History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It

History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It - With a Chronological Table of Local Events

The publication of the History of Brighton had proceeded, with the most gratifying success, through ten monthly numbers, when it was suddenly interrupted by the lamented decease of the AuthorMr. J. A. Erredge. Death came upon him, not stealthily, but in its most awful form. It surprised him literally at the desk. Whilst talking cheerfully to the publisher, the hand of Death was laid upon him, and he fell dead to the ground;the ink of these pages was still wet whilst the Author was extended on the floor a corpse. So terrible an occurrence for a brief space delayed the publication of the work, but fortunately for the family of the author, the MS. was nearly completed, and his sons were enabled, from the materials left by their lamented father, to compile the few last pages and send the two concluding numbers through the press. The History of Brighton is now completed, and whatever shortcomings may be detected in the two concluding numbers, which had not the advantage of being corrected by the Author, will no doubt be pardoned by a generous public. Although there is no doubt that the vicinity of Brighton at a very remote period was occupied as a Roman military station, it is not the intention of the compiler of this work to date, merely on supposition, the origin of the town, coeval as it might have been with the landing of Julius Csar in Britain. The Magna Britannia, published in 1737, mentions:As to the antiquity of this town, there is reason to believe it to have stood a vast tract of time. From the accounts our historians give of it, for some of them speak of it ever since Julius Csars arrival in Britain, and affirm, that this was the place where he landed his legions; (August 26th, 55 B.C., [1]) but since others assert his landing to have been at Hastings, we shall not be very positive, yet may justly insist upon it as most probable, because there is good anchorage in the bay here; and besides, there appears on the west side of this town to this day, for near a mile together, vast numbers of mens bones, and some of them of prodigious size, which plainly proves that there has been some warlike engagement near it. As an illustration that what has been transmitted to us orally, especially of remote periods, cannot be relied on, there is told the following tale of Csars Stile:Dr. Stukely, or some other antiquarian, was travelling through England, when he heard that on a certain hill there was a stile called Csars Stile. Ay, said the doctor, such a road, mentioned in Antoninus, passed near here; and the traditional name confirms the possibility of a Roman camp on this p. 2spot. Whilst he was surveying the prospect, a peasant came up, whom the doctor addressed thusThey call this Csars Stile, my friend, do they not? Ees, zur, said the man, they calls it so arter poor old Bob Csar, the carpenter; rest his soul; I holped him to make it, when I was a boy. The Burrell MSS. state that:There are three Roman castra, or camps, lying in a line over-thwart the Downs from Brighthelmstone to Ditchelling, from south to north. The first, a large one, called the Castle, about a mile from Brighton, eastward, and a mile from the sea, on the summit of a lofty hill commanding the sea-coast; the next, a smaller, called Hollingbury Castle, nearly about the middle of the Downs, also commanding from a lofty hill, by Stanmer, the whole western sea-coast of Sussex; and a third, a large one, called Ditchelling Castle, containing between twelve and fourteen acres, is the highest point of the Downs thereabouts, and commands part of the sea-coast, and all the northern edge of the Downs, and the wild underneath it. A military Roman way was discovered a few years ago, on St. Johns Common, and in the enclosed lands adjoining, in the parishes of Keymer and Clayton, fully confirming the opinion of Camden and Stillingfleet that the Portus Adurni of the Romans was at Aldrington. [2] On the west side also of Glynd Bridge, near Lewes, a paved Roman causeway was discovered, lying three feet beneath the turf, upon a bed of silt, or blue clay, twenty feet thick; and near it was found a large brass coin of Antoninus Pius. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 50551
Author: Erredge, John Ackerson
Release Date: Nov 25, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English