Over the years we’ve explored cellars and vaults in places such as Church Street, Middle Street, High Street and discovered photos of some that no longer exist. Here’s another lost cellar (below left) from the galleries of Brighton & Hove Stuff – as far as we can make out it shows the final stages of demolishing the old sail loft at the west end of the High Street and the cellars beneath it.
1938 demolition of the Dolphin Hotel and Dolphin Chambers buildings on Coronation Green where in the 18th century a brazier on a boom called ‘High Cage’ lit the way for vessels arriving at night. That arched cellar you can see in the background below ground level was 30 feet by 13 – only exceeded in size by the vaults in Church Street and the Custom House/Town Hall.
Photo of East End of High Street which shows Mence Smith, and Flynns laundry, The kerb stones outside are painted alternate black and white, telling that the Photo was probably taken during the Black out of WW2 , when almost all Kerb stones were painted like that. The kerbs reflected light, better than plain stones…and helped prevent folk tripping over them