Introduction to Hollingbury

History notes and photo gallery

Reproduced with permission from the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder, 1990

Please note that this text is an extract from a reference work written in 1990.  As a result, some of the content may not reflect recent research, changes and events.

a) HOLLINGBURY HILL and CASTLE: The hill which lies to the north of the town between the London Road and Lewes Road valleys is known as Hollingbury . Reaching 584 feet above sea-level, it enjoys the widest panorama in the town, and the walker will be rewarded on a very clear day with views that extend to the New Forest, the Isle of Wight, Chanctonbury Ring, the North Downs, Hastings, and of course the spectacular Brighton townscape below. Visitors should be aware, however, that there are only two rights-of-way over the golf-course: one leads from Lynchet Close , Hollingdean , due north via the Iron Age camp to the '39-acre field' car-park in Ditchling Road ; the second leads from Ditchling Road , to the north of Woodbourne Avenue, to the camp. Most of the downland estate, then in the parish of Patcham , was purchased by the corporation in March 1901 for £25,000 {305}.
The summit of the hill is crowned by Hollingbury Castle Camp , an early Iron Age hill fort dating from the sixth century to about the middle of the second century B.C.; it has been the property of the corporation since June 1903. Although commonly referred to as such, it certainly never was a castle. It is, however, a scheduled ancient monument and covers approximately nine acres in a rough square about 600 feet across, with gateways to east and west through the still-evident ramparts. The camp was excavated by Herbert Toms in 1908, Cecil Curwen and the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society in 1931, and by John Holmes in 1967; they have shown that the ramparts were defended by wooden barricades, and have also discovered the sites of wooden huts. {260}

b) HOLLINGBURYPARK: Hollingbury golf-course covers most of the area of HollingburyPark, about 240 acres. This municipal course was laid out with nine holes in 1907 for £460, and was formally opened by the mayor, John Roberts, on 11 September 1908. The first two holes were made where the football pitches now lie alongside Ditchling Road , with the present tennis pavilion as the clubhouse, but the course was extended to eighteen holes in 1910 and was completely remodelled in 1936 by Charles Hawtree; the length is now 6,502 yards. The second clubhouse, a wooden building at Lower Roedale, was originally presented to the town by Queen Mary as a workshop for the disabled during the First World War and stood in the Royal Pavilion grounds; it was later purchased by Arthur and Benjamin Saunders and presented to the golf club. A new clubhouse opened at Upper Roedale in April 1987. Much of the adjacent woodland, planted in the first half of the nineteenth century, was destroyed in the storm of October 1987. {76,123,126,218,221}

c) HOLLINGBURY HOUSING ESTATE: The southern slopes of Hollingbury were developed principally in the 1890s and 1900s, and several roads in the Fiveways and Hollingdean areas, a public house in Roedale Road, and the borough ward for the Hollingdean area are named ' Hollingbury '. The Hollingbury housing estate, however, was developed on the north-western slopes of the hill post-war, and the two areas are sometimes confused. It is the town's largest post-war council estate, and was developed on land principally acquired in November 1909. The first houses were erected in 1946 at Midhurst Rise and Petworth Road, and building continued until 1964. {83,276,305}
Hollingbury Methodist Church , Lyminster Avenue, was opened in September 1952. The branch library opened on 27 April 1962 in a small, pre-fabricated building which originally opened in September 1950 as the CountyOak public house; the new CountyOak opened in March 1961 {123}. Carden Park occupies about twelve acres and was laid out in the 1950s, but tennis courts and swings were lost when the KTM (now FMT) factory was extended in 1968. The corporation then added part of the adjoining downland to compensate, but part was again taken for the construction of the £350,000 Carden Community Centre which was paid for by the Asda company; it was officially opened on 28 April 1988 {123,126}.

d ) HOLLINGBURY INDUSTRIAL ESTATE : The Hollingbury Industrial Estate was developed by the corporation on eighteen acres around Crowhurst Road from 1950; the first factories were occupied by Ogdens bakery and Underwood Elliott Fletcher typewriters. By 1956, several other engineerings firms were established including CVA tools (later Kearney and Trecker Marwin (KTM) and now Flexible Manufacturing Technology). Underwoods were subsequently taken over by Creeds, ITT and STC, but their factories closed in the mid 1980s, part of a recession that saw employment on the estate fall from 8,000 to under 1,000 by 1980. However, the Enterprise Estate, a collection of small factory units, opened in October 1985. The Asda superstore, with its attractive entrance hall reminiscent of the CrystalPalace, was designed by APP Brighton and opened on 9 November 1987 on the site of an STC factory; it won a council planning award in 1989. An MFI superstore, also designed by APP, opened nearby on 28 September 1989. The Brighton bypass, scheduled for completion in 1995, will have an interchange with Carden Avenue and Crowhurst Road. {83,123}

Any numerical cross-references in the text above refer to resources in the Sources and Bibliography section of the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder.