Publications
Sussex Industrial Archaeology: A Field Guide, compiled by John Hoare and John Upton, published June 1972 (No. 4, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/4] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:Sussex is not noted for its industrial archaeology. However, there are many interesting physical remains associated with the economic life of the county at different periods. This list attempts to record a selection of them in a clear fashion. It is by no means exhaustive but seeks to point out objects of interest in each category. Certain possible themes have been omitted owing to pressure upon space.
Although selection has born in mind accessibility many of the listed buildings and objects are private property. The exterior can generally be viewed from a public road and path. Please respect this privacy.
Some of the listed structures are in danger of demolition. Please do not blame the authors if (like them) you visit a site of some significance and find a pile of rubble. If this booklet succeeds in creating interest and helps to develop informed opinion so that these remains are treated with more sympathy, it will have served its purpose.
Objects in museums have been deliberately omitted but the existence of the Open Air Museum at Singleton (SU 875127) cannot pass unnoticed. The blacksmith's shop from Southwater, the donkey-wheel from Catherington, Hants., and the weather-boarded toll-house of 1807 from Upper Beeding are all fine survivals. Among items awaiting erection are two horse-gin houses from farms at Binsted and North Bersted in West Sussex.
Although selection has born in mind accessibility many of the listed buildings and objects are private property. The exterior can generally be viewed from a public road and path. Please respect this privacy.
Some of the listed structures are in danger of demolition. Please do not blame the authors if (like them) you visit a site of some significance and find a pile of rubble. If this booklet succeeds in creating interest and helps to develop informed opinion so that these remains are treated with more sympathy, it will have served its purpose.
Objects in museums have been deliberately omitted but the existence of the Open Air Museum at Singleton (SU 875127) cannot pass unnoticed. The blacksmith's shop from Southwater, the donkey-wheel from Catherington, Hants., and the weather-boarded toll-house of 1807 from Upper Beeding are all fine survivals. Among items awaiting erection are two horse-gin houses from farms at Binsted and North Bersted in West Sussex.
Railway Architecture in Sussex, by John Hoare, published 1973 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 6, article, pp.15-24) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/6] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:Railway Architecture, as a theme for study, may seem to possess an inherent contradiction. There is a self-evident functionalism in the structures associated with the engineering of the permanent way; signal-boxes, tunnels, bridges and viaducts all fulfil a specific purpose. The same distinctiveness is not apparent in those structures which have graced our stations since the earliest days of the railways in a wide variety of sizes and styles.
In the early period, whether stations are humble or grand, their design is only in a limited sense related to specifically railway functions. Their characteristics tend to be either domestic or expressive of monumental achievement. Although few English stations were built and owned by anyone other than the operating companies, the resulting buildings generally still fail to develop a distinctive railway appearance. The high level of staffing of stations in the Victorian period, an obvious reflection of the social and economic life of the age, normally ensures that a house accompanies the passenger platform, with either a single-storeyed booking hall attached or the use of part of the ground floor as offices. It is these domestic quarters which tend to be the main constituent of our railway architecture, at least in the small stations. Frequently the house is the only permanent and surviving structure of rural stations of the early period. The small awning for passenger cover, as seen in Sussex in the extension of the eaves of some South Eastern Railway stations of 1851, slowly develops into a lavish provision for passenger comfort, typified by the lengthy canopies and waiting and refreshment rooms erected by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway in the 1880s. Growth in both scale and number of station structures summarises the Victorian picture. The recent contraction of the 20th century is equally obvious, as a reduction in service in all respects tends to reduce those stations left open to a status barely superior to that of a bus stop. In a sense this can be seen as a development towards a stricter functionalism in railway architecture at the expense of other considerations.
In the early period, whether stations are humble or grand, their design is only in a limited sense related to specifically railway functions. Their characteristics tend to be either domestic or expressive of monumental achievement. Although few English stations were built and owned by anyone other than the operating companies, the resulting buildings generally still fail to develop a distinctive railway appearance. The high level of staffing of stations in the Victorian period, an obvious reflection of the social and economic life of the age, normally ensures that a house accompanies the passenger platform, with either a single-storeyed booking hall attached or the use of part of the ground floor as offices. It is these domestic quarters which tend to be the main constituent of our railway architecture, at least in the small stations. Frequently the house is the only permanent and surviving structure of rural stations of the early period. The small awning for passenger cover, as seen in Sussex in the extension of the eaves of some South Eastern Railway stations of 1851, slowly develops into a lavish provision for passenger comfort, typified by the lengthy canopies and waiting and refreshment rooms erected by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway in the 1880s. Growth in both scale and number of station structures summarises the Victorian picture. The recent contraction of the 20th century is equally obvious, as a reduction in service in all respects tends to reduce those stations left open to a status barely superior to that of a bus stop. In a sense this can be seen as a development towards a stricter functionalism in railway architecture at the expense of other considerations.
Sussex Railway Architecture, by John Hoare, published 15 March 1979 (109 pp., Hassocks: Harvester Press, ISBN-10: 085527249X & ISBN-13: 9780855272494) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15128] & R.I.B.A. Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Review by A. J. Haselfoot in Sussex Industrial History, 1979:An excellent and much-needed historical survey of the railways of Sussex, which, at their greatest extent in 1928, afforded a closely-knit network of communications over the whole of the County. After defining the main aspects of railway architecture the author deals with the development of railways in Sussex from the original. London-Brighton line, authorised in 1837, through their peak in the first quarter of this century, to their subsequent present day decline. The architecture of the two principal early railway companies, the London & Brighton and the South Eastern, is then dealt with followed by a detailed consideration of the several architectural phases which can be identified from the 1850's up to the present day, and the architects and engineers who have influenced their styles. A great deal of research has plainly been undertaken in the writing of this book and the author is to be congratulated on the logical arrangement of his material and the very readable text; a useful and comprehensive classification of stations is a valuable addition. One of the delights of the book is the large number of photographs, both old and new, which illustrate various aspects of the subject, but here I must enter a protest - there are 101 illustrations but none of them are referred to in the text and there is no list of illustrations. This last appears to be a recent gimmick of some publishers and it can be exasperating to the reader - I found myself continuously searching the book to find a picture of the station being described, and which I felt sure I had noticed earlier on. In spite of this criticism the book is well worth possessing, being a first-class record of the architectural history of Sussex railways, much of which has already passed away and which is still disappearing at an alarming rate.