Telscombe

First all electric village in 1930

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.

Telscombe parish lies immediately to the east of Brighton and includes the attractive Telscombe village, East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs, and the large common of Telscombe Tye. At the end of the eighteenth century it was said to be inhabited almost exclusively by smugglers! Standing in an isolated position, with road access only from Southease nearly two miles away, the village has retained its appearance and peaceful character mainly through the 1933 bequest of wealthy bookmaker and lord of the manor Ambrose Gorham, who left most of the village to a trust known as 'Gorham's Gift' in the care of Brighton Council ; six trustees are appointed by the council to manage the village within the strict conditions laid down by Gorham. One condition was that there should be no development. Gorham, at his own expense, had had mains electricity and water supplies laid to the flint-walled houses, and indeed Telscombe was the country's first all-electric village in 1930. In 1960 the manor house, parts of which date from the twelfth century, and fifty-four acres of the village were gifted to the National Trust by Ernest Thornton-Smith. The small, flint Church of St Lawrence dates principally from the twelfth century but has some modern additions on the northern side.

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.

The following resource(s) is quoted as a general source for the information above: 1,45,233}