A nice suburban street
This is where I live and have done for nearly 20 years. A nice quiet suburban street constructed in 1946/7 to house workers on the nearby, new, Hollingbury industrial estate. We are nearly 500 feet up on the western side of Hollingbury Hill so we have a lovely view westward over the London Road valley, and the sunsets are fantastic.
A close community
As a geographer/geologist our garden soil is chalk at base with a hill wash of clay-with-flints so it is heavy and more acid than many gardens on the chalk, but enriched with my compost. This is an area of long standing families, next door when we moved in was the widow of the estate policeman, she moved there in 1947.
We can walk to the beach in 45 mins and we are 20 minutes from the Fiveways shops and Mr Raven’s bakery. Perfection.
Comments about this page
Thank you, Geoffrey, for your tour. I grew up in Rotherfield Crescent having moved there at the age of three in 1949. I smiled at the comments about chalk soil as I well remember the efforts my parents put into our garden against all ‘chalky’ odds. You also reminded me of flints and the piece I found that could well have been a real arrow head. The boy next door took a shine to it, asked if he could borrow it and I never saw it again! Our house was in the middle section of Rotherfield Crescent and the veiw from our back window on the landing was of Chanctonbury Ring. Always held a mysterious fascination for me and in later years heard some fascinating tales about the place. With regards to your neighbour and her policeman husband, am curious to know more about her. We were freinds with a family from my mothers stage connections since before I was born. I remember their house well in Hartfield Avenue as we visited them many times there. We also went there the day of the Coronation in ’52, with a whole bunch of others, because we were not having a television set at that time. Still a luxury for that time. Will you please email me as I know all their names but I am not sure I should publish their names here. I would love to know if the lady is still alive if indeed we are talking about the same people. Many thanks, Sandra.
Hello Geoffrey, I realise I forgot to add my email address in case you are willing to contact me privately as written above. Address as follows: TheMossFairy@cooptel.net Thank you.
I was born at the General Hospital in 1948 and my parents were the first occupants of 73 Hartfield Avenue in 1947 or 1948. We lived there until 1962 when we moved to Ditchling Crescent on completion of the self-build scheme, which was called the Stanmer Self Build Association.
Hi Martin, we were your next door neighbours at 3 Ditchling Crescent. I remember your Dad Bert and Mum Rene very well. They were very happy days on that self-build estate. I returned to Brighton last June and scattered my Mum and Dad’s ashes over what we used to call the Roman Camp. Hope you are keeping well.
Peter, email me at Marty.hoare@btinternet.com so that we can catch up.
Hello Peter, Contact me Marty.hoare@btinternet.com so that we can catch up on the past 50 years.
Add a comment about this page