Brighton. Our 60s photo event yields photos of Italian street musicians, a vanished council house in Whitehawk, and a shiny new Churchill Square. Plus a poem about Brighton beach and a query about Peel Place.

13 May 2004

Thanks to Ian McKenzie for sending us a CD of fantastic aerial views of Brighton. This week’s taster includes the station, the Level, Palace Pier, Brighton seafront and central Brighton. You can also boggle at an old photo of a train crash at Kemptown Station, read a go-go dancer’s memories and see the strongest fisherman in Brighton.

6 April 2004

Gorgeous old postcards of the illuminated Mazda fountain and Victoria Fountain in the Old Steine. Memories of the old Odeon in West Street (not to be confused with the Kingswest Odeon). An expert on old cars dates a photo of the Grand Hotel. And we need your help in collecting photos of the 1960s!

20 March 2004

The publicity around our new Three Centuries Tour has increased our website visitor figures to 1,000 a day. The tour also inspired some fascinating historical detective work on dating the photos (see the introduction). Among dozens of other comments, you’ve sent us memories of Brighton’s punk scene and the Princes News Theatre. Plus new photos of the West Pier, St James Place and St Mary’s Church.

23 February 2004

Go back in time! Each place in our new Three Centuries Tour is illustrated with photos taken of the same spot in the 19th, 20th and 21st century. Locations include the Grand Hotel, East Street and Market Street.

17 February 2004

Using our add-a-page feature, you’ve sent us memories of the hot summer of 2003. We’ve added old photos of Regency Square, the Palace Pier and the Old Ship Hotel. Plus, as ever, we’ve added your comments to existing pages – too numerous to mention, but they include memories of meat markets, and history notes on Wick Hall in Hove.

3 February 2004

Using our add-a-page feature, you’ve sent us a history of the Brighton Palladium, photos of the ruined West Pier and Patcham Place, and memories of trams and snow on Ditchling Road. Plus, our e-mail group has been lively with discussion of the Guinness clock. Remember that?

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