History of Brighton
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The overall history of Brighton is that of an ancient fishing village which emerged as a health resort in the 18th century and grew into one of the largest towns in England by the 20th century.
Etymology
The etymology of the name of Brighton lies in the Old English Beorhthelmes tūn (Beorhthelm's farmstead). This name has evolved through Bristelmestune (1086), Brichtelmeston (1198), Brighthelmeston (1493) and Brighthelmston (1816). Brighton came into common use in the early 19th century.Paleolithic
The western section of the cliffs at Black Rock, near Brighton Marina are an unusual outcropping of palaeolithic Coombe Rock, revealing in section a paleocliff cut into Cretaceous Chalk. These rocks were formerly known as the "Elephant Beds" in reference to the fossilized material recovered by geologists and paleontologists. 200,000 years ago the beach was significantly higher and this clear strata can be observed preserved in the cliff. Protohumans (assumed to be the same species of hominid found at the Neander Valley) hunted various animals including mammoth along the shore. The preservation of this raised beach and associated evidence of a coastal paleolandscape has led to a protected status for the cliff. This section can be seen directly behind Asda car-park.Pre-Roman period
Whitehawk Camp is an early Neolithic causewayed enclosure c.3500 BC. The centre is some way towards the transmitter on the south side of Manor Road (which bisects the enclosure), opposite the Brighton Racecourse grandstand. Archaeological enquiry (by the Curwens in the 1930s and English Heritage in the 1990s) have determined four concentric circles of ditches and mounds, broken or "causewayed" in many places. Significant vestiges of the mounds remain and their arc can be traced by eye. The site is unobstructed and may be visited The building of a new housing estate in the early 1990s over the south-eastern portion of the enclosure damaged the archaeology and caused the loss of the ancient panoramic view.The fate of a neolithic long barrow at Waldegrave Road is recorded. It was used as hardcore during the building of Balfour Road and workmen were regularly disturbed by the concentrations of human remains poking through their foundations. John Funnel, Chairman of Brighton and Hove Archaeology Society, on the audioguide in the Booth Museum, Dyke Road, Brighton
More of pre-historic Brighton and Hove can be seen just north of the small retail park on Old Shoreham Road, built in the late 1990s over the site of the town's football ground. Here one can visit The Goldstone. This is believed to have been ceremonial, and there are suggestions that it, together with now-vanished stones, may have formed an ancient circle. In the early 19th century a local farmer, fed up with romantic tourists, had the largest stone buried. It was exhumed in 1900.
After a scholarly review, the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity noted, "there are a concentration of Beaker burials on the fringes of the central chalklands around Brighton, and a later cluster of Early and Middle Bronze Age 'rich graves' in the same area."
An important pre-Roman site in Brighton is Hollingbury Camp. Commanding panoramic views over the city, this Celtic Iron Age encampment is circumscribed by substantial earthwork outer walls with a diameter of approximately 300 metres. It is one of numerous hillforts found across southern Britain. Cissbury Ring, roughly 10 miles from Hollingbury, is suggested to have been the tribal "capital".
Roman occupation
The Romans built villas throughout Sussex, including a villa in Brighton. At the time of its construction in the late 1st or 2nd century AD there was a stream running along what is now London Road. The villa was sited more or less at the water's edge, immediately south of Preston Park. The villa was excavated in the 1930s, prior to the building of a garage on the site. Numerous artefacts were found, as well as the foundations of the building. Locals remember that the garage owner had a small display of Roman statues and broaches on a shelf behind the till.#redirectA Roman road leads from Shoreham-by-Sea through Hove to Brighton, where it turns and leads north to Hassocks, a Roman industrial centre. No significant Roman settlement has been found in Brighton or Hove. However the presence of the Roman roads, the high number of Roman artifacts, and significant changes in geography (due to sedimentation and erosion) could mean that any possible settlement is either buried or may have been washed away by the sea.
Despite the Romano-British construction of numerous shore forts along the south coast (significant extant examples can be visited at Portsmouth to the West and Pevensey to the East) the battle to ward off Saxon raiders was eventually lost after the official withdrawal of Roman resources in AD 410.
Middle ages
After the Norman conquest, King William I conferred the barony of Lewes to his son-in-law William de Warenne. The Domesday Book of 1086 contains the first documentary evidence of a settlement on the modern site of Brighton. Located in the rape of Lewes and in the Welesmere hundred, the settlement was made up of three manors, the first being described as Bristelmestune.
The 12th century font in Brighton's old parish church St Nicholas' is described by Pevsner as "the best piece of Norman carving in Sussex".
