Peacehaven
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:GBdot Peacehaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located above the chalk cliffs of the South Downs between Brighton and Newhaven, on the A 259 coast road. Its site coincides with the point where the Greenwich meridian crosses the English coast.
Peacehaven has only existed as a settlement since 1916, after its founder, Charles Neville had purchased land in the parish of Piddinghoe; he then set up a company to develop the site. He advertised it by setting up a competition to name the development, although the newspaper concerned - the Daily Express - sued Neville over the competition, holding that it was a scam, since he was offering "free" plots of land in the town as runner-up prizes, but issuing them only on the payment of a conveyancing fee. The newspaper won the case, but the publicity brought the scheme to a large audience. The name chosen - New Anzac-on-Sea - lasted less than a year: the fateful Gallipoli campaign led Neville to rename his development Peacehaven. By 1924 there were 3000 people living in Peacehaven.
The town, apart from the newer development to the north named Telscombe Cliffs, still retains its original shape: rectangular plots of land on both sides of the main road. Original houses were often very temporary affairs (some were old railway carriages). Peacehaven eventually grew to be larger in area than Lewes, the county town.
Today there is a leisure centre and the Meridian Shopping Centre; there are also four schools in Peacehaven: Hoddern Junior school; Peacehaven Infants School; Meridian School and Peacehaven Community School; a police station, a dentist and a doctor’s surgery. There are four churches: the parish church is the Church of the Ascension, and serves both Peacehaven and Telscombe Cliffs.
The beach below the cliffs can be reached by means of a pathway: here is a pebbly beach. There is a park in the town called The Dell, which sits between the A259 and the cliffs. The Dell holds many events during the year from car boot sales and entertainments such as fireworks to fairgrounds, motorhome exhibitions, the Donkey Derby and an annual carnival, though in 2005 the carnival was held on the Joff field located behind the Meridian shopping centre.
The town plays a part in Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock when anti-hero Pinkie Brown intends to throw his girlfriend Rose from the high cliffs which are part of the town. There are dance schools for people such as j.h studio's, Harloquin and studio 54.
External links
- History of Peacehaven
- there are also two "unofficial" websites: