Brighton
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Template:Infobox England place with map UA Brighton is located on the south coast of England and together with its immediate neighbour Hove forms the city of Brighton & Hove. Brighton is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England.
With origins dating before Domesday, the ancient settlement of Brighthelmston emerged as an important health resort during the 18th century and a popular destination for day-trippers after the arrival of the railway in 1841. Brighton experienced rapid population growth reaching a peak of over 160,000 by 1961.[1] Modern Brighton forms the centre of a significant conurbation stretching along the coast between Littlehampton to the west and Newhaven to the east, with a population of around 480,000.[2]
Brighton is a popular tourist resort with numerous hotels, restuarants and entertainment facilities which additionally serve a substantial business conference industry. The modern city of Brighton & Hove is also an important educational centre with two universities and many English language schools.
History
- Main article: History of Brighton
In the Domesday Book, Brighton was called Bristelmestune and a rent of 4,000 herring was established. In June 1514 Brighthelmstone was burnt to the ground by French raiders during a war between England and France. Only part of St Nicholas's Church and the street pattern of what is now The Lanes survived the attack. The first known drawing of Brighthelmstone was made in 1545 and depicts what is believed to be the raid of 1514.[3]
During the 1740s and 1750s Dr Richard Russell of Lewes began prescribing the medicinal use of the sea-water at Brighton to his patients. By 1780, development of the Regency terraces had started and the fishing village quickly became the fashionable resort of Brighton. The growth of the town was further encouraged following the patronage of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) after his first visit in 1783.[4] He spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the exotic and expensive Royal Pavilion during the early part of his Regency.
The arrival of the railway in 1841 brought Brighton within the reach of day-trippers from London and rapid population growth from around 7,000 in 1801 to over 120,000 by 1901.[5] The Victorian Era saw the building of many of the famous landmarks in Brighton including the Grand Hotel (1864), the West Pier (1866) and the Palace Pier (1899).
After a number of boundary changes made between 1873 and 1952, the land area of Brighton was increased significantly from 1,640 acres in 1854 to 14,347 acres in 1952.[6] New housing estates were established in the acquired areas including Moulsecoomb, Bevendean, Coldean and Whitehawk. Closer to the centre of town, a major slum-clearance development was initiated in the Hanover area. The replacement council housing, including Tarnerland near Richmond Street, stretches from the bottom of Albion Hill to the tower blocks at Mount Pleasant, and radically changed the local street layout.
The period of the 70s and 80s saw the town becoming somewhat delapidated. The seafront at that time was massively different from what it is now - very undeveloped with only a couple of pubs. There was much sub standard accomodation run by slum landlords such as Nicholas van Hoohstraaten. During the 80s high levels of unemployment in Brighton's central districts led to a strong unemployed counter culture centred on squatting,drugs and summer festivals, very much at odds with the mainstream population. This part of the population frequented bars such as The Prince Albert, The Green Dragon (now "The Office")and "The George" and were generally culturally seperate from the "Yuppie" population. Whilst maybe a minority of the population they had a strong and visible street influence with brightly dyed hair and dreadlocks and doctor martin boots, and were overtly, allbeit often naively, political, in their hatred of the Thatcher government. The Brighon Urban Free Festival held during the 80s on The Level was strongly symbolic of this counter culture. The local authorities determination to stamp it out was a sign of things to come. With increasing wealth and falling unemployment under the new Labour government the counter culture gradually faded over the next decade and became homogenised with mainstream Brighton by the mid 90s. The drug culture associated with it persists however to the present day with Brighton still having higher levels of illegal drug usage than most English cities. File:West pier squatted.jpg
This politicised period is ironically best pin pointed by a natural phenomenon - the Great Hurricane of 1987. The Level was decimated by this event with many great trees lost. The Pavilion and St Peter's Church suffered substantial damage.
More recently, gentrification of much of Brighton has seen a return of the highly fashionable image which had characterised the growth of the Regency period. Recent housing developments in the north Laine,for instance, have been kept in keeping with the local make up of the area.
In 1997 Brighton and Hove were joined together to form the unitary authority of Brighton & Hove, which in turn was granted city status by the Queen as part of the millennial celebrations in 2000.
