Ovingdean Grange

The former manor house

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.

c) OVINGDEAN GRANGE: This house is the most historic secular building in the village and was the former manor house. The oldest part lies on the northern side and dates from the late sixteenth century; the flint walls here may be seen from the private road leading to Ovingdean Hall . The west front dates from the early nineteenth century however, and presents a disappointing plain facade in a roughcast. There is a Doric porch though, and the interior has a fine oak-beam roof.
As mentioned above, Ovingdean Grange is the title of a novel by Harrison Ainsworth about the fictitious visit of King Charles II in 1651. In 1987 the house, which was acquired as part of the East Brighton estate, was sold at auction by the council. In 1985-6 two large, nineteenth-century flint barns in the farmyard were converted into homes known as Beacon Court; there are also some eighteenth-century, flint and weather-boarded stables, now cottages. {1,44,47,125}

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.