Gone, but not forgotten
BRYAN Cowley, who now lives in North Lancing, wrote to Freddie Feest following his recent article about John Selden’s role in the English Civil War.
“I thought you may be interested to know that I built the bungalow on the site where John Selden lived in Salvington, having purchased the land from the town council when I was 24 years of age, for the sum of £400. I am now 71.”
Though listed for its great historical interest, Worthing’s Theatre Royal, which was built in Ann Street in 1807 and attracted much royal patronage, was demolished in 1970 to make way for the Guildbourne Centre re-development. Many will ask, was it worth it? |
CAN politicians be relied upon to defend our architectural heritage? Not if their record over the past 60 years can be considered reliable.
It was sixty years ago when the Minister of Town and Country Planning decided that 90 buildings in Worthing should be preserved for their “special architectural or historic interest.” He included them in a list prepared in accordance with Section 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947.
This assured the preservation of terraces such as Ambrose Place, Bedford Row, Liverpool Terrace and Park Crescent.
It was the second list supplied by the Ministry and a considerable advance on the first one, which named only one building – Beach House.
The object of these lists was to provide guidance to local planning authorities when preparing development schemes immediately after World War Two
Among prominent buildings included in the 90-strong list were Castle Goring, Field Place, The Old Theatre Royal in Ann Street, Broadwater Manor House, Muir House opposite Broadwater Church, Salvington Mill, Warnes Hotel, Ocean Hotel, Granville Hotel, John Selden’s Cottage at Salvington and the Old Palace in Tarring.
Also included were Bath Chambers in Bath Place, number 43 High Street, 12 and 13 Montague Place, Beechwood Hall Hotel, Old Sussex Cottage in Salvington Road and Stanford Cottage, south of Warwick Street.
A supplementary list of properties considered worth preserving, “if these can be secured without unduly affecting other and wider interests,” named Omega Cottage in Ann Street, 1 Paragon Street, 9 to 15 West Buildings, Half Moon Cottage at Salvington, Maybridge House in Goring, Durrington Manor, 2 Bridge Road, Worthing, Caledonian Place, West Buildings and the Old Town Hall in South Street.
The crunch argument was voiced in a contemporary leading article in the Worthing Herald, which stated, “While many are in favour of preserving pleasant period places and buildings, one doubt remains.
“From a town planner’s point of view there is the danger that the preservation of a single building may interfere with a large plan. No town planner would wish to mar development on a large scale.”
In the ensuing 60 years, many of the properties listed for preservation in 1949 have been demolished and the sites re-developed.
LOST – John Selden’s thatched cottage at Salvington circa 1600, which was partly destroyed by fire in the early 1960s. Worthing town council at the time decided it was not worth rebuilding the historic property. |
Among the mourned are John Selden’s turn-of-the-sixth-century cottage (the site now occupied by a bunglow) the former Theatre Royal in Ann Street with its adjoining Omega Cottage (demolition of which was critical for the Guildbourne Centre re-development) and the gracious seafront Marine Hotel, since replaced by a mishmash of commercial and residential development.
In contrast, West Buildings remains in various states of repair but Stanford Cottage (thanks to the sympathetic attitude of the developer) has been restored and is today the most pleasant of pizza restaurants.
The Old Sussex House, in Salvington Road Worthing, is an example of why some lesser-known properties were included in the 1949 list. For this house, with its well-preserved cockfighting pen, vividly recalled the times when the building was used for this barbaric medieval “sport.”
The pen was just one of many historical associations enjoyed by the Old Sussex House. It was situated in the attic, was 10 feet long and three feet wide and surrounded by a thin oak trellis hammered together with hand-made nails.
It was not unusual in the 16th century – when the house was built – for cockfighting pens of this kind to be found in homes but this one was believed to be the last in Worthing and, possibly, in Sussex.
In those days, the fights were social occasions shared with close friends and neighbours, who were invited to bring their prize-fighting birds along and match them in the arena, often in the stone hall of the owner’s house.
It is not difficult to imagine the bloody sport being conducted in the magnificent entrance hall, a vast room with broad oak timbers running the length of the ceiling.
The original name of Old Sussex House was Salvington Lets and its area covered much of what is now Salvington Road. During the 1914-18 War its stables were used to house artillery.
