FORTIFICATIONS OF THE TOWN.
In consequence of the frequent incursions of the French, and the
inhabitants being harassed by frequent alarm, the town resolved, in 1558,
to erect fortifications, to afford them some protection for the future.
A Court Baron of the manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes was therefore held on
the 29th of September in that year, of which the following entry appears
in the Court Rolls:
I Eliz. At a Court Baron, holden for this manor, 27th September,
there was granted to the inhabitants of Brighton town by the lords,
one parcel of land, containing in length 30 feet, in breadth 16 feet,
to build thereon a store-house to keep armes, &c., now called the
Block-house. Also at the Court holden for Atlingworth manor, 3 Jac
(1606) January 9th, the homage presented that the north part of the
Block-house aforesaid is built on part of the demesnes of that manor.
The land granted was on the Cliff between Black-lion street and Ship
street, and about 215 yards westward of East street. The Block-house was
circular, about fifty feet in diameter, and the walls were about eight
feet in thickness, and eighteen feet in height. Several arched
apartments in its thick walls were depositories for the powder and other
ammunition for the defence of the town. In front of it, towards the sea,
was a little battery called the Gun Garden, on which were mounted four
pieces of large iron ordnance. Adjoining the Block-house, on the east,
stood the Town-house, with a dungeon under it for malefactors; and on the
summit of this building rose a turret, on which the town clock was fixed.
At the same time with the Block-house, were erected four gates of
freestone, (three of which were arched) leading from the Cliff to that
part of the town which lay under it, namely, the East Gate at the bottom
of East street; the Portal, which was called the Porter's Gate, and was
less than any of the others; it stood next the East Gate; the Middle
Gate, opposite the end of Middle street, commonly called the Gate of All
Nations; and the West Gate, which stood at the end of West street. From
the East Gate, westward, there was, at the same time, a wall built about
fifteen feet high, and four hundred feet long, where the Cliff was most
easy of ascent: and from the termination of that wall, a parapet three
feet high, was continued on the verge of the Cliff to the West Gate, with
embrasures for cannon. The Block-house was built at the expense of the
mariners of the town; but the gates and walls were erected partly if not
wholly by the government.
The south of the town was thus effectually secured. For the security,
then, of the other three sides, on any emergency, trenches might be cut
at the end of the streets which led into the town, or the entrances might
be barred to the enemy by lumber carriages and household furniture, while
the inhabitants annoyed them from every quarter. The "Magna Britannia,"
in addition, says, "The town contains seven streets, and as many lanes,
but the most spacious of them is devoured by the Ocean," alluding to
South street, under the cliff, which it is supposed formed the sea front
of the town.
The town book, under the date 1580, has the following inventory of the
"great ordnance, and other munition and furniture in Brighthelmston,"
viz., four iron pieces delivered out of the tower, on the bond of John
Slutter, together with powder and shot delivered with the same, two
pieces of great ordnance, and ten "qualivers with their flasks and touch
boxes," and a drum belonging to the town.
The town also at that time possessed one windmill, purchased of Queen
Elizabeth, and the site of another mill then in ruins; "the town-house,
situate to the east side of the block-house," granted by a copy of court
roll by the lords of the Manor of Brighthelmston, and the said
block-house, "of flint, lime, and sand, of late years erected, and built
in warlike manner, by the fishermen, with the profits of their quarter
share." {65}
There is no record as to the date when the fortifications in general were
destroyed; but it is generally supposed the gradual inroads of the sea
sapped them and caused them to fall. Certainly they were not demolished
by any foreign invader, as after 1545 the town was never attacked.
In 1586, when the whole kingdom was alarmed with rumours of the Spanish
Armada, a fleet of about fifty sail were discovered off the town,
apparently waiting for a favourable opportunity to land. The terrified
inhabitants, concluding it was the great Spanish force, fired the beacons
and sent off for Lord Buckhurst, who was lord of one of the manors of the
town. His Lordship attended with as many armed men as he could muster on
so sudden an emergency, and took post on the brow of the cliff between
Brighthelmston and Rottingdean, in order to oppose the landing of the
supposed enemy at their place. In the course of the ensuing night, his
force increased to the number of 1,600 men: and a considerable body of
Kentishmen were on their march to join him. Next morning, the ships
appeared in the same place; but those on board showed no disposition to
land. A few boats, belonging to the town, ventured out at last, a little
way, to reconnoitre the fleet, and soon discovered, to their great joy,
they were only Dutch merchantmen laden with Spanish wines, and detained
by contrary winds in the Channel.
