Manor Farm

The Bristol Estate

Photo by Tony Mould

Convent of the Augustinian Sisters

Photo by Tony Mould

Convent of the Augustinian Sisters

Photo by Tony Mould

Robindene, a late Victorian house

Photo by Tony Mould

Originally established in 1850

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. 

The original Manor Farm, together with Manor House, stood on the site of the present Manor Gardens and Manor Green until the 1950s, and was well-known for the quality of its produce. The farm was erected on the site in about 1850, while the house was added a perhaps a little later, in around 1855, for William Hallett, founder of the Kemp Town Brewery and the town's second mayor. In April 1936 the corporation purchased forty-one acres at Manor Farm and erected some 422 houses there, principally to rehouse people from the slum clearance areas around Carlton Hill . A few flats and houses were added post-war on the site of the farm buildings, while the adjacent Bristol Estate was developed in the late 1950s. {2,83,108,109}
At the southern end of Manor Road stand two large detached houses. No.1, a convent and nursing home of the Augustinian Sisters, was built in 1906 and has a small chapel to the south. Adjacent is Robindene, a large, three-storey, late- Victorian house with a Doric porch.
On the night of 6-7 January 1973 at 119 Maresfield Road, seven-year-old Maria Colwell, weighing just thirty-six pounds, was beaten to death by her stepfather William Kepple. Maria had been happy with foster parents but was returned to her mother by the authorities despite warnings from neighbours.  She was buried at TrafalgarRoadCemetery, Portslade , and Kepple was jailed for manslaughter, but her death led to unprecedented anger in the town and press, and the government was forced to hold a 41-day public inquiry, the first into child battering, at Crown Street. The authorities and voluntary organisations were severely criticised by the inspector's report, and on 2 November 1974 a 'Maria Day' rally was attended by over a thousand people in Trafalgar Square, London, to call for reforms in the law. The result was the passing of the 1975 Children Act and reforms to social services departments. {19,123}

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.