A personal visit in 2006

These pictures are of what I took of the Moulsecoomb estate during a day visit to Brighton in July 2006. Here are some photos of the allotment on there, and a few streets with wonderful views overlooking Brighton.

Comments about this page

  • I’d like to have known the exact location of the depicted scenes. Although I was born in the 1920s at Moulsecoomb, and lived at Newick Road for 21 years, I fail to recognise any of the places shown. It would be satisfying to know just where, and know how much some parts have changed.
    Any chance of advising, Benjamin?

    By Ron Spicer (14/08/2008)
  • Hi Ron the first pic is from the footpath from Medmerry Hill overlooking Bevendean Crescent and just to the right (if it helps) is Tony Morris’s post office / shop. The second and third are from Tony Morris’s shop door looking towards the seafront. The third I am not sure – looks like he was taking the photo from a house possibly looking out on the Downs.

    By Tony Dyke (25/09/2008)
  • Yes, I was taking the picture from outside my cousin’s house overlooking the Downs and the first three were panoramic views of Brighton from Medmerry Hill.

    By Benjamin Caine (25/10/2008)
  • Thanks Tony and Ben. I hadn’t a clue but now can see! I last was in that area about about 50 years ago.

    By Ron Spicer (14/10/2009)
  • In my early thirties, I left Brighton (about 1976) after being born and raised in Moulsecoomb. I recognised the view in the pictures but haven’t things changed and sadly not for the better? Visit that area back in the 60’s and in the make up of the shops you had a post office, a ladies hairdresser, a greengrocer (Mum worked there) a butcher, a baker (Goldsmiths, I was at school with the young daughter, Rosemary), a chemist and a cobbler, all thriving. Of course there was a newsagent and tobacconist also. Now there is a grocery store and a couple of other shops. I made my first return pilgrimage from New Zealand to Moulsecoomb in 2006. Sadly the atmosphere had gone and those friendly shops where the assistants knew every customer’s name are no longer. My mother lived in the same house in Hodshrove Road for nearly seventy years, it wasn’t a part of her life, it was her life. She is no longer with us but I must confess my return visits to the town of my birth, were hollow. In all fairness it must be said that in the early days my parents had nothing, oddly, just like the people who lived next door, in fact just like everyone on the estate, these were the dark days just after the war. The strange thing being, everyone seemed very happy, in many ways they were better off, as Moulscoomb was a thriving, happy community. Poor? Definitely, but happy. On my four return visits it was very noticeable it was the community that was missing, and it made such a difference. In this new millennium Mum didn’t know the names of four people who lived in the road, in those far off days she could have named every resident, their children and their pets. People had time for each other, they made time for each other. On occasions progress comes at an unacceptable cost, and I don’t mean rate payer’s money.

    By Robin Hutchinson (15/08/2011)

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