Some of the older village buildings
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.
g) OTHER BUILDINGS: Nos.1-3 Upper Cottages in Ovingdean Road, built in flint but mostly rendered, date from the eighteenth century and are included on the council’s local list of buildings of special interest; they were extensively restored in 1976-8.
The Hames, a single-storey flint cottage, stands in Ovingdean Road adjacent to the Olde Barn, a two-storey flint building converted into a residence in 1982-3. Ovingdean Hall Farm has one old knapped-and-squared-flint barn, but new flint houses were built on the farm yard in 1989.
The Village Hall opened in 1986 on the site of the 1932 village club room.
At the junction of Greenways and Beacon Hill are Greenway Cottages, faced in knapped flint with red-brick dressings; they were built in 1892. The St Dunstan’s building at Ovingdean Gap actually stands in the former parish of Rottingdean .
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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For a short period in 1943 we lived at No 2 Upper Cottages in Ovingdean. We lost our home in Rifle Butt Road in Brighton during the bombing. As my father, Percy Lander, worked for Percy Filkins, who farmed Ovingdean Grange Farm, Mr Filkins allowed us to live at No 2 until Brighton Council could re-house us. Although only three years old I have many memories of that short but happy time. Feeding the pigs in the pigsty located to the left of the cottages. Being given doughnuts by the Canadian soldiers who were stationed in the large school and it’s grounds. I also have memories of Mr and Mrs Filkins and their daughter. On returning now to the area most of the buildings that I remember as working farm buildings with access to all have now been turned into yuppy accomodation with ‘Private Keep Out’ signs all over the place. The Filkin’s would be most upset with the new Ovingdean as they gave access to all and were only too happy to show people arround.
I have a photo taken which was in the newspapers (I don’t know which one but I think it was the Daily Mirror). I was five years old and the caption reads “Five-year old Valerie Robins, on holiday from Cape Town, helping with the harvest on Mr Percy Firkin’s farm at Rottingdean, Sussex. I am now 67 and would love to send it to the Firkins.
My old boss, Mr David Baker, used to live there when I was working for Bulstrode Farm in Ovingdean.
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