Brighton was for many years festooned by windmills because it is one of the breeziest places in Britain.

They were such a feature of the resort that both Turner and Constable included them in their paintings when they paid visits.

Windmills offered a free source of energy and were often beautiful objects in their own right.

There are records of windmills in Brighton going back hundreds of years and at least two were in operation when the French ransacked the town in 1514. They were near St Nicholas Church.

Several more were built later on the eastern side of town close to what is now Marine Parade and more were built to the west.

But as Brighton expanded some of the mills became a nuisance and in the late eighteenth century neighbours asked for one to be demolished in Belle Vue Gardens, now Regency Square.

Instead of pulling it down, the owner decided to move it, no smalll undertaking in 1792 when the Industrial Revolution had only just started.

Seventy-two oxen were linked together to pull the mill, which was placed on a ski-like contraption, all the way to Millers Road near the junction with Dyke Road.

This remarkable feat was achieved safely even though the journey of more than a mile was nearly all uphill.

Others soon copied this way of transporting mills and one near St Nicholas Church was moved to Queen’s Park. Another at Sudeley Place was taken to Sussex Street before being moved a second time to the racecourse A mill in Dyke Road was transported all the way to Clayton where it was placed in a prominent position on a hill. A second mill was soon built there and the two remain an attraction on the Downs. They are nicknamed Jack and Jill.

One of the most famous mills stands proudly on Beacon Hill in Rottingdean and has been there since 1802.

Its outline, drawn by the locally-based artist William Nicholson in 1897, was the trademark of publishing firm William Heinemann and Sons.

It is being looked after by Rottingdean Preservation Society which has found thousands of pounds over the years to protect it from severe weather.

The last mill to be built in Brighton was at Patcham in 1883 and was eventually converted into a private house. It still survives today. Surprisingly considering its position only half way up a hill, it commands views of the Isle of Wight on a fine day.

West Blatchington Mill in Hove is open to the public on summer Sundays. Originally in open countryside, it is now in a suburban location at the top of Holmes Avenue.

Owned by Hove Council for more than 70 years, it is run by an enthusiastic group of volunteers and an extension in keeping with the mill provides a meeting space.

The historic mills will never be used commercially again but a new set of mills in the sea south of Brighton will soon supply energy needs for a large area.

Looking back

This experimental trolleybus caused great excitement in Hove a hundred years ago.

Work started on erecting trolley poles in George Street and Goldstone Villas in 1914 through a company backed by the council. The full route was from Hove Station to Church Road.

The bus performed well apart from a hissing noise when it stopped but the authorities did not like it and it never was used by the public.

Instead the double decker went to Keighley in Yorkshire where it was part of a fleet. Trolleybuses never returned to Hove although there was a service in Brighton between 1939 and 1961.

The picture is from Moya Knight of Brighton.

Close up

I once wrote about a brass plate, that was installed in the boardroom of the Elm Grove (or Race Hill) Workhouse, in memory of Edward Sattin and his 32 years as Master from 1859 to his death in 1891. In response to this I received more information from Mary Wells of Southwick whose maternal great-great-grandparents had been Master and Matron of Plymton St Mary Workhouse in 1842. At that time their daughter, Emma Dawe, was 9 years old but in 1857, when she was 24, she was to marry Edward at St Nicholas Church in Brighton and they were to become Master and Matron of Brighton Workhouse (pic. centre and below in 1864) from 1859.

Edward’s father, also called Edward, was born in Lewes in 1795 as was Edward jnr in 1825. By 1841 the family were in Edward Street, Brighton where Father and son were braziers, tin-plate workers and furniture dealers. Later, his father became a town commissioner, then a respected Councillor. He may have had some influence in his son obtaining the post of clerk to the Workhouse (then on Church Hill – pic. above) in March 1855. Here Edward first met Emma Dawe, just arrived as the Assistant Matron, from Totnes Workhouse. On 19th February 1857 they married at St Nicholas Church and lived in West Hill Street where daughter Elizabeth was born the following year. The positions of Master and Matron were now vacant and their joint application was accepted in 1859; Edward was already Acting Master. From then on they lived at the Workhouse and their remaining five children were all born there – Edward James (1859), William (1861), Arthur (1863), Edith (1865) and Beatrice (1866).

In September 1867 the move was made from Church Hill to the purpose-built Workhouse on Race Hill and his salary raised from £90 to £140 p.a. – still very low in his profession. Even so, he was criticised by one guardian for his ‘enormous salary’ and ‘magnificent furnished rooms’. Edward wrote an open letter to ratepayers to explain the reality of his ‘first class tradesman’s accommodation’ and the ‘din’ of living amongst 400 inmates, most ‘re-passing my door three times a day’. He even gave a breakdown of his income and spending! Impossible here to encompass even a brief history of this family in their various public duties and will continue next week.

Laurie Keen