Rottingdean, Sussex

Historical Description

Rottingdean, a village and a parish in Sussex. The village stands on the coast, 4 miles ESE of Brighton station on the L.B. & S.C.R., and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Brighton. Acreage of parish, 3154; population, 1627. There is a parish council of eleven members. Bathing machines have been established, many lodging-houses have been erected, and there are two hotels. The village is lighted by the electric light, and the electric railway which ran for years from the Aquarium in Brighton to Kemp Town was extended to Bottingdean in 1895. At one time the village was noted for its wells, which were influenced by the tides. High cliff's are on the coast. Agate and chalcedony pebbles are found, and are cut and polished for bracelets. A French force landed here in 1377 with the intention of sacking Lewes and its priory, and were confronted and defeated by the prior and some neighbouring knights, but captured the prior and carried him away. The S aisle of the church was then burnt down, but has since been restored. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £220 with residence. Patron, the Marquis of Abergaveney. The church is Early English, in good condition, with three beautiful stained glass windows by Sir E. Burne-Jones, and has a tower and spire. There are a convalescent home, the Brighton industrial schools, and a coastguard station.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Rottingdean from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Rottingdean (St. Margaret))

Maps

Online maps of Rottingdean are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer