⇐ Ninfield Local History GroupPevensey & Westham Historical Society ⇒
Peacehaven: A Chronology, by Tony Payne and Stanley Bernard, published 6 May 2000 (20 pp., Paths - Peacehaven and Telscombe Historical Society, ISBN-10: 0953518612 & ISBN-13: 9780953518616) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries
Telscombe: Its Early History, by Stanley Bernard, published 15 May 2002 (16 pp., Paths - Peacehaven and Telscombe Historical Society, ISBN-10: 0953518647 & ISBN-13: 9780953518647) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries
People of Telscombe & Peacehaven: From Records Relating to the Parishes of Telscombe & Piddinghoe, by Stanley Bernard, published June 2003 (56 pp., Paths - Peacehaven and Telscombe Historical Society, ISBN-10: 0953518655 & ISBN-13: 9780953518654) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503031] & West Sussex Libraries
Before the Bungalows: How Peacehaven and Telscombe Cliffs Came into Existence, by Stanley Bernard, published 24 June 2007 (22 pp., Paths - Peacehaven and Telscombe Historical Society, ISBN-10: 0953518663 & ISBN-13: 9780953518661) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502990] & East Sussex Libraries
News from Victorian Newhaven, by Stanley Bernard, published 15 July 2014 (93 pp., Paths - Peacehaven and Telscombe Historical Society, ISBN-10: 0953518671 & ISBN-13: 9780953518678) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/507950]
Review by John Wckens in Sussex Family Historian vol. 21 no. 4, December 2014:This book is split into two parts; changes in population and employment from 1841 to 1891 and newspaper stories, coronation of Queen Victoria, celebrations and crimes-perhaps rather too many of these! There is an excellent selection of old photos (many from Newhaven museum) and slides from a local collection. It is good to see so many Sussex names mentioned (Catt, Diplock, Elphick, Gorringe and Woolgar) and the appropriately named Mr Irons, secretary of the London and Brighton Railway and Continental Steam Packet Company. I was surprised that there were ferry services to Jersey as well as France. Clearly the coming of the railway in 1847 made a very big impact on the town. As well researched and presented as this book is, it is let down badly by multiple spelling and syntax errors. I suspect that it was not proof read and in this respect it represents poor value for money.
Review by Geoffrey Mead in Sussex Past & Present no. 134, December 2014:The foreword for this book states clearly that the Newhaven of Victorian times was a very different place to the Newhaven of the 21st century; the dynamism of the expanding 19th century port contrasting dramatically with the depressed economy of the present. Stanley Bernard has prepared this publication from his MA dissertation and has done a good service to the town, as any scholarly study of a community is to be welcomed, the more so as bright prospects are thin on the ground in Newhaven. The book is comprised of two sections, the first an overview of the community at the time of the 1841 census and how that community developed during the century, especially with the coming of the railway and the changes that occurred by the 1880s in terms of occupation and services. The various census returns have been closely studied and the often sparse information contained within them backed up with primary press comment and secondary material.
The second section - 'Victorian news' in the contents list, but 'Stories from the newspapers' in the text - takes the reader into events both national - the coronation of the Queen and local - a series of Victorian 'orrible murders'.
As befits the distillation of a dissertation, the references are full - five pages - and the publications and documents widely sourced, with some 'usual suspects' familiar to SAC - amongst them, Berry, Brandon and Brent! But also some period sources from less obvious publications - The Irish Monthly 1889 and Bristol Selected Pamphlets 1837. Following on from this wide ranging referencing there is a very full index, something often missing from similar self-publications.
There are indications here that this is indeed self-published, as it is crying out for a good proof reading; according to the acknowledgements this has been done - however there are passages of names that cry out for commas to break up the line of type, there are several mis-uses of words, e.g. ships do not flounder [a flatfish] but 'founder'; people do not emanate [issue from] the upper classes but 'emulate' them. The slim volume of 92 pages is copiously illustrated with 65 images but herein lies a problem, the images, both photographs and maps, are far too small and some are simply irrelevant; some needed a photographers 'eye' to crop the amount of modern road space or areas of foreground grass. Fewer images of larger size and of more relevance would have been beneficial.
As a supporter of Newhaven Conservation Trust and of the Newhaven Castle Hill Local Nature Reserve I fully welcome this useful addition to the town's oft-ignored history and one that should hopefully fire-up similar research into areas of Sussex urban life.
The second section - 'Victorian news' in the contents list, but 'Stories from the newspapers' in the text - takes the reader into events both national - the coronation of the Queen and local - a series of Victorian 'orrible murders'.
As befits the distillation of a dissertation, the references are full - five pages - and the publications and documents widely sourced, with some 'usual suspects' familiar to SAC - amongst them, Berry, Brandon and Brent! But also some period sources from less obvious publications - The Irish Monthly 1889 and Bristol Selected Pamphlets 1837. Following on from this wide ranging referencing there is a very full index, something often missing from similar self-publications.
There are indications here that this is indeed self-published, as it is crying out for a good proof reading; according to the acknowledgements this has been done - however there are passages of names that cry out for commas to break up the line of type, there are several mis-uses of words, e.g. ships do not flounder [a flatfish] but 'founder'; people do not emanate [issue from] the upper classes but 'emulate' them. The slim volume of 92 pages is copiously illustrated with 65 images but herein lies a problem, the images, both photographs and maps, are far too small and some are simply irrelevant; some needed a photographers 'eye' to crop the amount of modern road space or areas of foreground grass. Fewer images of larger size and of more relevance would have been beneficial.
As a supporter of Newhaven Conservation Trust and of the Newhaven Castle Hill Local Nature Reserve I fully welcome this useful addition to the town's oft-ignored history and one that should hopefully fire-up similar research into areas of Sussex urban life.
⇐ Ninfield Local History GroupPevensey & Westham Historical Society ⇒