Towards the end of July, 1588, the town was more justly alarmed at the
Spanish Armada; and the inhabitants neglected no means in their power to
defend themselves and their country from the threatened desolation by a
powerful and inveterate enemy. They had then in the town, belonging to
Government, six pieces of great iron ordnance, and ten qualivers, a
species of small cannon. With a determination of the most obstinate
resistance, the shores of Sussex in general were lined with the people,
when this tremendous armament passed in their view, pursued by the light
and expert navy of England.
In 1597, in consequence of the continued war with Spain, and Brighton
being exposed, by an order of Sessions, dated July 13th, and signed
Robert Sackville, Thomas Pelham, Nicholas Parker, Antho. Sherley, and
Ran. Nevill, by command of Lord Buckhurst, Lord Lieutenant of the County,
there were sent from Lewes to Brighthelmston, one saker and one minion,
with their carriages, shot, horse-harness, budges, barrels, ladles,
sponges, and all other necessary implements belonging to the same, with
six barrels of gunpowder; and such was the educational condition of the
people at that period, that Thomas Jeffery, the Constable of
Brighthelmston, to whom the artillery and stores were delivered, could
not write his name. In 1642, the four pieces of iron ordnance, sent to
Brighthelmston in 1597, were returned to Lewes. In the same year, also a
barrel of gunpowder was sent from the town house, Lewes, (where was the
powder store,) to Brighthelmston.
In the Court Rolls, according to the Burrell MSS., 1st April, 1645, there
are the following records:--
Homage present Willm. Gallan, jun., for not paying to Rd. Cook,
lord's reeve, for his lady nets fishing, according to ye ancient
custom, 4d, give him time to pay it to the said R.C., at or before
St. Jn. Baptist next, on payn of 5s.
25 Aug., 1648. We present Nichs. Payne for building his new house
and shop under the cliffs, upon the bank of the cliff, to the hurt
and annoyance of the whole towne, if we shd have any occasion to use
the ordnance, or that there shd be any invasion by a foreign enemy.
25 Aug., 1654. We present Nics. Payne for encroaching on the lord's
waste, and building of his walls 14 feet, or thereabout, more than he
is admitted to, to ye cliffe side, before ye place where ye great
guns path doth stand, to the great annoyance and hindrance of ye
whole towne and country, and we fine him for it.
In the year 1658, John Pullat, a Quaker, for speaking to the priest and
people in the Steeple-house (the church), was put prisoner into the
Block-house, which, at that time, was the place of confinement for
malefactors.
In the course of the encroachments of the sea during severe storms in
1703 and 1705, the Blockhouse and Gun-garden, wall and gates, were
gradually sapped, and at last so completely destroyed, that in the course
of thirty years afterwards, scarcely any of their ruins were perceptible.
The following is the record of these storms in the Brighton town-book:--
Memorand.--November 27th, 1703, there was a very great and remarkable
tempest, {67} which begun after midnight, and continued in its
violence till about 8 in the morning, being Saturday. Many houses in
town were damnified, two wind-mills in the east blown over, several
of the church leads turned up, and several vessells belonging to the
town were Shipwracked, to the great impoverishment of the place.
Another storm, 11th of August, 1705, did equal damage.
The Burrell MSS. record, Jan., 1748-9, that by reason of extraordinary
high tides the sea broke in at Brighthelmston, washed away part of the
Block-house, and the farm lands called Salts, and did considerable damage
to the lands adjacent.
On digging out the shingle for the purpose of laying in the foundation of
the wall which forms the south boundary of the King's Road, the ruins of
the Block-house were discovered in so compact and firm a state that much
difficulty was experienced in excavating them and breaking them up. Less
than ninety years since at low water, the well of the old town was
visible off the Old Ship Tavern, its steined form standing somewhat high
above the sand and shingle.
Lord Macaulay, in his history of England, speaking of the time of Charles
II., says:--"Brighton was then described as a place which had once been
thriving, which had possessed many small fishing barks, and which had,
when at the height of prosperity, contained about two thousand
inhabitants; but which was sinking fast into decay. The sea was
gradually gaining on the buildings, which at length almost entirely
disappeared. Ninety years ago the ruins of an old fort were to be seen
lying among the pebbles and sea-weed on the beach, and ancient men could
still point out the traces of foundations on a spot where a street of
more than a hundred huts had been swallowed up by the waves. So desolate
was the place after this calamity that the vicarage was thought scarcely
worth having. A few poor fishermen, however, still continued to dry
their nets on those cliffs, on which now a town, twice as large and
populous as the Bristol of the Stuarts, presents, mile after mile, its
gay and fantastic front to the sea." The Rev. William Gilpin, prebendary
of Salisbury, and vicar of Boldre, near Lymington, in "Observations on
the Coasts of Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent, made in the Summer of 1774,"
states:--"The cliff on which Brighthelmston stands, is composed of a
mouldering clay; and the sea has gained upon it, at least fifty yards in
the memory of man. A fort which stood on the edge of the cliff, gave way
in the year 1761, and was shattered into a ruin; but it is now taken
entirely down." This, probably, refers to some portion of the old
fortifications of the town, which stood to the east of the Block-house.
