Named from the Presbyterian Meeting House

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.

n) This twitten is named from the former Presbyterian Meeting House in Union Street rather than the Friends’ Meeting House, and until about 1790 was confined to what is now Union Street ; the southern arm, widened in 1889, was part of Black Lion Street , the northern part was Poplar Place, and the eastern arm was known as Market Lane {108}.
The narrow street is lined with late-eighteenth- or early-nineteenth-century buildings, most of which now have nineteenth-century shop-fronts (although there was some development in the area around 1600 – nos.1-12, 22-26, 27-32 and 36-53 are listed buildings. No.43, which has a projecting weather-boarded upper storey, is said to date from around 1620 and claims to be the oldest house in Brighton; it certainly looks the part and is the most evocative building in the Lanes, but it probably dates only from the eighteenth century {18}. Nos.29-30 are also weather-boarded , while no.32 has a tile-hung first-floor and no.44 is faced in yellow brick; nos.7-8 and 25 are faced with mathematical tiles . Nos.4-5 were built in 1864 as the True Briton Inn which was originally at nos.1-2, but in 1867 it became the Bath Arms and was restored to its original state in 1982. The modern weatherboarded facades at nos.16-21 were constructed as part of the Brighton Square development in 1966.
Meeting House Lane is also said to be haunted by a nun from St Bartholomew’s Priory who was walled-up alive for eloping with a soldier. Dressed in a grey habit, she has been seen at twilight gliding through a bricked-up archway into the Friends’ Meeting House. Anyone who stares into her face will meet an untimely end! {18,44,83,123}

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.

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