More cuttings from Derek Gorham

above: the modern view of Beach Green looking up towards South Street

below: newspaper cutting of an earlier view taken from old postcards

Not much remains of the old skyline. This view (below) of the southern end of South-street, Lancing, taken from Beach Green, shows how much has changed in 50 or so years. The garage buildings in the foreground block the view up South-street, where shops and flats have replaced the taller buildings on the east side (above). Even newer flats can be seen on the extreme right of the modern Lancing. The old view shows, too, how much of South-street has been widened. Reclamation work has rid the green of pools of water which lay there until not so many years ago.

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 Above: recent view of Salt Lake cottages, the gardens have developed but the buildings have remained as they looked in the picture below.

The old order changes, Called Salt Lake in former days, this section of Freshbrook-road, Lancing, shows how tastes have changed. It is a change for the better, for with careful treatment the old cottages have taken on a new lease of life. The spanking new bicycles in the old view (top) should help date the picture.

Concrete Blockade

Buried beneath Beach Green are almost 200 five-foot square concrete wartime anti-tank blocks.

They were part of the shore line defence system.They were too large to take off the site and so in 1946 it was decided to bury them and they have remained there ever since.

View in 1946, image courtesy Bob Brown

Recently and controversially it was planned to have all the blocks dug out and crushed, they had begun to cause problems as the soil covering was eroding and exposing parts of the concrete to the surface.
The community formed an action committee and persuaded the council that a top dressing of re-seeded soil would be a better solution.

Modern view

.Shoreham Herald Article 13th May 2004

A collection of village scenes

These postcards are thought to date from the late thirties or forties, possibly 50's, we are grateful to Lydia Schilbach for sending them

St James the Less, Manor Road
13th century flint church
Grade 1 listed

St James the Less today showing it's recent restorative face-lift

The Old Cottage,  Mill Road
Grade II listed
Some parts  date from 15th century
Recently on the property market

The Old Cottage today

Penhill Road
A very quiet road 

Cricket Match, Lancing College
A good crowd, was there a famous player in the team?

All images courtesy of Lydia Schilbach

South Lancing from the air

An aerial photo taken in the early 1940's

courtesy Michael Warr

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Here i have tried to overlay old and modern

viewing tip: click on a picture and toggle between the two with left and right arrow keys.

South Street Cottages

Here's an interesting clipping sent from Derek Gorham, showing the old cottages next to the Luxor.

They were replaced by an office building, up until recently the premises of the Federation of Small Business but now vacant.

Two 250-year-old cottages, 5 and 7 South-street, Lancing, are being demolished and will provide a site for an office block to be built this year.
The cottages are owned by Brian Dodd and Co., estate agents, who have moved from 7 South-street into temporary offices next door. The buildings were too old old to be converted; at Mr Dodd’s former office the ceiling has had to be supported with beams, while 5 South street was full of damp and rot, and the stairs gave way.

The two end properties still recognisable with the offices slotted in.

Station Road aka South Street

Another from Derek Gorham's collection of cuttings from the Worthing Herald

Top: this is how the view south from the level crossing in south street looked around 1900

Below: circa 1960

The horse pictured above in another scene of old Lancing did not have to worry about parking restrictions. today’s view [below] of the northern end of South street shows how Lancing has grown from a quiet village to a thriving township. A bingo hall (formerly a cinema) now dominates the eastern side, while trees almost opposite have given way to shops and offices. The street’s name has also changed - it used to be known as Station Road.

The modern view

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From the same position but facing north these two show the comparative views 60 years apart

The full text of the cutting is :

This is the first in a short series of pictures showing Lancing old and new. The old pictures are taken from postcards published by A. G. Colbourne, of Lancing, and appear to show the village as it was in the early 1900s. Above: the delightfully rural aspect of Lancing level-crossing, taken from just south of the gates, looking north up North-road. This contrasts greatly with the busy shopping area it is today [below]. In not one of the old pictures does a car or bus appear, and most of the roads seem to be provided with only an untarred surface.

An earlier post shows more views of this Railway Crossing

34, North Road

This postcard picture has come from contributor Derek Gorham.

The view is of North Road adjacent to the Alms Houses and it's iron railing and gate post.

The thatched cottage is number 34 North Road, it stood where North Farm Court now stands.

The date is believed to be about 1910

courtesy Derek Gorham

The picture below shows the Almshouses and LittleCroft and the cottage beyond.
The children in both pictures are l -r  Eddie Green, Emma May Merriott, Olive Cooper, holding Bessie Oram.

West Sussex Past Pictures
http://www.westsussexpast.org.uk/pictures

Modern view of North Road and the Almshouses


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The same cottage from the north viewed looking south in about 1930

West Sussex Past Pictures
http://www.westsussexpast.org.uk/pictures

Modern view looking south

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The cottage at 34 North Road was the home of the Merriott family who were  shown in earlier post in reference to Penstone House, where Lucy Merriott. the woman seated, was Nurse to the Hall family children

courtesy Ted White

The cottage was demolished in 1935, Michael Warr, the grandson of Lucy Merriott who still lives in Lancing remembers witnessing the demolition with some sadness. At that time he attended the village school a few yards further down the road.

South Street

This interesting snippet from an Argus of the 1960's period sent from Derek Gorham, thanks Derek

More than half a century has seen little change in these buildings along the eastern side of South street, Lancing. The shops in the old view (above) now bear different names and offer other wares. The road has been widened and pedestrians now have the advantage of pavements both sides. A hard road surface also makes for easier, less muddy progress these days.

Penstone House

Penstone House stood on the site that is now Lancing Library and the Health Centre.
It is famous for the fact that Harry Ricardo the motor engineer bought it and lived there.