About the year 1761, a battery, with an arched room under it for
ammunition, was erected at the bottom of East (great) Street, not far
from the site of the ancient East Gate. A letter dated Brighthelmston,
August 12th, 1782, states:--"About seven o'clock yesterday morning, I was
awaked by the firing of guns, which made me rise sooner than I should
otherwise have done, and upon going to the beach, was informed that a
French privateer, of 16 or 18 guns, and about 130 men, had just taken a
collier close to the shore. After having turned the collier's men in
their own boat on shore,--they only wanting the vessel,--the Frenchmen put
on board the collier from the privateer, ten stout fellows, and then
sailed away with their prize. This being observed from the ramparts,
signal was given to a cutter, which happened luckily to be near, and it
directly made sail after the collier, and in about an hour and a half
retook her, and sent the Frenchmen on shore." The ramparts alluded to
were those of the East Street battery, which was wholly unprotected by
any groyne, and was completely undermined by the sea on the 17th of
November, 1786, and fell to the ground. There were at the time seventeen
barrels of gunpowder in the magazine below; but fortunately none of them
took fire amidst the crash of the ruins. Dunvan {69} states that this
battery mounted 12 twenty-four pounders; but on the platform as
represented in a map of Brighton, 1779, eight guns only are placed. The
eight guns were deposited on the Steine, and remained there for several
weeks.
The condition of these guns and the value of the battery will be better
gleaned from the following memorandum, made Thursday, September 23rd,
1779:--"Some French privateers are said to be hovering about the offing,
and we hear now and then a report of firing. Provoking!--They will not
come within reach of the only four guns that may be fired with safety--I
mean, when properly loaded with powder and ball--a salute is nothing. The
rest are all well known to be honey-combed. The small craft, then, may
be cut off with impunity. What a pity that a couple of light
six-pounders cannot be spared by the Board of Ordnance, to protect the
coast! Those with men or horses, might be dragged along the Clift, and
prevent every sort of mischief to be dreaded from such despicable
picaroons;--instead whereof, two horse soldiers, in long scarlet cloaks,
ride along the coast, making their utility to be understood by no one."
The site of this battery is marked by the Old Battery House, opposite the
Rising Sun, to which is attached the following legend of
OLD STRIKE-A-LIGHT:--
"A tremendous gale had ceased, but still the mountainous swellings of
the sea burst violently on the shore, when the boat of Swan Jervoise
came into the Brighton roadstead, having weathered the storm. The
night was pitchy dark; scarcely could the outline of the horizon be
perceived, and not a light illumed the blank. The surprise of
Jervoise and his crew was therefore great when they beheld a stream
of meteor-like splendour burst from every window of the 'Rising Sun'
Inn, and as suddenly all was again involved in utter darkness. This
terrific appearance was repeated many times. Swan Jervoise was one
of those men who never conjecture, but proceeded at once to ascertain
a cause. He therefore, with two of his men, went ashore; but
proceeded alone to the 'Rising Sun,' expecting to find the people up.
