Newspaper Reports continued 6:-

Much of the chalk and earth taken out from the cutting through New England Hill in Brighton was reused to build the bank through Southwick and Kingston and in February 1840 a great number of workmen arrived in Shoreham to build the Brighton Road viaduct over the line connecting the Kingston wharves to the main railroad. On the 11^thMay 1840 the official opening was reported with the first trip through the five and a half miles from Brighton to Shoreham being completed in 12 minutes.

One intriguing report of 1841, the year following the opening of the Shoreham line, was taken up and published by all the national dailies and read ‘On Monday, as the Shoreham branch of the London and Brighton Railway was proceeding to Shoreham a hare ran on the rail for some distance but eventually poor puss was overtaken and cut in half by the train.’ J.M.W. Turner’s famous ‘Rain, Steam & Speed’ painting shows a hare running before the train – presumed to represent speed. The painting was first exhibited in 1844 and shows the Maidenhead Bridge, is it possible that the idea of the hare was planted in Turner’s mind by this report?

 Newspaper Reports continued 5:-

Companies were formed (1834) with a view to funding the London to Brighton railway line. There were two main routes proposed and one of them was the line down to Horsham, Shoreham and on to Brighton. Various reports followed during the subsequent years giving arguments for and against the different routes. Although the Adur Valley route was backed by the renowned railway engineer John Rennie and was the least expensive option requiring no tunnels and less bridges to be constructed the more direct route to Brighton was chosen. It was small consolation for Shoreham that that the branch line from Brighton to Shoreham was to be completed first

1839 The new locomotive ‘Shoreham’ was towed into Shoreham drawn by 14 beautiful horses and conveyed on to Portslade where it was put on the rails to join the other locomotive ‘Brighton’ already working on the line’s construction.

There were a number of fatal accidents among the workers on the Brighton to Shoreham line and many more non fatal – so much so that the contractors for the railway ‘presented an extra ten guineas in consequence of the number casualties that had to be sent to the Sussex County Hospital for treatment.’

(Photo: The ‘Shoreham’ like the ‘Ajax’ pictured here, was built by Jones, Turner & Evans of Warrington)

Newspaper Reports continued 4:-

November 1824 a severe storm hit Shoreham and lasted a week causing the sea to rise over the beach in front of the town that gave the whole area the appearance of being in the open sea. Fields behind the beach were also inundated by the sea and the old wooden lighthouse at Kingston was blown down. The river overflowed its banks, many chimneys were toppled as was the pole on the top of the church tower. 

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Newspaper Reports continued 3:-

1809 ‘Extensive docks’  (i.e., sluices) were constructed ‘between Shoreham and Lancing to drain the low lands in that neighbourhood’ and replaced the marshland with meadowland that one hundred years later was to be used for the airport.

John (88) and Elizabeth (87) Boyce were landlord and landlady of the Star Inn (on the corner of Church and High Streets) for over 50 years.  They had been married for 60 years and both died in July of 1812 within a week of each other.

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Newspaper Reports 2:-

One of the earliest reports (1751) was of two men dressed in mourning clothes driving their hearse from Shoreham who were apprehended by the Revenue men. On opening the coffin they discovered smuggled gold and silver French lace, Cambric (fine cloth)……. and tea!

The luck of the Irish – in 1778 seven Irish sailors had the misfortune of belonging to the crew of a ship embargoed in France. They managed to

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Glimpses of life in Shoreham two hundred years and more ago as provided by 18^th and 19^th century newspaper reports that we’ll be including over the next few days. Horse races and shooting matches held in the Sheep Field at Old Shoreham, punch-ups in the High Street, speeding dog-carts that terrorized pedestrians, murders, suicides, the town’s involvement in the naval war against France, smuggling, cricket matches and ships built in Shoreham that we hadn’t known of before.

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