Houses along Southdown Road –
200 years of Southwick History
Saturday mornings 10.30 to 12.30 from 20th May to 1st July
The development of Southdown Road and the buildings along it mirror the development of Southwick during the past 200 years. The road was originally agricultural land running from Southwick Street to The Green, which later housed a brewery and was called Brewery Field. The brewery was destroyed by fire in 1820, but a path which ran along the north side of the field was subsequently developed to give, as Southwick expanded, a leafy lane with a series of substantial two-storey Victorian houses on its north side, built for the professional classes. These dwellings subsequently gave rise to a school, a hotel and a gentlemen’s club, whilst on the south side more modern development has given a library, a doctors’ surgery and modern housing, whilst retaining remnants of the original brewery.
This exhibition will give details of the changing picture of Southwick’s recent development through description of the history of these buildings.
Saving Southwick’s Heritage –
The Manor Cottage and 50 years of the Southwick Society
Saturday mornings 10.30 to 12.30 8th July to 26ht August
Following the reorganisation of local government in 1973, which led to the demise of Southwick Urban District Council, a group of people got together to form The Southwick Society. Their aim was to protect the identity of our town by promoting high standards of planning and architecture, and securing the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of public interest in Southwick and Fishersgate. As part of this work they ambitiously took on the lease of the Manor Cottage, a run down listed building, to turn it into a heritage centre. Fifty years on the Society and the heritage centre thrive. This exhibition looks at the achievements of the last 50 years and at the history of Southwick’s oldest secular building.
