Places in Brighton that are a mystery to you

[Nibble]

I filmed Midsomer murders in there and have visited it once before. Personally I think it's f***ing hideous inside.

 

[manintheblackpajamas]

I filmed Midsomer murders in there and have visited it once before. Personally I think it's f***ing hideous inside.

the main bits are certainly an acquired taste, granted.

but i found a certain degree of interest in the tunnels and crawling through little hatches on the roof into long abandoned spaces and rooms.
Anyway, it's mainly relevant as it was a place of mystery to me that is a mystery no more.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Question...Did Kemptown rail station used to be on the gala bingo site and is that why gala bingo has a large model train poking out of the West side of it?

Wadda ya mean 'Gala Bingo', don't tell me they've knocked it down.

Nooooooooo..................

OK. I know it's the Freshfield Industrial Estate but you can still see the old tunnel portal at the northern end ' cliff ', the tunnel was briefly used as an indoor rifle range after the Station closed AFAIK.

( Note: Sutherland Road and Brighton College in the background ).

 

[patcham lad]

if you have never been to the pepper box you don't know brighton - you needed to be a good street fighter in that area in the late forties - not a place for the faint hearted

 

[Randsta]

Dukes mound is a mystery to me but I don't want to know....

 

[happypig]

I was tracing telephone cables in the tunnels under the pavilion in the 80's. Got completely lost, went through a door and found myself in the Dome cloakroom.
I also mended the phone in the manager's flat in the Astoria and it's mahoosive, stretches all the way across the front.

 

[fataddick]

I'm intrigued by the fact there's an active rifle range under the platforms at Brighton station. Have considered joining Brighton Railway Club (a social club near Seven Dials, iirc) purely to take a look at it - they're the only people allowed to use it, I gather.

 

[kevo]

Why does North Street run east to west, and West Street and East Street north to south?

Because they marked the northern, eastern and western boundaries to the old town centre I believe.

Is the correct answer. And Middle Street because it is in, er, the Middle. There is a South Street too - but not where the original one was, although it does follow the pattern of marking the boundary of Brighthelmstone village (The Lanes).

 

[Drumstick]

I've always wanted to walk through the kemp town train tunnel. Where does it go by the way?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I've always wanted to walk through the kemp town train tunnel. Where does it go by the way?

For £7 you can find out.

DUMPMAN'S FILMS - FILM CATALOGUE PART 1

Brighton's Kemp Town Branch Line Explored 2006/2007

A detailed look at the course of this little branch line that ran from Brighton station to what is now Freshfields Industrial Estate. See where it left the current day Brighton to Lewes line, the site of Lewes Road station, where the brick viaduct crossed the Lewes Road (and some foundations still visible !), the site of Hartington Road halt, the cutting it went into before entering a tunnel under Elm Grove and where it emerged at the terminus.

Features footage taken inside the tunnel along the its whole length from the sealed off end at Elm Grove to the open south portal using a 5,000,000 candle power torch for extra illumination, gripping stuff ! Especially when I cornered four foxes at the sealed off end ! Includes constant running commentary.

Additional footage shot in 2007 during a group guided tour shows improved and detailed shots of the inside of the sealed northern tunnel mouth. Also visible is a small shrine in the chalk cliffs next to the southern portal that I missed on the first occasion.

Running time: 38 minutes. Price £7.

 

[happypig]

I've always wanted to walk through the kemp town train tunnel. Where does it go by the way?

Curves round, goes directly under Elm Grove school.

 

[Nibble]

the main bits are certainly an acquired taste, granted.

but i found a certain degree of interest in the tunnels and crawling through little hatches on the roof into long abandoned spaces and rooms.
Anyway, it's mainly relevant as it was a place of mystery to me that is a mystery no more.

Yes I imagine all those tunnels etc would make upi for the rest of it, I'd like to have a gander

 

[Nibble]

Wadda ya mean 'Gala Bingo', don't tell me they've knocked it down.

Nooooooooo..................

OK. I know it's the Freshfield Industrial Estate but you can still see the old tunnel portal at the northern end ' cliff ', the tunnel was briefly used as an indoor rifle range after the Station closed AFAIK.

( Note: Sutherland Road and Brighton College in the background ).

Great shot, thanks. Lived on Sutherland Rd for 3 years and always wondered.

