The Brighton Blog

Inside Brighton for the Historian in You

Brighton has so many different histories to tell! So much is preserved in the city and there are so many museums that pretty-well all historical tastes can be catered for. You really don’t have to explore for historical Brighton things to do, they’re awaiting your visit.

Preston Manor: The Rich and their Servants
Preston Manor provides the visitor with a window into the life of an Edwardian house of the gentry which houses its strict demarcation between upstairs and downstairs. It was originally built around 1600, rebuilt in 1738 and then extended quite extensively in 1905. The contents of the house, together with the house itself, provide a fascinating, and unfortunately rare, opportunity to look at life during the early part of the twentieth century.

More than twenty rooms are open to visit, these spanning four floors of the building and including the servants’ quarters, butler’s pantry and kitchens which are ‘downstairs’ in the basement, all the way up to the nursery and attic bedrooms on the fourth floor. Outside the house is a walled garden and a pets’ cemetery. The house is open from April to the end of September but can be visited by special arrangement for groups at any time.

Armed to the Teeth in The Lanes
For the lover of militaria, a visit to The Lanes Armoury is a must with a difference. It’s housed in a three-storey 16th century building and is a treasure trove – it’s a museum but not a museum as everything is for sale. The Armoury has been nominated and then short-listed  for the British Antique & Collectors Awards as the best Antique Shop in Great Britain and is the latest incarnation of an older business – Hawkins – which was among the earliest and largest dealers in Antiques and Collectibles within Europe. It is their specialisation in Arms, Armour, Militaria, and Books which marks them out and makes it such a fascinating and fantastic place to visit. You’ll see bronze-age swords, suits of armour, guns, revolvers, duelling pistols, American Civil war swords through to medals, right through to World War II weapons, it’s all their to be viewed and drooled over. It’s not a museum but when you leave, you’ve had the same experience!

Brighton’s Historic Pubs
You’d expect to find historic pubs in an ancient town such as Brighton and the town will not let you down but delight you with its ancient alehouses. The Cricketers on Black Lion St. in The Lanes is reputably the oldest and occupies a site where there has been a hostelry present since 1547. Listed amongst its most-famous residents is one Jack the Ripper and the first person to set up as landlord, Derrick Carver was famously burnt at the stake just for holding inappropriate religious beliefs – not a good idea at the time! However, its main claim to fame is its immortalisation in Graham Green’s novel ‘Brighton Rock’. Another old hostelry, The King and Queen, in Marlborough Place can be found on the Old Steine, in a large historic building. Having a  more modern look and dating back just to the 1930’s is The Ladies Mile in Mackie Avenue (Patcham) and this still retains some of the original features from the thirties.

Be Guided Electronically
History really comes to life when you get the story from an expert while wandering around the evidence. You can make the stones tell their story now as you wander around either The Royal Pavilion area, Regency Brighton or The Laines when you take an MP3 tour. All you need to do is to rent the technology and then get walking. The guide will lead you on an exciting tour, filling you in on the sights as you go.

What the Victorians Did for Us
If ‘What the Victorians did for us’ excites you then you should take a trip on the Volks Electric Railway. This was one of the first electric passenger-carrying railways in the world – the first in Britain -  being created in 1883 by Magnus Volk and is the oldest one still in service. It takes you several miles along the seafront from Brighton Pier (The Palace Pier) to Black Rock. The railway works with a fleet of 10 cars (what the public calls ‘trains’) dating from 1883 to 1930 and carrying some 30-40 people. Their quaint and antique appearance makes travelling on the Volks a trip back into the past.

Have you tried Kipling?
Brighton has many famous sons, among them Rudyard Kipling whose celebrity status drew visitors to Rottingdean just to get a view of the man himself. He had moved there in 1897 to be near his aunt, living in The Elms, just off the Green. While living here, he wrote some of his most-famous stories, including many of the Just-so Stories, Kim and Stalky and Co. While there, he also wrote the poem ‘Sussex’ and the hymn Recessional. Becoming worn out by the attention, he moved in 1903 to Bateman’s in the then-remote village of Burwash in East Sussex where he died in 1936. He is remembered in the Village Museum in The Grange at Burwash and Bateman’s is open to the public during the summer. Preserved here are many mementos of the great man, along with his book-lined study. In the 1980’s, developers threatened to develop part of the large garden at The Elms but this was saved by the villagers who purchased it and handed it over to Brighton Council to manage as the The Kipling Garden in 1986. Another reconstruction of his study is to be found in The Grange in Rottingdean in the museum of the Rottingdean Preservation Society, this being open daily.

The Obscra in Foredown
Dating from 1909, at the Foredown Tower Countryside Centre, just a couple of miles to the west of Hove, is an Edwardian water tower which was built in 1909,  and has been carefully converted to house one of the south-east’s two working camera obscuras. The tower itself is very interesting architecturally and is located within the centre’s grounds. Here, there is a permanent display which covers science in general and astronomy in particular, as well as the environment and different educational initiatives are co-ordinated from the centre. As a plus – and it’s a big plus - the tower offers stunning views over the Downs and surrounding area.

Fishing for the Past
Being a seaside town it’s no surprise to find a Fishing Museum in Brighton which covers all aspects of the history of the trade – including the tasting! It’s located smack in the middle of town and forms a focus for Brighton’s fishing quarter. Within the museum is a reflection of sea-based activities spanning from the Regency period right up to the post-war boom in tourism and pleasure boats. The exhibition features a 27-foot beach boat, and contains photographs, prints and memorabilia from Brighton’s fishing industry. During the summer months and when the weather allows, the museum operates a twelve-seater passenger boat, aptly named The Skylark, providing short trips for visitors.

For more serious study, a computer archive is available and provides a wealth of information about the local industry and the people involved in this. Right next to the museum are a couple of shellfish stalls and a smoked fish shop, enabling you to actually taste the end product of this still-alive local industry.

Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
Brighton Museum and Art gallery is the city’s main museum and this has recently been extensively remodelled. It is located in the Pavilion gardens, adjacent to the Royal Pavilion and has good disabled access and an educational pavilion which houses comprehensive educational facilities. Its collections reflect both local and national interests and community involvement has enabled new galleries to reflect the lives of the local population. The principle galleries are: 20th century Art and Design, Mr Willet’s Popular pottery, Images of Brighton, fine Art, Fashion and style, Body, Performance, World Art and Discovery.