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Gorham Way, PEACEHAVEN, BN10 7BB

1950s/60s block of flats on Gorham Way facing onto the A259 South Coast Road.

A block of flats at the western edge of the settlement of Telscombe Cliffs, named after Ambrose Gorham, who bequeathed the neighbouring Telscombe Tye in perpetuity to Brighton council on condition it remained undeveloped.

Block of flats on the western edge of Telscombe Cliffs. The sign tied to the fence in the central reservation welcomes home mummy and Jack. Not the first time a message has been left here as I recall a recent sheet proclaiming someone's 60th birthday. The bus lane in the foreground has recently been created to speed up buses travelling into Brighton particularly in the morning rush hour when the stretch of road between Peacehaven and Brighton can resemble little more than an eight mile traffic jam. Needless to say it isn't popular with motorists who have to use this road as there is no other way of getting into Brighton.

The pub which is little more than a decade old has a long history having been built around 1811 as the Portobello Coastguard Station on the site of a former 18th century farmhouse that became the Lifeboat Inn so named because a small three person vessel would be lowered down the nearby cliff when a ship was in distress. Early on it seemed to revert to being a pub as it was known as the Brewers Arms during the 1830s and was heavily linked with the local smuggling trade, many tunnels and passages were discovered beneath when it was renovated in the 1990s. In 1841 11 cottages on the left were built as coastguard living quarters and the old building seems to have reverted again as a coastguard station which it remained until the Second World War. It remained unused and derelict until the 1990s conversion back into a pub named in a public competition, very apt for Peacehaven, after a sett was discovered in its garden. The road is the A259 South Coast Road which prior to the building of Peacehaven and Telscombe Cliffs was known as the Dover Road. Beyond is Telscombe Tye, a common piece of land separating the 20th century developments of Saltdean and Peacehaven.

The South Coast Road is on the route of the A259 as it passes through Telscombe Cliffs, east of Brighton.

The oldest building in the settlement of Telscombe Cliffs known sometimes as the 17th Century House though it does not date from then. A building was constructed here around 1765 originally as a farmhouse which was later converted into a pub called the Lifeboat Inn, so named because the owner constructed a shaft down to the beach in order to launch a lifeboat. That building was renovated around 1809-11 and became known as the Brewers Arms Inn. It's isolated position on the main coast road made it an attraction for smugglers and the original building had extensive cellars and passages running down to the beach below. Consequently, in 1832 a watchhouse was built opposite, see Image, and the inn seems to have eventually become part of the coastguard station being the house for the senior officer. I'm still uncertain when the building ceased becoming a pub but for many years it was a private residence until the 1990s when it was once more renovated and reopened in 1997 as the Badger's Watch, changing to the current name in the last year or so.

Vintages Inn pub.

A view of the England Coast Path at Telscombe Cliffs, between Brighton and Newhaven.