The history portal for Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England
Roger Bateman articles, blog posts and pages
Nelson writes:
Had some fun trying to identify the location of an old-ish painting recently (top left). The building on the right looks to be wooden. There is a finger of land in the centre foreground. There seems to be an opening to the river (centre right) that has been blocked off by timber work. If that is the Church of the Good Shepherd in the distance then perhaps we are looking from the old shipyards and shed on the right?
Nelson writes:
This photo has just come to light and we’ve identified most of the Shoreham FC players and the manager. The cup is the Royal Irish Rifles (later Royal Ulster Rifes) Charity Cup that Shoreham won twice. In 1903 when the RUR final was played at the Oxen Field (Windlesham Gardens area) and again in 1906 when it was played at the Goldstone Ground. The background more matches the Oxen Field I think added to which the players look a few years younger in that photo than those of later years so the photo is likely to be the Oxen Field in 1903
Nelson writes;
A period of coin shortage when the British Royal Mint almost ceased production making small change scarce prompted merchants in 1811 to produce tokens ‘for the accommodation (convenience) of the public.” These were issued by merchants with the agreement that they would be redeemed in goods to an equivalent value at the merchants’ own outlets. The transaction was therefore one of barter, with the tokens playing a role of convenience, allowing the seller to receive his goods at a rate and time convenient to himself and the merchant in order to tie the holder of the token coin to his shop.
We know little of Hide (or Hyde), probably Edward Hide who married Esther Rice in 1810, although it is a fairly well known Shoreham family name, mainly of mariners. The Claytons were mostly businesspeople who moved in the same circles as the well to do Tate, Hawkins and Rice families – all of whom had made their money in seafaring and property dealings.
Nelson writes:
East Street as it was with added close ups from our collections. Ellman Brown Estate Agents where the Tap House is now. George Hedgecock’s shoe shop now home to Teddy’s. Today’s Toast on the Coast replaces Arthur Eade’s bakery and in place of the East Street Arms is…. well nothing really, just a seat on the pavement on the side of La Patisserie.
Nelson writes:
In the Sussex Archaeological Society’s Bob Hill Collection there are these two photos. One is of a mock-tudor house fronting on to a field(?) of maize and Lancing College in the background but there is no description. The other is of a man cropping maize in a field that the accompanying notes say was on the north side of Upper Shoreham Road between what is now Downsway and Buckingham Avenue.
Were both photos taken in close proximity to each other? Where is that house now?
Before Connaught Avenue was extended in the 1930’s and joined to the southern end “elm trees up to four feet in diameter stood in the middle of the road above Colvill Avenue up to the bend. You could walk either side of them.” (Nora Snelling, nee Hatcher, Connaught Avenue resident b.1910)
Nelson writes:
Two images that appear to have been taken near the same point on the river (the trees in the enlargements on the left and in the middle distance have the same shapes) but where is it exactly? There are a few clues but nothing conclusive that I can make out.
Nelson writes:
For a few years what remained of the High Street market house, a canopy on ten columns, was rebuilt in East Street in the 1820’s before being removed again….. the 1828 map is the only map that shows it’s footprint.
Nelson writes:
New discoveries are still turning up. This partly forgotten snapshot from the Winton family album turns out to be the Maple fishing family’s shack, later rebuilt to become Sea View on the beach near the church.
Most of those in the photo are friends or relations including the Winton and Hedgecock (East Street shoemakers) families. Of particular interest is 1 Arthur Maple who built a number of bungalows on the beach and later became Superintendant for the Sea Defence Commissioners at Shoreham. Arthur and his brother Alfred 2 played football for Shoreham during the club’s most successful years and Arthur excelled at rowing, just like his father Samuel 3 who had been a champion national sculler in his earlier years. As part of the fishing business the Maples also fished oysters in the years when they were plentiful and sold them from their shop next to the Kings Head in the High Street.
The old aero club at Salts Farm shows a car outside which reminded us of another photo of George Miles in the same car that he used to bring customers to the airport for flying trips with his brother Fred. In those days George lived in digs in Pembroke Avenue, Hove where he parked the car still decorated with the posters pasted on it. (Photos courtesy Neil De Ville)
