The ship Coonatto started its life in Rotherhithe on the south bank of the Thames in 1863. She was built by Thomas Bilbe & Son to a new design which used both timber and iron – known as “composite hull construction” Although this made the hull stronger, it was of course heavier. She was a square-rigged clipper and…
Category: Newhaven
A Nutty Shipwreck and her Figurehead
A few years ago I was shown two ivory nuts which had just been found on the beach at Seaford. Although the shingle of Seaford beach is relatively new I think that they may have originated from the hold of the ship the ‘Peruvian’ which grounded in Seaford Bay over 100 years ago. The…
The Downland Shepherd-Archaeologist
Stephen Blackmore was born on 1st February 1832 in Falmer, the son of an agricultural labourer. As a young boy he worked at Stanmer House near Falmer in the service the Duke of Newcastle. But it seems he was keen to be outside on the land and soon was working as a labourer on nearby…
Caring for the troops
During the Great War, Seaford became a garrison town and thousands of men trained there before experiencing the horrors of the Front. A tented camp in 1914, soon expanded into two huge hutted camps filled with soldiers from across the country and indeed the world. At 25,000, the population of the camps was many times larger…
The Flying Martello Tower
In 1860 a Mr Anderson published a paper suggesting that guns could be mounted on railway carriages to give them better mobility. Guns on trains may seem to be a good idea, but there is a big problem with recoil which means the size of gun needs to be restricted, especially if it is fired…
The Battle of The Buckle 1545
On 18thJuly 1545, a French fleet led by the High Admiral Claude d’Annabant attacked the south coast of England. He was rather miffed that the English had just captured the port of Boulogne and was after revenge. At Portsmouth, Henry VIIIs ship “Mary Rose” had promptly sunk as it tried to engage them. Further down…
The Trouble with Seaford…
My last post about the preparations for the Dieppe and D-Landings were from an account by Seaford postman George Martin (1908-1976). He was interviewed by members of Seaford Museum in June 1974. The follow account is what he remembered about the town and its people… There were four trains an hour in the 1930s. The…
Preparations for the Dieppe Raid and the D-Day Landings.
Postman George Martin (1908-1976) lived in Seaford, Sussex. During the Second World War he was a volunteer fire-warden and ran the Seaford branch of Toc-H, a Christian organisation which helped visiting servicemen. He witnessed the build up of troops in Seaford prior to the Dieppe Raid of 19th August 1942 and the D-Day landings of…
A Sussex May Day
May Day was celebrated by the Romans and the Pagans who knew it as Beltain. It falls midway between the winter and summer solstices and was a time of change and celebration before the hardships of the agricultural year. People would feel at one with nature and would be praying for a bountiful harvest ahead. …
A King’s escape through Sussex
Louis-Philippe of France had a troublesome life; his father had initially supported the Revolution but when Louis-Phillipe escaped to exile he called for his execution. There can’t be many people whose own father wanted them dead! After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 the monarchy was restored to France and on 9th August…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 