Publications
Aspects of Brighton's Market Garden Industry, by Geoffrey Mead, published 1989 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 127, historical note, pp.262-263) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10604] & The Keep [LIB/500302] & S.A.S. library
Sussex Leather Industry in the 19th Century, by G. Mead, published 1989 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 19, article, pp.2-10, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506526] Download PDF
Abstract:The leather industry had a role in the national economy greatly overlooked by many economic historians. Even the S.I.A.S. field guide does not mention a single item connected with the industry. During the eighteenth century it was the second biggest industry overall: by 1800 its value of &Pound;10+ million was only exceeded by woollen cloth and yarn. It remained a vital component in the nation's wealth throughout the nineteenth century, and in 1907 output by value, as a proportion of total industrial output, was 2.6% equal to the value of shipbuilding, and exceeded only by wool products at 2.8%. Tanning was carried on in 800 yards and the industry employed half a million people.
Products for home and export markets, raw materials of bark, hides, tan and finished goods, leather, footwear and harness, were stimulated by the rapid expansion of British industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. At all levels of production and usage the products of the leather industry performed vital functions, from supplying machinery driving belts, to linings of gentlemen's hats. The growth of industry, closely linked as it was to the improvements in a wide range of communications, stimulated transport of all kinds, and thereby saddlery and haulage harness. For domestic consumption there was a continuously heavy demand for all types of footwear, clothing and gloves, and articles as diverse as bellows, buckets and bookbindings.
Products for home and export markets, raw materials of bark, hides, tan and finished goods, leather, footwear and harness, were stimulated by the rapid expansion of British industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. At all levels of production and usage the products of the leather industry performed vital functions, from supplying machinery driving belts, to linings of gentlemen's hats. The growth of industry, closely linked as it was to the improvements in a wide range of communications, stimulated transport of all kinds, and thereby saddlery and haulage harness. For domestic consumption there was a continuously heavy demand for all types of footwear, clothing and gloves, and articles as diverse as bellows, buckets and bookbindings.
Glimpses of Old Patcham, by Ernest Ryman and Geoffrey Mead, published 1 March 1993 (32 pp., Brighton: Dyke Publications, ISBN-10: 0950975656 & ISBN-13: 9780950975658) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503006] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Glimpses of Old Brighton: From the Robert Jeeves Collection, by Ernest Ryman and Geoffrey Mead, published 1 October 1994 (32 pp., Brighton: Dyke Publications, ISBN-10: 0950975672 & ISBN-13: 9780950975672) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502530] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
The Sea House Hotel, Brighton, by Geoff Mead, published 1996 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 26, article, pp.16-19, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506527] Download PDF
Abstract:The Sea House is a pub of some antiquity and of considerable historic interest, its past closely linked with Brighton's history, in particular its seafaring heritage, currently being promoted so assiduously by Brighton Council.
First noted in documentary sources in 1791 when James Leach was proprietor, it must have pre-dated this as a 19th century source describes its appearance in 1800 as "a wretched looking miserable old building" in spite of which the Town Vestry is reported as holding meetings there regularly between 1790 and 1804.
At that date and in the period prior to 1832 its name was the Ship in Distress and was one of a number of town taverns with seafaring signage, such as The Anchor in East Street, the Old Ship in Ship Street, and the Last Sr Fishcart in Black Lion Street. This was a reflection of Brighton's role as one of the principal fishing towns on the south coast, one whose economy was, at an earlier time, bound up in shipping, rope and net making, and boat building.
First noted in documentary sources in 1791 when James Leach was proprietor, it must have pre-dated this as a 19th century source describes its appearance in 1800 as "a wretched looking miserable old building" in spite of which the Town Vestry is reported as holding meetings there regularly between 1790 and 1804.
At that date and in the period prior to 1832 its name was the Ship in Distress and was one of a number of town taverns with seafaring signage, such as The Anchor in East Street, the Old Ship in Ship Street, and the Last Sr Fishcart in Black Lion Street. This was a reflection of Brighton's role as one of the principal fishing towns on the south coast, one whose economy was, at an earlier time, bound up in shipping, rope and net making, and boat building.
Scattered squalor' and 'downland homes' : interwar housing at Patcham, Brighton, by Geoffrey Mead, 2012 at Sussex University (Ph.D. thesis) View Online
Abstract:The Brighton suburb of Patcham is an area which was transforming rapidly into a suburban housing district in the interwar period. An urban fringe area, where the distinction between the various housing areas is largely explained by the differential ownership and sale of the former agricultural land, and the subsequent development as suburban housing under different developers. The factors bringing about the urban expansion, particularly in relation to Brighton and its growing economy are discussed, as is the declining agricultural economy. A variety of suburban housing types emerged, ranging from army huts and architect-designed detached villas in the early post-World War One period, to large corporate housing developments during the 1930s. This period was one where largely uncontrolled building was taking place outside Brighton municipal control, a situation partly resolved by the extension of borough boundaries in the late 1920s, and the social and legislative factors pertinent to urban housing issues and suburban growth are discussed. This pattern of areal difference is readily discernible in the 21st century where the palimpsest of earlier patterns still influences the later building. The economic situation and the various architectural styles of the interwar are reviewed, as is the postwar development of the district which is described to give the post-World War Two context. Suburbs are more complex than is apparent at first consideration and this study aims to unpick the fabric of suburbia through the case study of a selected area of Patcham setting it all in the wider context of local and national issues. The patterns of building that are recorded for Patcham can be seen to operate across Britain in the same period and serve as an exemplar of wider processes.
'Scattered squalor quickly defied any concerted plan': Sweet Hill, Patcham 1921-1925, by Geoffrey Mead, published 2014 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 152, article) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18617] & The Keep [LIB/508097] & S.A.S. library View Online
Abstract:The early 1920s were a critical time in UK housing provision. Although there were some planned local authority housing schemes, such as Moulsecoomb, Brighton, there were many unplanned landscapes of informal settlement appearing on urban fringes and in rural locations across the country. Sweet Hill, Patcham, was one such. This article explores some of the previously hidden history of this settlement, which would have been mirrored across many of the marginal landscapes of Britain.