Shoreham’s roads are mentioned. Before the riverside stretch to the east of the footbridge was built up the turnpike road from Brighton used to run along to Tarmount Lane, up Brunswick, into St. Mary’s Road and down East Street to the High Street. This was the last part of King William IV’s favourite route on his regular outings from Brighton to Shoreham and the new Norfolk suspension bridge (1833) that he much admired. When the railway arrived (1840) the turnpike trustees at first refused to let the railway company build a viaduct over the Kingston wharf so buttresses with a drawbridge were initially designed to go across the line – eventually though the trustees relented.
Much of the chalk and earth taken out from the cutting through New England Hill in Brighton was reused to build the bank through Southwick and Kingston and in February 1840 a great number of workmen arrived in Shoreham to build the Brighton Road viaduct over the line connecting the Kingston wharves to the main railroad. On the 11thMay 1840 the official opening was reported with the first trip through the five and a half miles from Brighton to Shoreham being completed in 12 minutes.
One intriguing report of 1841, the year following the opening of the Shoreham line, was taken up and published by all the national dailies and read ‘On Monday, as the Shoreham branch of the London and Brighton Railway was proceeding to Shoreham a hare ran on the rail for some distance but eventually poor puss was overtaken and cut in half by the train.’ J.M.W. Turner’s famous ‘Rain, Steam & Speed’ painting shows a hare running before the train – presumed to represent speed. The painting was first exhibited in 1844 and shows the Maidenhead Bridge, is it possible that the idea of the hare was planted in Turner’s mind by this report?
Companies were formed (1834) with a view to funding the London to Brighton railway line. There were two main routes proposed and one of them was the line down to Horsham, Shoreham and on to Brighton. Various reports followed during the subsequent years giving arguments for and against the different routes. Although the Adur Valley route was backed by the renowned railway engineer John Rennie and was the least expensive option requiring no tunnels and less bridges to be constructed the more direct route to Brighton was chosen. It was small consolation for Shoreham that that the branch line from Brighton to Shoreham was to be completed first
1839 The new locomotive ‘Shoreham’ was towed into Shoreham drawn by 14 beautiful horses and conveyed on to Portslade where it was put on the rails to join the other locomotive ‘Brighton’ already working on the line’s construction.
There were a number of fatal accidents among the workers on the Brighton to Shoreham line and many more non fatal – so much so that the contractors for the railway ‘presented an extra ten guineas in consequence of the number casualties that had to be sent to the Sussex County Hospital for treatment.’
(Photo: The ‘Shoreham’ like the ‘Ajax’ pictured here, was built by Jones, Turner & Evans of Warrington)
November 1824 a severe storm hit Shoreham and lasted a week causing the sea to rise over the beach in front of the town that gave the whole area the appearance of being in the open sea. Fields behind the beach were also inundated by the sea and the old wooden lighthouse at Kingston was blown down. The river overflowed its banks, many chimneys were toppled as was the pole on the top of the church tower.
1809 ‘Extensive docks’ (i.e., sluices) were constructed ‘between Shoreham and Lancing to drain the low lands in that neighbourhood’ and replaced the marshland with meadowland that one hundred years later was to be used for the airport.
John (88) and Elizabeth (87) Boyce were landlord and landlady of the Star Inn (on the corner of Church and High Streets) for over 50 years. They had been married for 60 years and both died in July of 1812 within a week of each other.
One of the earliest reports (1751) was of two men dressed in mourning clothes driving their hearse from Shoreham who were apprehended by the Revenue men. On opening the coffin they discovered smuggled gold and silver French lace, Cambric (fine cloth)……. and tea!
The luck of the Irish – in 1778 seven Irish sailors had the misfortune of belonging to the crew of a ship embargoed in France. They managed to
Glimpses of life in Shoreham two hundred years and more ago as provided by 18th and 19th century newspaper reports that we’ll be including over the next few days. Horse races and shooting matches held in the Sheep Field at Old Shoreham, punch-ups in the High Street, speeding dog-carts that terrorized pedestrians, murders, suicides, the town’s involvement in the naval war against France, smuggling, cricket matches and ships built in Shoreham that we hadn’t known of before.
During the First World War, the British Admiralty designed eight towers codenamed M-N that were to be built and positioned in the Straits of Dover to protect allied merchant shipping from German U-boats. Designed by civilian Guy Maunsell, the towers were to be linked together with steel nets and armed with two 4-inch guns with the idea of closing the English Channel to enemy ships.
Not Shoreham related exactly but such a fascinating, rare and historic collection of naval photographs from Shorehambysea.com long standing member and Shoreham resident John Lyne that we had no hesitation in including them on the website. The photos record some of the ships and events from John’s father William Joseph Lyne’s service with the Royal Navy during WW1 and after. William served initially from 1911 to 1921 and saw action at Heligoland Bight and Jutland. Called up again during WW2 he participated in the Dunkirk withdrawal followed by a posting to Lowestoft providing minesweeping training to Scandinavian refugee sailors. Continue reading “John Lyne Collection”
John Bartlett is descended from the Winton and Maple families of Shoreham. His mother Daphne Maple married Robert Bartlett, both of Old Shoreham, in 1940. The Bartletts came from Lancing and settled in Old Shoreham where John’s grandfather was the collector at the Toll Bridge. John has kindly provided us with a selection of his family photographs dating from the early 1900’s.
1. Robert Bartlett senior, the father of George, was the Lancing Stationmaster and Postmaster seen here outside the post office with his postmen, in Lancing’s North Road.
2. This postcard shows the backwater at Lancing after the 1910 storm. The scene appears to be the coast road looking up South Street with the Three Horseshoes pub on the right.
