History & Heritage · 3 min read
Chalk, Flint and the Ground Beneath the City
Explain how chalk, flint, dry valleys and the coastal plain shaped settlement, water supply and building traditions.
Read the storyIndependent city recordBrighton · Hove · PortsladeEdition 001 / 2026
CITY COLLECTION
History & Heritage
Long-form accounts of the settlements, people and turning points that made the city.
History & Heritage · 3 min read
When the Brighton Coastline Lay Somewhere Else
Use raised-beach deposits and changing sea levels to reconstruct the prehistoric coastline around Black Rock, Hove and Portslade.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Whitehawk Camp and Brighton’s First Monument Builders
Explore what the Neolithic causewayed enclosure reveals about gathering, exchange and community more than five millennia ago.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Hove Amber Cup and a Bronze Age Burial
Follow the discovery and interpretation of the internationally important amber cup and the long-distance connections it may represent.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Black Rock Bronze Age Hoard
Reconstruct the discovery, contents and archaeological importance of the prehistoric metalwork found in east Brighton.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Hollingbury Hillfort Before Brighton
Examine the hillfort, nearby barrows and debated evidence for ritual activity on the commanding downland site.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
How Hove Lawns Became Public Space
Trace the preservation and civic management of the open seafront lawns amid intense building pressure.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Brighton Improvement Commissioners
Show how the 1773 commissioners tackled paving, lighting, cleansing and order before elected borough government.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Goldstone Bottom Before the Suburbs
Reconstruct the downland valley’s agricultural landscape before housing and public infrastructure transformed it.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
How the Old Steine Became Brighton’s Public Stage
Trace its evolution from an open green beside the fishing town into a ceremonial and transport landscape.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
West Blatchington: From Downland Village to Suburb
Follow the manor, church, farms and twentieth-century housing that absorbed an older rural settlement.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
How the Old Town Became the Lanes
Separate the medieval street pattern from later branding and explain what genuinely survives of early Brighton.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Hangleton’s Lost Village and Modern Return
Explore medieval depopulation, surviving buildings and the rebirth of the name in a twentieth-century estate.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Buying the Royal Pavilion for Brighton
Tell how civic leaders acquired the former royal palace and transformed it into a public asset.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Hove During the First World War
Recover military, medical, domestic and commemorative experiences distinct from neighbouring Brighton.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Chain Pier and Brighton’s First Great Pier
Reconstruct the engineering, passenger traffic, storms and final destruction of the pioneering suspension pier.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Hove Under Air Attack
Use incident records and testimony to describe bombing, shelters and everyday endurance in the Second World War.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Railway Arrives in Brighton
Explain how the 1841 connection altered population, commuting, goods movement and the physical growth of the town.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Why Early Filmmakers Chose Hove
Explain how local experimenters, gardens, workshops and the coastal light contributed to early moving pictures.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Invention of the Brighton Day Trip
Use railway timetables, excursion records and contemporary commentary to examine mass access to the seaside.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Barrows on the Brighton Downs
Map surviving and excavated burial mounds to show how prehistoric communities marked death, memory and territory.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Long Argument Over Brighton and Hove Unification
Trace Hove’s independent identity and the recurring political debates that preceded the 1997 authority.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
Clean Water, Sewers and the Making of a Modern Town
Trace the municipal engineering projects created in response to rapid growth and public-health danger.
Read the storyHistory & Heritage · 3 min read
The Roman Villa at West Blatchington
Use excavated finds and plans to investigate Roman farming, status and domestic life west of modern Brighton.
Read the story