Rock Street by Richard Parker 14 May 2021 9:26 PMDoes anyone know the origin of the name of this street?11 replies Re: Rock Street by Peter Groves 19 May 2021 9:06 PMYes you can read about it here: https://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/places/placestree/rock-gardens/rock-gardens Re: Rock Street by Dr Geoffrey Mead 25 June 2021 10:07 AMI answered this query back in May…. but somehow it has not materialised! Peter’s answer using the My B&H website entry is for Rock GARDENS not Rock STREET, which is some way away to the east behind Lewes Crescent. Rock Gardens is taking its name from some hard flint concretions which would have been atop the cliff line at New Steine. Coastal erosion caused them to collapse into the sea creating an image which appears in old Brighton images as ‘Old Rocks at Brighton’. They were destroyed when the Chain Pier was constructed very near there. Similar geological features can be seen today at Hope Gap, east of Seaford. Maybe some of these flint structures were present at Kemp Town when Rock Street was being constructed and named in the 1820s…but as a local history researcher[really a geographer…] I have to say it is often not that easy to interpret street names and there may be many other origins of the street name. Re: Rock Street by Geoffrey Mead 28 February 2022 9:58 AMHi Peter, all the My B&H info (good as that is…) is about Rock GARDENS and not Rock STREET, which is some distance away in Kemp Town just behind Lewes Crescent. Re: Rock Street by Geoffrey Mead 28 February 2022 9:58 AMMost probably there was a group of rocks off the shore at that point. A similar group were pictured on a print of 1809 which shows an engraving of ‘The Old Rocks, Brighton’. These were further west near New Steine. They are quite possibly the same rocks you can see today at Hope Gap near Seaford, which are a concretion of flints and sandy, silty clay which capped the chalk there as a very tough layer. Coastal erosion has removed the softer chalk below causing the top layer to collapse onto the beach.The Brighton rocks were blown up during the construction of the Chain Pier nearby during the early 1820s. Rock Gardens and Rock Place have similar origin in naming. Rock Street is further east at Kemp Town but most probably would have had a similar group of the flint packed concretion. Re: Rock Street by Tim Sargeant 1 March 2022 7:59 AMRock Street is a short street in Kemp Town which runs from Eastern Road just south of Church Place and meets Chesham Road at the bottom of St Mark’s Street. In the 1950s it was full of little local shops where you could buy anything (AND everything!) you needed. It even still has two pubs one of which is called The Rock Inn. (Which came first the pub name or the street?)The one on the opposite side of the road used to be The Hervey Arms but seems to have had several name changes. That was originally named after Frederick Hervey the Marquess of Bristol, who lived at Nos 19 & 20 Sussex Square, which together were called Bristol Mansions at the top north west corner of the Square. Around 1920 there could have been another pub there as well, possibly on the corner of St Mark’s Street.At that time my grandfather owned the Clarence Garage nearby in Eastern Road and he sold a car to the landlord of this pub. Unfortunately the man did not know how to drive and killed a pedestrian. He was sent to prison for this. Re: Rock Street by Tim Sargeant 4 June 2022 5:40 PMAs an aside to the above posting:You may wonder why the landlord of the pub mentioned bought a car but was unable to drive. Driving tests were not introduced until 1935 and then only on a voluntary basis not becoming compulsory until 1936. However they were suspended throughout the War and re-commenced on 1st November 1946. Re: Rock Street by Peter Groves 6 June 2022 11:01 AMThanks Tim, very interesting! Re: Rock Street by Peter Groves 15 June 2022 3:22 PMRock St / Rock Gardens both get their name from the large rocks that were adjacent to the area of New Steine! Re: Rock Street by Richard Parker 16 June 2022 3:25 PMThank you Peter but Rock Gardens and Rock Street are not the same place. Rock Street is very near Sussex Square. Re: Rock Street by Sam Flowers 16 June 2022 3:27 PMI think Rock Street, Rock Gardens, &c., were named after the small group of hard rocks (now under shingle) which once projected from the sand not far south of these places. A good illustration of the rocks can be seen from an old 1808 engraving reproduced in John Bishop’s “Brighton in the Olden Time” (People’s Edition, 1892, p. 14). Re: Rock Street by Tim Sargeant 16 June 2022 3:27 PMCould be connected with the pub there, The Rock Inn, as there is also Rock Grove which runs from there along the back of Chichester Terrace although not marked as such on most maps. Rock Gardens and Rock Place to the West as well. 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