Psychogeog round Bevendean,Brighton, UK

Yesterday in the August rain Jeremy Linden and I went to Meadowview in Bevendean on the eastern outskirts of the city of Brighton and, starting from map ref TQ33220608, we walked eastwards along a corridor of the Bevendean Down Local Nature Reserve (below) to the Race Hill footpath.

Here we turned south and then up the hill past the race horses to the summit with its magnificent views across Brighton and the racecourse to the sea.  Close to the top of Race Hill on an unmade cul-de-sac is an isolated row of terrace houses called Bellevue Cottages built in the mid- to late 19th century.

On the side wall of the blue cottage the owner had painted some impressive zodiacal devices.

 

After Bellevue we made the long trek down Bear Road with the cemetery wall on the right and open fields on the left, but much traffic in between.  At Bevendean Road we turned north and explored the Tenantry Estate - all new houses and turfed grassland built on the former Bevendean Hospital and its grounds.

The name 'Tenantry' comes from Tenantry Down and the area is in one of the former land divisions of Brighton known as 'laines'.  The people who named the new roads have established or invented a connection with Mrs Fitzherbert (Fitzherbert Road) who secretly married George IV when he was still Prince of Wales.  Another road is named after Martha Gunn who was famed as mistress of the bathing machines and also acquainted with the Prince of Wales.  However, I have failed to deconstruct the name Borrow King Close for one of the streets (below).

Beside Bevendean Road on the eastern side of the Tenantry estate the gates with their pillars of the old Bevendean Hospital have been left as a rather grand reminder of the history of the area.

The man and the dog above are Jeremy and Willow.  And below is a picture of me, also with Willow and eating a cheese and onion roll.  Delicious!