St Peter's Church at Preston Manor, Brighton, currently under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, is 14th century.#redirect A medieval fresco depicting the murder of Thomas Beckett was discovered under paint following a fire in the early 20th century. The fresco is among the oldest art in Brighton.#redirect Two elm trees in the grounds of Preston Manor are the oldest English elms in the world. They are thought to be c.850 years old.#redirect
St Andrews Church, the former parish church of Hove, has a 13th century nave. The exterior is entirely 19th century, or later.#redirect St Bartholomew's Priory stood on the site of the present town hall. A small dispatchment of Cluniacs established the monastery submitting themselves to a regular life under the Rule of St Benedict.#redirect
14th Century
In 1312 King Edward II granted market rights to the village and the right to hold an annual fair on the eve, day and morrow of St. Bartholomew 23rd,24th,25th August.16th and 17th centuries
In June 1514, the fishing village (by then known as Brighthelmstone) was burnt to the ground by the French as part of a war which began as a result of the Treaty of Westminster (1511). Subsequently in 1545 the residents of the town petitioned the monarch for defensive cannon. Their petition featured an illustrated map showing the French raid, a copy of which can be seen in Hove Museum.This map is the earliest known picture of Brighton. It shows a site laid out in a rectangular shape about a quarter of a mile square. The lower town of houses on the foreshore can be seen with series of sloping ways rising eastwards up the cliff. Middle Street came into existence during the 16th century and West Street, North Street and East Street were fully developed by the 16th century. However the interior between Middle Street and East Street remained undeveloped and was knows as the Hempshares.Salzman (1940), p.245
The lower town on the foreshore suffered from sea erosion. In 1665 there were 113 houses out of a former 135. However as only 24 of these houses paid Hearth Tax in that year, it is suspected that many of these dwellings were mere hovels.Salzman (1940), p.245
Deryk Carver, a brewer from Black Lion Street, was arrested by the Sheriff, Edward Gage, for contradicting the dictats of state religion. Their readings were in English and they rejected the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and its continuing role as an instrument of state power. Carver and others were dispatched for trial in London and ultimately executed at the county town of Lewes. Carver was stood in a barrel of pitch and burned alive.#redirect
After his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, Charles II escaped to France through Brighton and finally Shoreham-by-Sea. This event is remembered annually by the Royal Escape yacht race.Carder (1990). s.35 The tomb of the boat-owner who was instrumental in the escape of Charles II, Nicholas Tettersell, is to be seen in St Nicholas churchyard, Brighton. The verse on the tombstone ensures that no-one is left in doubt of Tettersell's magnificent contribution to the survival of the monarchy.
18th century decline and later prosperity
By the 1640s Brighthelmstone had a population of over 4,000 and was the largest settlement in Sussex. Its economy was dominated by the fishing industry.Carder (1990),s.17(e)However this period of relative prosperity was followed by a slow decline into the 18th century due to a fall in the demand for fish and sea erosion. The Great Storm of 1703 caused considerable damage to the town. Daniel Defoe reported that the storm:
A second storm in 1705 destroyed the lower town and covered the wreckage of the houses with shingle. The fortifications of the west cliff were destroyed in 1748.Salzman,L (1940),p.245 Proposed sea defences at a cost of £8,000 were described by Defoe as "more than the whole town was worth". By the mid-18th century the population had fallen to 2,000Carder (1990),s.17(e)
Health resort and Royal patronage in the late Eighteenth Century
During the 1730s, Dr Richard Russell of Lewes began to prescribe the medicinal use of sea-water at Brighthelmstone for his patients. In 1753 he erected a large house on the southern side of the Steine for his own and patients' accommodation. After Dr Russell's death in 1759, his house was let to seasonal vistors including the brother of George III the Duke of Cumberland in 1771. On 7 September 1783 the Prince Regent (then the Prince of Wales) visited his uncle. The Prince's subsequent patronage of the town for the next 40 years was central to the rapid growth of the town and the transition of the fishing village of Brighthelmston to the modern town of Brighton.Currently enjoying restoration, Marlborough House on the Old Steine was built by Robert Adam in 1765 and purchased shortly afterwards by the eponymous Duke. By 1780, development of the Regency terraces had started and the town quickly became the fashionable resort of Brighton. The growth of the town was further encouraged when, in 1786, the young Prince Regent later King George IV, rented a farmhouse in order to escape from public life. He spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the exotic Royal Pavilion, which is the town's best-known landmark. The Kemp Town estate (at the heart of the Kemptown district) was constructed between 1823 and 1855, and is a good example of Regency architecture.
20th Century
In many ways, Brighton's postwar growth has been a continuation of the "fashionable Brighton" which drew the Georgian upper classes. The growth in mass tourism stimulated numerous Brighton businesses to serve the insatiable appetites of the holidaying masses. Pubs and restaurants are abundant. An important postwar development was the 1961 founding of Sussex University, designed by Sir Basil Spence. The University acquired a strong academic reputation, and a certain reputation for radicalism. Brighton, with its vibrant cultural scene, is hard to imagine without the 20,000+ students from Sussex and the more recent Brighton University.Other post war developments are considered to have scarred the centre of Brighton, although creating much needed low-cost local housing. An example being the virtual destruction of Richmond street to make way for tower blocks located at the east of St. Peter's Church. A notable feature of this area was a fence at the junction of the present Elmore Road and Richmond Street which stopped carts from running away down the steep hill.
In the same area of the town there have been further developments, with student accommodation at the bottom of Southover Street being built in the early 1990s at the site of the Phoenix Brewery. A nearby housing association development at the bottom of Albion Hill, behind the Phoenix Gallery, incorporates the houses once known as "Trumpton", formerly a long-term squatted dwelling, its colourful appearance much in fitting with the area's Bohemian demographic. "Trumpton" arose alongside the politics of the Brighton Justice? movement and the creation of a social space in a nearby squatted former courthouse.
Embassy Court is one of the most unusual buildings on the seafront at Brighton and Hove, although the reasons for this have differed over the years. When built in 1935, designed by architect Welles Coates, the building contrasted sharply with the more sedate and ornamental architecture of King's Road; but by the 1990s, the structure drew comment because of the state of its decay. The building made the local press after chunks of render and windows fell from the building onto the street below, and it appeared until recently that it might suffer the same ignomious fate met by the nearby West Pier, which all but succumbed to the elements and suspected arsonists in early 2004. Eventually this fate was avoided: a consortium formed by residents and owners were able to wrestle the freehold of the building from the then management company, and restoration began in 2004, being completed by Autumn 2005.
Social change during the 20th Century has seen many of the 19th Century townhouses converted to flats, along with the mews buildings which once served many of them.
References and notes
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