Brighton Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Brighton.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of Brighton and Hove; City of.
1974 county of East Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Lewes).

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ309039
Latitude 50.81989° Longitude -0.14305°

Brighton Town Defences has been described as a certain Urban Defence.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Town defences were provided for Brighton, or Brighthelmston, following attacks by the French in 1514 and 1545. A flint wall 15 feet high and 3 feet thick was erected on the cliff for a distance of 400 feet westward from East Street (TQ 311038) and continued by a parapet with embrasures as far as West Street (TQ307039). Four gates were included. (East Sussex HER)

Beacons on the Downs were kept ready to give an alarm (of attack) and on the cliff just to the east of the Steine was the 'Cage', an iron basket full of burning fuel swung aloft on a high post. It is clearly drawn in the view of 1514. (VCH Vol. 1) The earliest fortification was 'the Bulwark', called 'the werke' in 1497, at which date there was a sea-gate (porta marina), (Mins. Accts. Hen. VII) which suggests that a wall was already in existence, stretching along the west cliff; but neither the wall nor 'the werke' is shown in the view. (VCH Vol. 7)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1061121.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MES490.

Books
- Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 258
  Gilbert, E.W., 1954, Brighton: Old Ocean's Bauble
  Jamison, C., 1940, VCH Sussex Vol. 7 p. 245-6 online transcription
  Page, Wm (ed), 1905, VCH Sussex Vol. 1 p. 518 online copy
  Horsfield, T.W., 1835, The history, antiquities, and topography of the county of Sussex (Lewes) Vol. 1 p. 121- online copy
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- P.R.O. Mins. Accts. Hen. VII, no. 1474
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Harris, R.B., March 2007, Brighton & Hove Historic Character Assessment Report: Sussex Extensive Urban Survey Download copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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