After knocking and bawling loud enough to rouse all the dead in the
Bartholomew's Chapel, without wakening the landlord, he was about to
force the door, when the light again burst from the windows, and he
distinctly heard a ticking as of a person striking a light with a
flint and steel, each stroke producing this supernatural blaze of
light. In a moment afterwards the door was opened, and a being seven
feet high, wrapped in a large black cloak, with a high conical white
hat, issued forth. He noticed not the poor drenched fisherman, but
he strode on until he disappeared in the darkness. Jervois's hair
stood, stiff on his head; his limbs trembled with fear; and he
shrieked aloud with terror. The landlord heard his cry, and came
down with his torch. Seeing his neighbour in such a plight, he bade
him come in, roused up a fire, made him take a seat in the capacious
chimney, and--having comforted him with good words--placed a rushlight
on the table, and then retired to procure a jug of ale. Jervoise,
scarcely recovered from his fright, was thus again left alone. As he
sat musing by the crackling fire, the dim rush throwing a fitful
light around the room, he chanced to turn his head; when, from over
the back of the settle, he beheld the deathlike features--pallid as a
sear cloth--of the tall man in the conical hat. His countenance was
most ghastly, and he fixed his grey-glazed eyes full on Jervoise, and
pointed to the hearth. This was more than he could bear,--he uttered
one loud scream, and fell senseless to the ground. He was thus found
by the landlord, who conveyed him to bed; and the next day Jervoise
related the particulars to Father Anselm, of St. Bartholomew, and
then expired. But the blessed Virgin and Saint Nicholas oft-times
bring good out of evil; for on examining the hearth to which 'Old
Strike-a-Light' (as the apparition has since been called) pointed, a
vast treasure was found, which is still safely deposited with the
principal of this order in Normandy; nor has the 'Rising Sun' since
been haunted by the unholy spirit of 'Old Strike-a-Light.' The
faithful may therefore know there is no truth in the story that 'Old
Strike-a-Light' has lately been seen seated astride a barrel of beer
in the cellar chinking a piece of money on a pewter dish. The family
vault of Jervoise, the oldest in the churchyard of Brighthelmston,
Anno Domini MCXVII, may still be seen on the south side of the
church--near Tattersall's."
Towards the latter end of the year 1793, two new batteries were commenced
for the defence of the town; one on the West Cliff, which mounted eight
36-pounders, and the other on the East Cliff, which mounted four of the
same weight. The guns of these batteries were of French casting, ship
guns, taken from the French fleet captured by Lord Howe, in his memorable
victory of the 1st of June, 1794. The latter of these batteries was at
the bottom of the Marine Parade, opposite the south-end of German Place;
but after being in position about ten years,--as the explosions of the
guns and the encroachments of the sea had made the walls dangerous,--it
was removed. The west battery was opposite Artillery Place. The Sea
Fencibles, volunteers, during the war with France used to practice at
this battery. They were accustomed, also, to exercise with
boarding-pikes, in Belle-vue field, now Regency Square. Colonel Moore's
volunteers went through their initiation drill, with faggot-sticks, on
the ground behind the battery house, Artillery Place. Colonel Moore
resided on the Old Steine, in the mansion which was afterwards occupied
by Lady Ann Murray, and then by Mr Harrington, (Squire Harrington, as he
was usually spoken of,) now the residence of Captain Thellusson. This
noble structure was erected by the Right Honourable W. G. Hamilton, Esq.,
formerly M.P. for Haslemere. According to a manuscript diary in
possession of the compiler of this history: "On the 17th of August, 1805,
soon after 12 o'clock, a shot was discharged from this battery by the Sea
Fencibles, at a cask moored purposely in the offing, and it fell very
close to the object: a second shot was also fired, of 42 pounds weight,
merely to ascertain to what a distance the gun would throw it. From the
time of the explosion until it struck the water, there was a lapse of 27
seconds; the ball consequently, ere it was received by the liquid
clement, must have traversed to a distance of three miles. The weight of
the cartridge used was 14 pounds." Also, June 13th, 1807: "The
Volunteers this morning, for the first time this year, were practised at
the Fort, in discharging the forty-two-pounders at a cask, moored, and
floating on the water, at about three quarters of a league distant from
the shore. Twelve rounds were fired; and though some of the balls
immediately struck the object, they generally dropped so close to it,
that a moderate sized fishing-boat would scarcely have escaped being
injured by either of them. Many elegant spectators were on the Cliff
during the exercise." The west battery was removed in 1859. A flagstaff
within a railed space, marks its last site; as, twice after its original
construction, it was removed with the sanction of Government, to admit of
widening the King's Road at that spot, to accommodate the increased
traffic. The battery house and the other buildings in connexion with the
Battery, were disposed of by auction by Mr. P. R. Wilkinson, on Monday,
September 9th, 1861, and by the 28th of that month the space was entirely
cleared for the erection of an hotel, Government having disposed of the
ground to the Brighton Hotel Company. The remnant of the battery
platform, marked by the flagstaff, belongs to the town, the Corporation
having purchased it of Government to prevent any other purchaser placing
buildings upon it. Brighton thus, wholly depends upon such means of
defence as the emergency of the occasion may require to be brought into
operation, by means of the railway, the facility of transit offering the
full assurance that every _materiel_ would be at hand for the ready
service of our Volunteers, should an enemy have the temerity to invade
our shores and put to the proof every Englishman's motto, "_Pro aris et
focis_."