The oldest houses in Brighton?

Black Lion Lane
From a private collection

I would like to research the history of my house which I moved into a couple of months ago. It is in Black Lion Lane. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I particularly want to find out when it was built, because the date seems to be in question. There are only three houses in Black Lion Lane which form a terrace. So they were obviously built at the same time and they are adjacent to the Black Lion Pub.

History has it that the houses were built in 1563 and are the oldest in Brighton, so the tour guides say when they pass anyway, but I read in the Encyclopaedia of Brighton that they may have been built in the 17th century. That dispirited me slightly as obviously someone writing a book would have researched the history as much as possible and leaves me thinking that it may not be possible to find out the exact date. Any news and help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments about this page

  • I am coming to see one of these houses on Saturday so, all being well, we could be neighbours! I have been told by the vendors that these date back to 1563 but will do some investigating and feed back to you.

    By Shonali (02/03/2007)
  • I’m moving in tomorrow to number 2. It would be nice to know when they were built. Agents told me 16th century!

    By Neil Ambridge (04/05/2007)
  • Does anyone know anything about Saunders Buildings? Apparently it was between Black Lion Street and Black Lion Lane and there were six ‘addresses’ inside, so it must have been sizeable. What is in that position now? Are there any photos in existence?

    By Mike Alliston (13/03/2010)
  • I don’t know when the houses were built but my ancestors are listed as living in Black Lion Lane in the 1841 census. My great-great grandfather seems to have been called James Buddle, and was 3 in 1841. Unfortunately I can’t tell what my great-great-great grandmother’s name is. It looks like Soroline Buddle, but can’t be sure. No husband is listed but Soroline? is listed as a schoolmistress. She was 41 in 1841. Mary (6) and Richard (5), James’ older brother and sister, lived with them. My ancestors remained in Brighton at least into the 20th century. James married and moved to 15 Frederick Street, which is now a very ugly block, where he was a tailor. Mary became a shopkeeper at 11 Lowender Street. My great-grandfather John Thomas Buddle (James’ youngest son) married and lived at 53 Ellen Street North in 1901. My grandfather John Thomas’ oldest son moved to Battersea in London, where my father was born in 1915. I would love to know if anyone has information about the Buddle family in Brighton.

    By Claire Buddle (05/04/2010)
  • According to my memory from stories from my parents and grandmother my great g/father and mother lived at 1, Black Lion Lane in around 1830 ‘ish. He was a ‘Brewer’s Nightman’ in the brewery next door to the Brewery Shades/Cricketers pub around the corner. His death certificate which I have stored away somewhere in my attic says he drowned one night by falling into in one of the fermenting vats of beer. The house (No.1) was a tied house and so when he died his wife and children had to leave it. I don’t know where she went. There was a collection and they bought her a mangle so that she could take in washing to earn some income, otherwise she’d have had to go to the Workhouse (at the top of Elm Grove which later became Kitchener’s Hospital and is now Btn General Hospital). There was a box on the top roller of the mangle which she filled with beach pebbles in order to provide weight to it.

    By Neville Bolding (20/03/2015)
  • The French burnt Brighton in 1514, so it is possible that the houses date from 1563. I don’t think they completely burnt the town down again after that time. I’ve also heard that those houses are sixteenth century.

    By Richard (26/06/2015)

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