Category:Brighton

Street plan of the seaward side of Old Brighton, as it was in 1777. Note the battery gun emplacement near the Steyne, to defend against invaders [image info]

Map of Brighton in 1779 [image info]

Pages and categories relating to or associated with Brighton, UK.

Brighton Timeline

11th Century: Manor owned by Earl Godwin
Norman Conquest: granted to William de Warrenne, William the Conqueror's son-in-law
1260-1340: Gradual loss of over 40 acres of land from below the cliff
1313: Immigrant Fleming fishermen living in the lower town under the cliff become successful enough to build East Street and West Street in the upper town. Ship Street and Middle Street are built at around the same time.
1377: French attack

1500-1599

1513-1514: French attack and retreat
1545: French attack
1558: Block House built, as a fort. Gun Garden battery built at around the same time, along with town gates.
1580: Panic over a Spanish Armada false alarm

1600-1699

1645 to 1655: Encroaching sea destroys a further 22 tenements under the cliff over a period of about ten years
1651: Charles II escapes to France via Brighton, staying overnight, in disguise, on 13th October at an inn in West Street.
1666: Petition to Parliament for poverty relief due to loss of fishing vessels work, due to conflict with the French.; Population circa 3,000
1690: Surrounding parishes ordered to contribute to help the Brighthelmstone poor.

1700-1799

1703: Great storm of Sunday, December 27th 1703 causes damage
1705: Great storm of 11th August 1705 destroys all 113 remaining tenements in the lower town, remains of the land are washed away in the following years – the lower town is then effectively erased from the maps.
1732: Decision to build groynes to protect the upper town against further erosion. Royal brief allows fundraising across England, further fundraising twenty years later for repairs.
1750: Dr. Richard Russell moves to Brighton. Writes about the recuperative effects of seawater, Brighton becomes a destination for peoplevisiting the doctor, and visiting the seafront to take the air. Brighton's economy takes an upturn as the visitors rent rooms and spend money.

1800-1899

1822: Thomas Read Kemp's workmen start laying out Kemp Town, a Regency-styled property development to the East of Brighton, designed by Charles Busby and Amon Wilde, and built on a consolidation of land inherited by Kemp in 1811. Building work finishes in 1855.
1823: The Royal Suspension Chain Pier is built. The end of the pier allows a boat service to France. It's increasingly realised that the pier itself is being seen as a tourist attraction, which suggests a business case for a more tourism-friendly pier.
1837: London and Brighton Railway Act passed on 15 July 1837
1840: Opening of the Brighton-Shoreham railway line, with a small station building at Brighton.
1841: Completion of the Ouse Valley Viaduct; Completion of the London Road Viaduct; Completion of the new Brighton Station Italianate building designed by David Mocatta; The London-to-Brighton railway line opens. The resulting flood of tourists causes Brighton's economy and population to boom.
1844: Queens Road is built as an extension of West Street up to the station. The road requires brick arches to raise the ground level in order to reach the station, but creates a new approach to the station that has a less severe gradient than Trafalgar Street, and is kinder to horses.
1866: New West Pier opens, designed by Eugenius Birch, and described as "the finest pier in Britain".
1869: Kemp Town Railway Station opens. The line appears to be motivated as a "spoiler" by the LBSCR to block other potential competing railway routes to London.; Work starts on turning the protective rubble at the base of the seawall into a new road, Madeira Road (now Madeira Drive). This protects the base of the seawall from erosion, making it safer to build near the top. The work also produces Brighton Aquarium.
1872: Opening of Brighton Aquarium, designed by Eugenius Birch.
1888: Jubilee Clock Tower built at the bottom of Queens Road, to mark Queen Victoria's Jubilee.
1893: New steel-framed Pavilion and Concert Hall added to the West Pier.
1896: Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway (a.k.a. the "Daddy Long-Legs") opens in November.; Royal Chain Pier destroyed by storm on December. It had already been earmarked for demolition once the Palace Pier, its adjacent replacement, was finished.; The same December storm wrecks the new "Daddy Long-Legs" Rottingdean extension to the Volks Railway, only weeks after its opening. The extension and car are repaired and reopen.
1899: The Palace Pier opens