IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Church Street, BRIGHTON, BN1 3LJ

Located next to the southern entrance of Crown Gardens, the blocked up doorway and stone wall sign give the clues that this is a former public house, the Morning Star, that operated here from at least the 1850s until its closure in 1936. Not too far beyond is the junction with Queen's Road.

A narrow back street that runs from Air Street to Church Street that was originally developed in the 1800s though nothing remains from that period. Whatever was on the eastern side was swept away in 1845 when Queen's Road was built. The eastern side survived a little longer containing three storied cottages and the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. The latter had been built in 1897 on the site of an old brewery and continued in operation until 1986 when services were transferred to the Royal Sussex. The building was demolished in 1988 and replaced by a block of flats, St Nicolas Lodge. The cottages were demolished in 1966 but not replaced for a considerable time though now occupied by a small terrace. See http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume31/source/jg_31_105.html for a 1956 view.

Wilds, and his son Amon Henry Wilds, was responsible for much of the Regency architecture in Brighton and other nearby towns and was buried here in 1833 the gravestone being designed by the son and featuring an ammonite fossil on the grave. Fossil huniting was one of Amon Wilds' other passions and both he and his son first used the ammonite on their architecture when redesigning fossil hunter Gideon Mantell's house in Lewes. It subsequently became a trademark flourish particularly as a pun on both their names and can be observed in many pieces of architecture around the town. The houses in Church Street can be seen to the rear of the churchyard.

The A2010 between the Clock Tower and Brighton Station. The road was laid out in 1845 to connect the town to the newly opened station though this section between Church Street and Air Street was once the northern section of the latter.