History of Brighton
Protohumans (assumed to be the same species of hominid found at the Neander Valley) hunted various animals including mammoth along the shore.
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.
[3] 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.
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.
[6] 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.
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.
[10] 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.
[citation needed] A medieval fresco depicting the murder of Thomas Becket was discovered under paint following a fire in the early 20th century.
[citation needed] 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).
[24] Deryk Carver, a Flemish brewer whose premises were on Black Lion Street, was arrested by the Sheriff, Edward Gage, for heresy.
The town is likely to share the same fate with the last [Hove], the sea having washed away the half of it; whole streets being now deserted, and the beach almost covered with walls of houses being almost entire, the lime or cement being strong enough, when thrown down, to resist the violence of the waves.
a gentleman of good birth.By the mid-18th century the population had fallen to 2,000[24] During the 1730s, Dr Richard Russell of Lewes began to prescribe the medicinal use of seawater at Brighthelmstone for his patients.
After Dr Russell's death in 1759, his house was let to seasonal visitors including the brother of George III the Duke of Cumberland in 1771.
Currently enjoying restoration, Marlborough House on the Old Steine was built by Robert Adam in 1765 and purchased shortly afterwards by the fourth duke.
[31] One of many tributes to the growing resort came from the travelling entertainer and poet Elizabeth Beverley, who contributed to the Brighton Herald on 15 August 1818 a poem that begins, "Hail, favour'd spot, divine retreat!/Sweet refuge from Sol's scorching heat.../Who from the village, rose thy state/To be a town superb and great..."[32] 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.
[33] The city's popularity among the wealthy rose with the decision of the Prince Regent to build a seaside palace, the Royal Pavilion.
Construction began in 1787, but it is the expansion by John Nash beginning in 1811 that created the fantastical Orientalist pavilion that draws the eye and made Brighton a center of Regency Era society.
Gideon Algernon Mantell lived on the Steine close to the seafront in the early part of the 19th century; his residency is commemorated on a plaque at the house.
Mantell identified the iguanadon from a fossilised tooth found locally and was an early theorist of a prehistoric age when the earth was ruled by giant lizards.
This was in large part due to the efforts of Reverend Arthur Douglas Wagner, a prominent figure in the Anglo-Catholic movement of the time.
[41] The Brighton War Memorial in Old Steine was unveiled by Earl Beatty on 7 October 1922 bearing the names of 2,597 men and 3 women of the town who died in military service.
A notable feature of this area was a fence at the junction of the present Elmore Road and Richmond Street which once 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 near the site of the Phoenix Brewery.
Whilst a minority of the population, they had a strong and visible presence, often with brightly dyed hair or dreadlocks, and were overtly political, vocal in their hatred of the Margaret Thatcher government.
When built in 1935, designed by architect Wells Coates, the building contrasted sharply with the more sedate and ornamental architecture of King's Road, and was suggested as a prototype for a proposed total redevelopment.
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.
Provisional Irish Republican Army member Patrick Magee used a time bomb to kill 5 people and injure another 31 at the Grand Hotel on 12 October 1984.
Open land called the Hempshares (the site of the present Lanes) provided hemp for ropes; sails were made from flax grown in Hove;[48] nets were dried and boats were kept on the open land which became Old Steine;[49] and fishermen lived and worked on the foreshore below the East Cliff, in an area known as Lower Town.
Small-scale foundries were established, especially in the North Laine area; coal importers such as the Brighthelmston Coal Company set up business to receive fuel sent from Newcastle; and the rise of tourism and fashionable society was reflected in the proliferation of lodging house keepers, day and boarding school proprietors, dressmakers, milliners and jewellers.
