Читать книгу History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It - John Ackerson Erredge - Страница 15

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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.”