Name
The name Brighton comes from the Saxon Beorthelm's Tun meaning the farm (Tun) belonging to Beorthelm. This later became Brighthelmstone and was eventually shortened to Brighton.
Landmarks
- Main article: Landmarks and notable buildings of Brighton and Hove
The Royal Pavilion is a former Royal palace built as the home for the Prince Regent during the early 1800s and is notable for its Indian architecture and Oriental interior design. The building and surrounding grounds were purchased by the town in 1849 for £53,000.[7]
Brighton Pier (or the Palace Pier) was opened in 1899 and is the largest pier in Brighton. It features a large funfair, restaurants and arcade halls.
The West Pier was built in 1866 and has been closed since 1975 awaiting renovation. The West Pier is one of only two Grade I listed piers in the UK.
Volk's Electric Railway was created in 1883 and runs along the inland edge of the beach from the Palace Pier to Black Rock. It is the world's oldest operating electric railway.[8]
Culture
Beaches
A major tourist attraction is the expanse of shingle beach, complete with the bars and entertainments which line the inshore side. Together with the attractions further inland, these contribute to Brighton being sometimes referred to as "London-by-the-sea"; it certainly offers one of the most accessible tourist beaches from London.
Brighton has a designated official nudist area, as does neighbouring Hove. This is unusual in that very few naturist beaches in the United Kingdom are located near to urban areas.
Since the 1978 demolition of the open-air swimming lido at Black Rock, the most easterly part of Brighton's seafront, the area has been developed considerably and now features one of Europe's largest marinas. However, the site of the pool itself remains empty except for a skate park and graffiti wall, and further development is planned for the area including a high-rise hotel which has aroused considerable local controversy, mirroring the situation with proposals for the site of the King Alfred leisure centre nearby in Hove.
Night-life & popular music
- Main article: Night-life & popular music of Brighton and Hove
Brighton is associated with notable popular music artists including The Levellers, Fatboy Slim, British Sea Power, and more recently The Kooks. There are a large number of pubs and nightclubs. There are also many live music venues.
Public events
Brighton hosts a number of conferences including those held annually by major political parties, often based around the Brighton Centre, Grand Hotel and Metropole Hotel.
A wide range of sport and leisure clubs, in particular cycling and motoring clubs, annually hold London to Brighton events, culminating in a display on the Madeira Drive section of the seafront, which is closed to traffic for this purpose on many Sundays throughout the summer months.
Brighton also hosts 'Gay Pride' every August which attracts 1000's of participants and spectators. It consists of a carnival style parade through the city and a party and funfair in Preston park.
Brighton Festival
- Main article: Brighton Festival
Each May the city of Brighton and Hove hosts an arts festival. This includes organised processions such as the Childrens' Parade, outdoor spectaculars often involving pyrotechnics, and a great deal of theatre, music and visual arts in venues throughout the city, some of which are brought into this use exclusively for the festival.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community
Brighton has a substantial LGBTS community, served by a high number of "scene" shops, bars and night-clubs in addition to a range of support organisations. It is often referred to as "the gay capital of Britain". [1] It also hosts the 'Gay Pride' carnival (see above).
Commerce
The Lanes is a retail, leisure and residential area with the seafront at its southern edge. Partly characterised by a collection of narrow alleyways following the street pattern of the original fishing-based settlement, the resident businesses in The Lanes are predominantly jewellers, antique shops, restaurants and pubs.
Churchill Square is an indoor shopping centre with a floor space of 470,000 sq ft (43,663 m²) and includes 85 shops, 5 restaurants and 1,600 car parking spaces.[9] It was originally built in the 1960s as an open-air pedestrianised shopping centre, but was rebuilt in 1998.
Further mainstream retail areas include Western Road and London Road.
The North Laine area (a name often confused with The Lanes) is a retail, leisure and residential area situated immediately north of The Lanes. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "Laine" meaning a type of agricultural plot. The North Laine is regarded as more bohemian then The Lanes, with a mix of businesses dominated by cafés, avant-garde shops, and theatres.
