MOULSECOOMB
Of all the council estates developed in the 1920's and 30's the Moulescoomb estate in particular was built in a very beautiful and rural setting. With the hills all around, the early community began in these idyllic surroundings at a time when across the land many housing schemes were taking place when concept of the "Garden Estate" was all the rage with planners and architects up and down the land.

It could be reasonably said, that this was very fortunate for the early residents to be settling down in such a beautiful environment and although there were no leisure facilities provided at the time, the amenities provided by the natural surrounding were very considerable. Whether that was widely appreciated at the time is a matter of conjecture, but many of the new residents having come from the slum areas of Brighton, this fresh estate must have seemed like heaven on earth.

SOUTH MOULSECOOMB
As well of course Bevendean was built in a beautiful valley in the downs with an abundance of greenery and a very pleasant place to settle down. Of course a lot of development has taken place over those intervening years, but anyone can still imagine the original profile of the area when they have occasion to go there. When north and east Moulescoomb were developed, the surroundings again gave a distinctly rural 'feel' to the place. The main road was quite narrow in those days and situated to the west of the road were Mr Bates's orchards (now Bates Estate), Wild Park and Mr Woolards market garden. All that green land stretched right up to Coldean Lane, which really was just a lane that led up to West's Farm in those days of long ago. I believe some of the rare plants that were originally grown in the market garden are still present in Wild Park.

WHITEHAWK AND MANOR FARM
Whitehawk and Manor Farm were also developed on green sites in very pleasant surroundings, the former on land, which was part of a large tract bought by Brighton Council in 1911, the land that was purchased stretched as far as Ovindean. The latter was built on a piece of land that was formerly the farmland of the Maquis of Bristol, later Thomas Kemp land. When Whitehawk was first developed in the valley known as Piggery Bottom it was surrounded by greenery, for years there it had allotment land to the north, some of which still exists, but a great deal of which is now built on. There was also smallholdings at the back of the estate to the east and more allotment land to the south east and with the chalk grassland hills on the west side, the estate was more like a village in it's own right.

The Manor Farm estate was built after Whitehawk on the hills above, again with the green land all around it and with a nice view of the English Channel. With orchards to at the south end of the estate just across the road from buttercup fields and close to the old manor house there was plenty of land without buildings on. In the early days the bottom of Manor Road was just a track with a five bar gate across the top and even after it had been made up for some time it was often referred to as the 'new road'. Now a great deal of our green areas have been used up and the open land is being taken throughout the country at an alarming rate. We are lucky in East Brighton to have retained at least some of our original open land, which we should look after.

Written by Fred Netley.