Previously it had been the home of  William and Elizabeth Hall. I became aware of this upon finding the image below on a website with the text beneath it.
Ted White has kindly given me permission to use a copy of the image which shows:

" My grandparents were Edward and Lucy (Chandler) Merriott; the two children standing in the picture were my Aunt Helena and Uncle James. Sitting is my Uncle Albert and my Mum, Emma May, who was about 4 when the picture was taken (which makes it about 1900 ish). They lived next to the Alms Houses at 34 North Road in a thatched cottage which was knocked down in 1935."

Merriott family portrait

courtesy Ted White ewhite11@cogeco.ca

 A group portrait of the Merriott family of Lancing (c1900). A cabinet format photograph produced by The Worthing Portrait Company of 4 Railway Approach, Worthing ( Miss Jennie Rewman : Principal ). The Merriott family lived at 34 North Road, Lancing.  Edward Merriott, a farm labourer engaged in market gardening, married Lucy Chandler in 1883. 

 Before her marriage to Edward Merriott, Lucy Chandler worked as a domestic servant for William and Elizabeth Hall at Penstone House in Lancing.  

Lucy was employed as a nurse, caring for the two youngest Hall children - Madeleine Ennis Hall (born 1875, Lancing) and Helena Invicta Hall (born 1873, Shoreham). This cabinet card was probably sent to the then grown up Helena Invicta Hall as a kind of Christmas Greetings card. Inscribed in ink on the reverse of the Merriott Family photograph is the message " With best wishes for a happy Xmas, from Old Nursie.

I have learned that the Hall family moved to live at Lindfield when the house was bought by Harry Ricardo as he had set up his engineering base at Shoreham
This is a quote from his memoires

"We bought a large, ugly, but very well built and comfortable country house called Penstone at Lancing, about three-quarters of a mile from the sea. The house had originally been built by a South African millionaire who had evidently spared no expense on its construction; its thick stone walls kept us warm in winter and cool in summer. It was equipped with central heating and electric light from its own power plant. In short, it had all the amenities, and during the years we lived there cost us almost nothing in repairs or maintenance. My father was shocked at its ugliness but thoroughly approved of its internal design and excellent workmanship."
Ricardo, Harry (1968) “Memories and Machines”

Subsequently Penstone House became the Basque Childrens Hostel in about 1937 for refugees of the Spanish civil war, meanwhile Harry Ricardo had transferred to Oxford.

This link describes the historical circumstances of how refugee children from the Spanish Civil war fled to England and at first lived in makeshift camps and then were found homes around the country including Penstone House
http://www.basquechildren.org/node/5

An article from the Argus: it tells the story of a refugee who returns to visit Beach House Worthing where she first stayed and talks about moving to Penstone House at Lancing http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1421327.print/

In this link 'bbc domesday reloaded ' Mrs Bonetti recalls Lancing from 1934 when she moved here and mentions Penstone House http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-516000-102000/page/8

Lancing FC

As it's Saturday lets take a look at the football ground in Culver Road. Until fairly recent times the Stand at Lancing resembled something from an old Hammer Movie

It was well overdue for replacement and it has now been demolished and a modern building stands in its place.
Before it all went I wandered in and got permission to look around.

Through the gate and pay kiosk

For a view of the stand from the inside

The terrace and newer changing rooms

For members of the Sussex County FA a cosy bar

Its all been cleared and smart new building is on the same spot

Please write to me if you can add any information

The Luxor Cinema

Every town once had its own cinema, larger towns may have had several cinemas under different ownership companies.

courtesy Geoff Caulton

Before television it was an important way for a community to be able to learn about national and world events through the Pathe Newsreels.

Cinema was a major source of entertainment, British and American movies drew large crowds keen to sit in the darkened auditorium for an evening and escape the troubles of daily life.

When cinema lost its mass appeal many of the venues closed, were demolished or found other uses such as happened to this one by becoming a Bingo Hall. More recently it was used by Walter Wall carpets. Since then it has been a spacious home to a cycle shop and most recently The Mobility Centre, suppliers of electric powered vehicles.

Do you have photos or memories of this venue ?

The Railway Crossing

Staying close to the centre of the village I can show this picture taken in the mid 1960's by my father-in-law

Compare it with this taken in 2011. 

The public house formerly known as the Railway Hotel and now the Merry Monk was undergoing some renovation work

This is a view apparently from the footbridge of the North road side of the crossing.

A train just entering the station. Boots the Chemist can be seen as occupying a double shop front, they later relocated to a larger property further up the road on the other side where they remain to the present day.

The small unit with the green roller blind is probably Mitchell's greengrocers.

Hark the Age of Steam

Turning southwards from our starting point that was the railway, and harking back to the 1960's.
This picture shows what appears to be an event that drew some crowds. Perhaps a carnival day

Doubly interesting because of the curious little shop in the background that began life as a Brickwoods off-licence at the side of the Farmers Hotel. I will show how it has been adapted over the years to a variety of uses.

After a long period of vacancy in 2004 the little shop was taken on by a Fishing Tackle supplier with a sideline in Dolls House kits

 A year later in 2005 it was the turn of a Locksmith 'Rhino Locks'. It must of provided a useful base to an otherwise mobile service.

Four years later in 2009 Neville Scott had decided to go solo in the Estate agency business and set up shop in the little building.

In this wide angle view the scene recalls the original photo with the steam engine in the position of where the white car is now parked.

Lastly for now at least, The Farmers with the strange little shop tacked on the side.

Since this photo was taken the Estate Agent has vacated. The most recent occupant was Carewise Ltd, a privately owned Homecare agency