Judy Middleton 1991 (revised 2018)
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| copyright © J.Middleton Numbers 42/43 Medina Villas must be the most exotic example of the different building styles adopted in the Cliftonville Estate |
Prior to the 1850s Hove consisted of the old
village with houses in Hove Street, a few cottages near the seafront
with some actually on the beach, and St Andrew’s Old Church, while
away to the east was the new development of Brunswick Town. Between
the two were fields, and the area now covered by the Avenues was part
of the Stanford Estate, which was entailed until the young heiress
Ellen Stanford came of age, and thus could not be developed.
Thus it was that the next area to be changed from
fields into streets of housing was known as the Cliftonville Estate.
Henry Porter in his book The History of Hove (1897) asserts
that the name derived from Clifton Cottage, which was built in around
1825 for Richard Lashmar as the south end of what came to be Albany
Villas.
The Cliftonville Estate can be defined as follows:
Lower Cliftonville
Hove Place
St Catherine’s Terrace
Upper Cliftonville
Ventnor Villas
Hova Villas
Blatchington Road (known initially as North Place)
The three main streets in Lower Cliftonville were
built on a wedge-shaped field measuring 16 acres, 3 roods and 20
perches.
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| copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove The Hove section of Pearce's 1861 New Plan of Brighton, Hove & Cliftonville, to the left of the Cliftonville Estate is St Andrew's Old Church and churchyard, to the right on undeveloped land is the Brunswick Cricket Ground and St John the Baptist Church in the yet to be built Palmeira Square. |
Background
In 1797 Matthew Martin was admitted to eleven
copyhold plots and thus became owner of the land, some of it being
purchased from the Vallance family.
On 14 January 1802 Martin sold four copyholds,
comprising 16 acres, 3 roods and 20 perches, to Richard Lashmar, at
that time a Brighton coal merchant. Lashmar later went into banking
in association with John Lashmar and John Montague. By 1826 their
bank had been in business for some years but from ‘various
unforseen accidents and disappointments’ the bank plunged into debt
and the aforementioned land was surrendered to their creditors
including Philip Mighell and Nathaniel Hall. Lashmar was already
acquainted with Nathaniel Hall because he had been a customer at
Lewes Bank, of which Hall was one of the partners. Hall was also a
partner in the Union Bank at North Street, Brighton, and Richard
Lashmar had been a partner too. (It is interesting to note that in
1896 this enterprise became Barclays Bank). Hall was involved in the
retail trade as well, running a wine merchant’s business in
association with John Rice. Hall owned land in Portslade, living in
Portslade House, but by 1815 he lived in Henfield.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Nathaniel Hall once lived in Portslade House, unfortunately now demolished |
Hall took charge of the Cliftonville land until
the debt was paid off in 1829. The property reverted to Richard
Lashmar who promptly mortgaged it for £3,000 with Philip Mighell. It
is evident that this was not enough for his purposes because four
years later he increased the mortgage by another £1,000.
Richard Lashmar died on 6 October 1834 but his son
was unable to clear his late father’s debts and eventually the
Cliftonville land passed to William Mighell, heir and nephew of
Philip Mighell.
On 30 June 1851 William Mighell sold the land for
£6,300 to George Hall, upholsterer, on behalf of William Kirkpatrick
and Richard Webb Mighell. It was these men, together with George
Gallard who initiated building work on the Cliftonville land. But for
reasons unknown the partnership between the four men lasted for less
than a year and on 8 May 1852 the land was divided up between them.
George Hall sold 18 acres of land north of Church
Road for £4,500 to the other three men, and this became the basis of
Upper Cliftonville. Hall also borrowed a further £4,500 from Gallard
and Kirkpatrick, using as security some of the plots he owned in
Lower Cliftonville.
Meanwhile, Gallard and Kiekpatrick were buying
additional land. This portion of land also once belonged to Matthew
Martin who on 28 September 1810 sold 14 acres to Jacob Wood. On 2
February 1829 Wood sold the 14 acres to John Hinxman for £3,150.
When Hinxman died he left the land to his widow Kate and on 26 May
1849 she sold it to Philip Salomon.
