Bungalow Town Archives - shorehambysea.com

December 19, 2024April 21, 2025

Shoreham Airport Station

Bungalow Town Halt was opened in 1910 to serve the growing community of Shoreham Beach and the holiday camps at the Saltings. Latterly it was to serve the aerodrome immediately to the North, and station signage reflected this. The station was located 30 feet to the East of the rail bridge spanning New Salts Farm Road. It comprised two simple wooden platforms North and South of the tracks and wooden shelter. These were accessed by a steep footpath up the embankment from New Salts Farm Road. The station closed in 1933.

The station reopened as Shoreham Airport station in July 1935, principally to serve the new terminal building of Shoreham Airport. However after only 5 years the station was closed in July 1940.

August 31, 2023March 24, 2024

Bungalow Town 1946

An interesting panorama of four photos sent to us by Chris Mead. Taken by his father in 1946 from one of the flats above the shops in Ferry Road it looks out westwards across a barren landscape following the wartime clearance of most of the bungalows. Amongst those that survived were West and East House(s) on the extreme right. Just beyond the old sports club are two house boats, the one on the right is Skylark and to the left of it is what looks like an MTB that to me is very similar to one that survived until recent years – perhaps someone remembers it’s name?

Why were the two bungalows in the centre of the view left untouched I wonder? The smaller one was named ‘Barge’ but the larger doesn’t appear to have been named and is just noted as No. 81 on the BT Properties list.

Lastly, along the shore can be seen the anti-tank blocks that were removed a few years later – the lower photo of blocks at Lancing gives an idea of them closer up.

Ferry Road 1946: Sussex University Geography Dept.

Old Fort Road 1946: Sussex University Geography Dept.

August 31, 2023March 24, 2024

Bungalow names

Some bungalow names added to a 1930’s photo. (Incidentally, Skylark was actually a boat pulled out of the water to become a land dwelling, you can just make it out in the enlargement.)

August 29, 2023February 19, 2024

Mystery Bungalows

Carolyn Orme has sent us photos of her Belfield predecessors and their bungalow in Bungalow Town asking for more information as to its location. ‘Maelvy’ is readily identifiable on the available photos and records. We’re now trying to date the main photo of her family outside the bungalow that also shows the neighbouring ‘Anchorage’ beside it. It is difficult to see for sure but it does look like the photo was taken before ‘Seaside’ was built (where they are standing/sitting) to obstruct their view of the sea.

‘Seaside’ appears to have been built in 1917 so before then; the Belfields are shown occupying ‘Villa Lido’ in 1911 and 1914 before the well known Melville family start appearing there. One of the Belfield family was attending Lancing College at the time and he was born in 1900. No Belfield’s are shown at ‘Maelvy’ in the directories but they may only have rented it for a short while.

August 29, 2023February 19, 2024

Figureheads

Nelson writes:
August 2020. The things we overlook. We often look back on old posts and in particular this one that we were fairly sure was of the Kittiwake bungalow fire. We’ve only just noticed another clue that helps confirm it. The Kittiwake owner had two ships’ figureheads (HMS Pearl and HMS Scylla) in the ‘garden’ but look what’s being rescued in the distance left – can’t be absolutely sure but looks very much like the Pearl figurehead!
Subsequent photos of the rebuilt Kittiwake show the Scylla figurehead in the front but no trace of Pearl unless that was round the back – did it go missing that day? Another thought is that those figureheads were solid wood yet seems not to be too heavy for that gentleman!

April 21, 2021August 12, 2023

The Early Bungalows

Before the bungalows arrived the chemical works, cholera hospital, coastguard station, and a few boat and fishermen’s huts were about the only buildings on the beach. The location of the earliest bungalows can be seen on the 1898 Ordnance Survey map. Matching this to the 1930’s Bungalow Town map and lists shows that these first bungalows were named, from west to east, Kittiwake, Arcadia, Struan Lee, Rhodesia, Lazyland, Sea View, Sea Spray, Coronation, Shoreham Dene, Waterville and Canaan (the empty rectangles were plots for later bungalow to be built on them but some don’t seem to have materialised.