American Express has a large, distinctive building just east of the city centre, close to the seafront. Brighton has been particularly popular with "new media" companies, and has on occasion been referred to as "Silicon Beach".[citation needed]
Education
Brighton & Hove City Council is responsible for 80 schools in Brighton and Hove of which 54 are in Brighton.[10]
The University of Brighton has a student population of 20,017 of which 80% are undergraduates.[11] The University is located on three separate sites in Brighton, with additional buildings in Eastbourne.[12] The University of Sussex is a based on a single campus near Falmer four miles from the city centre. It has a student population of 10,563 of which 70% are undergraduates.[13]
There are various private schools, including Brighton College, a Steiner School and a Montessori School. There are also numerous state schools, some of them faith schools. Notable state schools include Varndean and Cardinal Newman.
In the summer, thousands of young students from all over Europe gather in the city to attend language courses at some of the many language schools across Brighton and Hove.
There is also a specialist music college, The Brighton Institute Of Modern Music.
Politics
- For the local authority, see Brighton and Hove
Brighton is covered by the Brighton Kemptown and Brighton Pavilion constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and is within the European Parliament constituency of South-East England.
The Green Party held an unusually high twenty-two per cent of the vote in the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the 2005 general election, compared with one per cent nationally, in addition to holding one of the ten European Parliament seats for the constituency.
The political campaigning group Justice? and its SchNEWS newspaper are based in Brighton.
Sport
Brighton is the home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club and the Brighton Bears basketball team. There is also an annual beach soccer competition held in a temporary stadium erected on a patch of specially imported sand on the beach. The inaugural contest in June 2002 featured football stars such as Eric Cantona and Matthew Le Tissier.
Brighton also has a horse-racing course with the unusual feature that when the full length of the course is to be used, some of the grass turf of the track has to be laid over the tarmac at the top of Wilson Avenue, a public road, which therefore has to be closed for the duration of races.
Transport
Railway services operate from Brighton Station. Destinations include London Victoria, Portsmouth and Bedford. Twice-daily services also operate to Birmingham and Manchester, and via Bristol to Wales. The fastest service from London Victoria takes 51 minutes.[14]
Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company operates a local bus service with a fleet of approximately 300 buses. There is also a limited night-bus service.
Miscellanea
Brighton's nearby neighbour, Hove, is seen by some as a more desirable location than Brighton and it is often referred to by locals as "Hove actually". This is because when a questioner asks a Hove resident whether they live in Brighton, they are frequently met with the response "Hove actually!".
The Parker Brothers game, Monopoly has been produced in a special Brighton edition.
According to the Boho Britain creativity index[15] developed by U.S. economic regeneration expert Richard Florida, Brighton & Hove ranks sixth amongst the largest 40 of 66 British cities when measured against the three criteria of his index. Florida states that the index measures the appeal of cities to the new "creative class" and are a key indicator of a city’s economic health.
- Sexual diversity: 1st
- Patent applications: 8th
- Ethnic diversity: 16th
- Creativity index: 6th
See also
- Brighton in fiction
- Brighton in film
- Brighton Sewers
- Eurovision Song Contest 1974
- List of notable Brighton & Hove inhabitants
- The Argus (newspaper)
- Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital
External links
General
- Brighton & Hove City Council
- Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
- My Brighton and Hove Local history contributions by individuals
- Regency Square Area Society
- A few old postcards of Brighton
- Brighton links from the open content wiki Chainki
Photographs
- Brighton & Hove in Pictures Collection of images from the city's library and museum collections.
- Brighton in photos
- Brighton photos group at flickr (submitted by various individuals)
- Brighton Daily Photo (blog)
- Panoramic photos of Brighton
References and notes
- ^ Carder, Timothy (1990). The Encyclopedia of Brighton. S.127 East Sussex County Libraries. ISBN 0861473159
- ^ National Statistics Online (an official UK Government site)
- ^ Carder (1990), s.17
- ^ Carder (1990), s.71
- ^ Carder (1990), s.127
- ^ Carder (1990), s.13
- ^ Dale, Antony (1976). Brighton Town and Brighton People. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN 0850332192.
- ^ "Volks Electric Railway website".
- ^ "Official Churchill Square website".
- ^ "Brighton & Hove City Council – Schools contact page".
- ^ "University of Brighton – Facts and figures".
- ^ "University of Brighton – Maps and directions".
- ^ "University of Sussex – Facts and figures".
- ^ Story in The Independent, a UK newspaper
- ^ "Boho Britain creativity index".