Tudor Cottages and Tudor Close

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) TUDOR COTTAGES and TUDOR CLOSE : One of the timber-framed Tudor Cottages on the northern side of the road bears the convincing date of 1530, but the cottages were in fact converted from the tithe barn of Court Farm and some adjacent thatched cottages in about 1930. Tudor Close opposite is also a modern development of seven houses by the Saltdean Estate Company which incorporated two former barns and a cow-shed of Court Farm. The buildings were skilfully developed in mock-Tudor style over a period of three years, but many of the beams, timbers and tiles, which have been elaborately carved with Tudor roses and other decorations, were taken from other old barns and buildings; much of the fabric of Tudor Close and Tudor Cottages is therefore genuinely old. The Close, which was finished in about 1929, did not sell well though, and was soon converted into the Tudor Close Hotel. It was extended by architect Richard Jones in 1936-7, and became well-known for playing host to many stars of the screen and stage; film star Bette Davis stayed there for three months. However, in the 1950s Tudor Close was reconverted into twenty-nine flats. Tudor carving may also be seen at several other houses in Dean Court Road, and also at Founthill Road.

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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