 

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

You dont think it has anything to do with the chant we used to sing at the Goldstone do you? (Just sticking up for my nearly namesake )

Exactly. Where was the pedant then? Am sure he wasn't mar hung around the north stand telling people "actually he's from Belarus". Am pretty sure he'd having told where to go.

 

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

I do wish you'd change your custom user title, it annoys the pedant in me.

Gotsmanov was from Belarus, not Russia. His international career started with the Soviet Union, but when it split, he played for Belarus, NEVER Russia.

Soviet international or Belorussian international - either will do.

Did you never chant "we've got a Russian international" at the goldstone? If you did then you have place to correct me. If you didn't then you aren't part of the history and therefore your opinion is irrelevant to me. Either way it's not changing. Sorry.

 

[jmsc]

I'm intrigued by the fact there's an active rifle range under the platforms at Brighton station. Have considered joining Brighton Railway Club (a social club near Seven Dials, iirc) purely to take a look at it - they're the only people allowed to use it, I gather.

Too late I'm afraid! The shooting range closed many years ago! One part that you can see if you do the station tour
is the old cab road.

It descends underground from between platforms 6 & 7, does a 180 degree turn and comes out opposite the Prince
Albert pub. The (horse drawn) cabs would line up down Trafalgar Street before turning into the cab road and
picking up their fares. You can still see some of the Victorian cobbles disappearing under the large double gates,

The other historical thing you can see on the station wall is on Terminus Road, attached to the wall about every 10
feet or so are cast iron plates with the letters HCS on them. This is an abbreviation of Hackney Carriage Stand,
horse drawn cabs would also queue here!

 

[justin72]

When I was kid (so going back to the mid 80's or so) we regularly used to cut through the woods from Hollingbury Golf Course to Wid Park (Deadman's Wood) and every now and again we'd stumble across what we used to call the 'Air Raid Shelter'. If I recall, it was quite deep into the woods and none of us really knew exactly where it was so stumble across it is all we did from time to time.

We nick-named it the 'Air Raid Shelter' and it consisted of a steep concrete ramp (not steps) that disappeared quite sharply into the ground with a metal handrail to one side. Once underground it seemed to go on some distance but myself and some other friends only ventured down there a few times as we'd managed to scare the life out of each other beforehand with stories about what was down there!

Anyone else ever stumble across it or know what was down there? As I said it was the top of 'Deadman's Wood', oh and near the gypsies who kept pigs in the wood. They were scary - the gypsies not the pigs!

 

[desprateseagull]

What about Middle Street?

BTW, South Street did also once exist but it's now somewhere under the beach or sea.

isnt that the road between west st / middle street, behind the hotel at bottom..?

south street, brighton uk - Google Maps

 

[ifuhatepalacestandup]

I worked at the King Alfred part time while I was doing my A'levels, 1985-7. It's an AMAZING building, only a tiny amount of it is used. There's at least 5 floors BELOW the changing room level. When I was working there the lights still worked in some corridors and rooms but not others. We used to go "exploring" with torches sometimes during breaks (and sometimes when we were supposed to be working if we's pulled "sports hall" duty where there wasn't a lot to do!). We found a full industrial kitchen two levels below. We also found a lone corridor that goes under the outside car park and links the main building to the old ten pin bowling/megazone building. Once we think we found the lowest level, in that it has dirt floors rather than concrete, but we'd lost count of how many flights of steps we'd gone down. It is like a maze down there. We never knew what half of it was used for, much of it looked like it had never been used for anything.

If the door you are talking about is the one I'm thinking of, it leads to what's left of the old underground car park, not much of it is left, it was demolished to build the current pool. The old major and minor pools (for those who are old enough to remember them) still exist, they're under the sports halls, the big sports hall (where they held roller discos in the late 80s) is built on top of the major pool and the little one over the minor pool.

what you discovered is hms King Alfred a second world war navy midshipmans training school,
there are tunnels under the road that lead to some of the big houses beside hove lawns ,so the sailors dident have to walk outside to get from their billets to the training center, also if you go to the first road beside hove lawns and look up you will see the badge of the submarine service carved into the top.
there is loads of documents plans ect in hove library. I did some research on this when i was younger .
if your interested http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__7440.aspx

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

For me its the humungous detached houses with grounds in Preston Road by the bottom of the turn off to Preston Park station. Thery're patently not somebody's house. Don't even seem to be huge sets of flats. They do seem to maybe be Council-run secure units of some kind. No idea what tho. You hardly ever see anybody going in and out of them. Very weird.