Philip Salomon (1796-1867) was the elder brother
of Sir David Salomon who was the first Jew to become Lord Mayor of
London. Philip Salomon married Emma Abigail, daughter of Jacob
Montefiore, by all accounts a beautiful woman. The couple had four
children and lived at 26 Brunswick Terrace where they had their own
private prayer room on the roof.
On 9 October 1851 Salomon entered into an
agreement with George Hall to give up his exclusive right to the
road, which had been reserved to him as part of the land deal.
Instead, together with Hall, they would hold the 40-ft wide road,
then in course of construction, in common but Hall was obliged to
keep it in a good state of repair.
In June 1852 Salomon sold the 14 acres to Gallard
and Kirkpatrick for the tidy sum of £8,250. This land completed the
site of Upper Cliftonville.
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| copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove 1875 advert from the Brighton Herald |
Gallard and Kirkpatrick purchased another piece of
land and this was situated south of the coast road (turnpike road).
Originally, a Brighton builder, Mr Bradford, had purchased this land
for £163-12s on 13 April 1826 from John Smith, gentleman. In 1843
Nathaniel Bradford left this land to his daughter Betty, wife of
Thomas Atkins Inman, a Brighton grocer. On 8 May 1852 Betty Inman, by
then a widow, sold the land to Kirkpatrick and Gallard for £950.
After these transactions, it appears that Gallard
and Kirkpatrick owned 80% of Cliftonville Estate land, with most of
the remainder being the property of George Hall. Meanwhile, Mighell
was content to lend money to both sides and it was his descendants
that still owned a few buildings long after the other men had ceased
operations.
George Hall had
the advantage of being a small builder, and he began to erect houses
on small plots in Medina Villas and Albany Villas. However, by 1852
he was already in serious trouble with 38 of his Medina plots either
mortgaged or used as securities for loans. It has been estimated that
from 1852 to 1854 Hall’s borrowing amounted to around £15,000. He
just could not cope, and on 26 January 1855 he was declared bankrupt.
Henry Porter stated
that Hall’s total liabilities stood at over £35,000.
Although the Gallard and Kirkpatrick partnership
seemed stable, they also experienced difficulties, while Hall’s
bankruptcy also had repercussions. They did not develop plots
themselves, preferring instead to sell individual plots to builders
or speculators – H. Corney of Brighton was one builder who
purchased several plots from them. Gallard and Kirkpatrick also owned
the brewery that stood at top of Osborne Villas on the west side, and
in October 1852 they used the brewery as security for a loan of
£7,000.
In December 1853 Gallard and Kirkpatrick decided
to dissolve their partnership and divide the land between them.
Neither of the men really made a profit from their enterprise –
sales were slow and there was a surplus of land. By 1869 they were
out of the picture altogether.
F. D. Bannister
It seems probable that the architect F.D.
Bannister designed a great deal of Upper Cliftonville – that is the
portion lying north of Church Road. He certainly drew a plan that
almost matches the position of streets as built. Henry Porter claimed
Bannister designed the whole Cliftonville Estate. He may have planned
the overall lay-out, but the houses were certainly not of a uniform
design.
Bannister is remembered for his work at Brighton
Railway Station where he designed alterations and additions including
the wonderful clock that is still to be seen on the concourse. He
also undertook some work in Eastbourne.
Conservation Area
In 1969 Hove Council designated the Cliftonville
Conservation Area as being situated south of Church Road and from
Albany Villas to Osborne Villas.
In 1989 the conservation area was extended to
include Seafield Road, Ventnor Villas, Hova Villas, and some
properties situated on Kingsway.
Sources
Census Returns
Directories
Middleton J, Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Hove Council Minute Books
Lowerson,
J. editor, Cliftonville,
Hove, A Victorian Suburb (1977)
Porter,
Henry The History
of Hove (1897).
The Keep
AMS 5776/2/2 – Re 27/28 Osborne Street
AMS 5776/8-9 – Re 27/28 Osborne Street
HOW 66/2 – Re property in Albany Villas, Medina
Villas and Ventnor Terrace
Information about Philip Salomon from the late
David Spector
Copyright © J.Middleton 2018
page layout by D. Sharp