BRIGHTON & IT'S DEVELOPMENT PART 3

18TH CENTURY REVIVAL

Early in the 18th century, sea - bathing became a fashionable pastime, and this enabled Brighton to develop a new role as a health resort. It took over the role and ritual of inland spa's, like Bath, and adapted them to the seaside, adding novelties like the newly invented bathing machine.


Brighton's first recorded sea - bathing visitors came during the 1730's when the Town was much cheaper than inland spa's, such as Tunbridge Wells. Dr. Richard Russell of Lewes, was a passionate advocate of the power of spa and sea water.

After 1750 he sent patients to a house at the front of the Steine, owned by himself ( now the site of the Albion Hotel ) he further established his reputation, and that of Brighton, by writing a book on the use of seawater to treat various illnesses. He also encouraged Lewes businessman to invest in Brighton's development as a sea resort.


Accessibility was an important factor in Brighton's development as a resort. It was the nearest coastal Town to London and lay On what, after 1760, became a popular route to the continent. After 1750 road transport improved considerably and the journey from London took about five hours.


Proximity to Lewes and Tunbridge Wells, both centers for Sussex society, played an important part during the early years, when most of Brighton's visitors were drawn from the surrounding region.


Between 1750 and 1780, the number of visitors increased and there was much investment in the new facilities such as Lodging houses, Libraries, Bathing machines and Theatres.


After 1780 growth was spectacular, development spilled over into farmland to the North and East of the Town close to the Steine, which had become a popular promenade. Much of the new development followed the divisions of the old field system. The Old Town became the business center for the new suburban residential areas.


When George Prince of Wales, first came to Brighton in 1783, it was by then the most fashionable seaside resort, and as he liked it so much, he decided to establish his seaside home overlooking the Steine in 1784, and this set the seal on Brighton's popularity, and inspired four decades of frenzied development.


The threat of invasion during the Napoleonic wars, bought large numbers of troops to Brighton, and this paradoxically, added to the attraction of a visit. Jane Austin's heroine Laddie Bennet, thought a visit to Brighton " comprised every possibility of earthly happiness ", and advised her sisters ; " go to Brighton, that's the place to get husbands!"


This period of rapid growth witnessed an overflowing of architectural inventiveness. Famous architects, such as Holland, Pordon and Nash helped build the Prince Regent's pavilion ( FIG 31 AND 32. ) and the prime constituents of Brighton's Regency Style. However it was a local trio, of Charles Busby, Amon Wilds and his son Amon Henry Wilds, whose work had the most impact on Brighton, both in terms of quality and vigor of their designs.


By 1820 the Town had spread from Royal Crescent in the East, to Bedford Square in the West, and the population in forty years had risen from 3,500 to 25,000. At that time the seasonal visitors numbered about 10,000 from all walks of life.


Increasingly large family groups, with servants, would arrive and expect to entertain lavishly in their own homes. The facilities could just not cope, particularly for the larger houses. During the 1820's developers sought to establish self - contained suburbs at Kemptown, in the East, and Brunswick Town in the West. Neither was wholly successful as a spectacular venture, but both made their mark on Brighton's seafront.


The developers also built new churches and assembly rooms, and created competition with the Old Town. The older housing near the center became less popular, and much of it was converted into boarding houses and single room lodgings.


During the 1830's growth fell sharply, this was due in part to the competition from other resorts, and in part to economic recession.


The Town faced unemployment, bankruptcy, and poor return on housing investment. Concern over the future prompted great interest in a proposed rail link with London, and after much debate, a line was opened in 1841. This opening coincided with an economic revival, and heralded a period of great prosperity and growth in the town.


After 1840, many medium sized terrace houses were built as well as large detached villas. during the decade the population rose from 45,000 to 65,000. The Regency Style persisted into the 1850's when it was gradually replaced by Victorian preoccupations.


From 1841, Brighton became a popular resort for short holidays from London. It attracted wealthy long stay visitors during the winter months, and short stay visitors during the summer, more and more chose to commute to and from London daily, while middle class families sought retirement homes in the new suburbs.


By 1850, due to high demand, their was a shortage of suitable building land for the new development. As a result, rents rose quickly with far reaching consequences for the community, which was largely dependant on rented accommodation.


The working class and unemployed were the hardest hit, and many slums developed in the older parts of town. Brighton was hemmed in by one private agricultural holding, which belonged to William Stanford, and stretched from the seafront West of Brunswick, to the Ditchling Road.


In 1853 the estate passed to Stanford's daughter, but only after her marriage in 1867 was the land released for development. In 1854 Brighton was incorporated as a Borough, but Brunswick Town and areas to the West, successfully resisted inclusion, thus the foundation for the separate Town of Hove.


The Borough of Brighton had an area of 1,100 Hectares and a population of 65,000. New resort attractions, such as West Pier, the Aquarium, Palace Pier, various Public Baths and the large seafront Hotels, were all built in Brighton, while Hove resisted tourist development, preferring to keep its image of a low density residential town.


Before 1854 both Towns were run by the church and commissioners, and it was not until incorporation in 1854, that the municipal improvements were put into effect. By then proper sewage was long over due, the beaches were polluted, and uncontrolled activities by factories and abattoirs, posed a serious health problem.


The growing population required ever increasing supplies of potable water, and new pumping stations were needed to supply the Town from down land aquifers.


The release of Stanford land, allowed development in Hove To the West of Brunswick Town during the 1870's, and a grid of wide avenues and rather portentous Victorian villas and terraces grew up between the railway and the sea. Meanwhile, Brighton was growing Northwards on Stanford land around Preston, and soon both Preston and Patcham villages, were caught up in a ribbon of development.


The late Victorian developments were architecturally less distinguished than those of earlier decades of the century, but the Town did experience an enormous spate of church building to very high standards.


During the 25 years after the Railway in 1841, the number of Anglican churches rose from 14 to 27. Brighton vicars, Henry Michell Wagner, and his son Arthur Douglas, between them commissioned and financed no less than eleven churches, employing such noted architects as Carpenter and Bodley.



BRIGHTON & IT'S DEVELOPMENT PART 3.
18TH CENTURY REVIVAL NEXT