A walk in my memory

If I continued up Round Hill Road going east, I would pass the windows of the former baker’s shop on the left and then reach Belton Road. To the north is a cul-de-sac with garages on the west side and houses on both sides, beyond which gardens completing the last houses. In front of the garages in the middle of the road was the sawn off trunk of the old post windmill which one can see in some of the pictures of early Brighton.

Fascinating keepsakes
Our interest in it was the “meteorites’ which surrounded it in the gritty road. They were small pieces of what had once been molten iron and I collected many of them in tins. Such were our ‘treasures’ in those days before ipods. They disappeared when I was absent from home! I think they may have been slag from an iron works which had been used to give a foundation surrounding the mill. Are there any pieces left there today, I wonder?

Fresh tomatoes
Down the hill, towards the Crescent past Eric Jakins’ house and opposite lived Roy Adams who had the most magnificent Bassett Lowke steam locomotive. Further down still came the entrance on the west side to the nursery of Mr. McCullum, who with his mother, cultivated tomatoes in green houses. Before I was eleven, I spent many pleasant hours there, helping him water the plants and nip out unwanted side shoots. My reward? Tomatoes, fresh from the vine, juicy and succulent.

Fun with catapults
Mr. Mc Cullum was a member of the Preston Nomads Cricket Club together with Mr. Soan, the greengrocer on Ditchling Road. At the bottom end of Belton Road was a house about three storeys high with a wall which was perfect for firing small stones up to the sky with our catapults. The sound of the ricochet was music to our ears; and no-one ever complained!

 

Comments about this page

  • Living at the eastern end of Prince’s Crescent, I used sometimes to walk up Roundhill Road and down Belton Road as an alternative route when returning home from Downs School. I have a photo enlarged from an old postcard which shows “Old windmill off Ditchling Road” which I assume is the old Roundhill Mill. It is in fact a tower mill with ogee cap, fantail and a large roundhouse at the base. I may post the picture to MyB&H if I can get it out of the frame and scan it. Anyone else know anything about the Roundhill Mill?

    By Len Liechti (15/11/2009)
  • More on the Mill here, including a picture: http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__8715.aspx

    By Len Liechti (16/11/2009)
  • My two cousins, Robin and Ian Davey, lived at 27 Belton Road (near the end of the close) on top of the hill.

    By Phil Allsopp (09/03/2014)
  • I lived at no 14 from1967 to 1984. My parents and grandparents lived there before me. (Fenemore and Heading)

    By T Sayers (01/09/2018)

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