Aerodrome c1913

A collection from Alex Robertson. The early days of aviation at Shoreham.

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Hebe

On the corner of Victoria Road and Hebe Road, the Hebe pub (possibly named after HMS Hebe) was built to serve the clientele of the very popular Swiss Gardens. The Swiss Gardens entrance (built 1838) was opposite. I estimate the Hebe was built after 1844 but before 1872.

The Hebe ghost image: 1894 and 2018 ©Roger Bateman
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A Forgotten Corner

The chimney marks the building at the east end of the High Street, now Coronation Green area, where Thomas Clayton’s ‘Roman Cement Manufactury’ once belched it’s chalk and lime laden smoke depositing grey ash over the town during the early 1800’s; a barracks was set up there during the Napoleonic War invasion threats; it later became the Albion Steam Brewery and finally the Winton family’s printing works before being demolished  during the 1938 road widening. Behind that Paine’s ironmongery business traded for many years alongside Snelling’s butcher shop.

High Street, Albion Steam Brewery montage

Shoreham Heritage Open Day

Shorehambysea.com is featured in the upcoming Heritage Open Days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday 14th-16th. A few of our videos will be featured as a celebration of the historical assets of the town.

The featured videos can be seen below:

A River Runs Through Our Town (1962) click to play

Truleigh Hill Then and Now

Truleigh Hill Then and Now

The RAF Truleigh Hill Radar base has seen an immense amount of change in the short time it has been hidden from public view. The World War 2 radar base was a sprawling overground site with scattered buildings and technical structures. Within a few years of the end of the war the threat and technology had moved on and Truleigh Hill was one of a number of sites chosen for the top secret expansion and upgrade of radar early warning capability. A huge civil engineering project of unparalled size was undertaken and in less than a year an underground, blast proof facility was dug, built and covered. The detail of the scale of similar cold war construction projects is told here. The detail of RAF Truleigh Hill’s history is recounted here.

Post war RAF site layout with facilities at that time, pre-ROTOR bunker construction. Image RCHME
The location of the 1952 underground facility and access tunnel overlayed the 2023 aerial view.
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Memories of Shoreham by Sea

GW13

A 1940’s/50’s childhood in Connaught Avenue and West Street
by Gerry White

I was born in Connaught Avenue, Old Shoreham parish in 1938 and apart from the war years, lived and grew up in Old Shoreham. In 1946 the front gardens were still planted with vegetables. The big air raid shelter was in position on the green that separated the even number houses on the north side of the road from the odds on the south side. Orchard Close had not been built and the land was owned by the Worley family.

GW1
A Connaught Avenue winter in the 1950’s (photo Bartlett Collection)
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100 years ago – the White Horse Cup Final

Programme from Bartlett Collection

Hidden amongst the Bartlett Collection in the Photo Galleries is a copy of the FA Cup Final Programme cover from 1923. This FA Cup Final, 100 years ago today, was famous for the crowd invasion where 300,000 fans got into Wembley stadium. The crowds swarmed onto the pitch and the game was delayed significantly. Police attempted to control the crowds and the iconic image of a white police horse surrounded by the crowd became the iconic image of the event.

The iconic image. Public Domain
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