⇐ S.I.H. December 1972 (No. 5)S.I.H. 1976 (No. 7) ⇒
Sussex Industrial History: Journal of the Sussex Industrial History Society, edited by John Farrant, published 1973 (No. 6, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/6] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Civil engineering in Sussex around 1800, and the career of Cater Rand, by John H. Farrant, published 1973 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 6, article, pp.2-14) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/6] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:When its history can be adequately written, Sussex will be seen to have undergone great changes in the last quarter of the 18th and the first years of the 19th century. For example, population was growing fast; the coastal towns and villages adopted as watering places were 'booming'; in agriculture, the arable acreage, especially of wheat, rose in response to the enlarged local and national market; and coal, that symbol of the Industrial Revolution, was widely substituted for indigenous fuels. A major contribution to the infrastructure which supported these changes was made by engineering works - indeed of substantial works which existed in Sussex when the first steam railway (from London to Brighton and Shoreham) was started in 1837, the great majority had been effected in the previous 60 years. All the river navigations and canals (bar 16th-century improvements on the Arun) were built between 1785 (the Arun to Newbridge) and 1827 (the Adur to Baybridge), while improvements were made in the drainage of many of the levels (or low lands bordering the rivers). Major works were effected on Shoreham and Rye harbours, while additions and alterations were made to piers built in the 1730s at the other two estuarine harbours of the county, Littlehampton and Newhaven. Brighton Chain Pier, to encourage the cross-Channel packet traffic, was built in 1822-3. Turnpike roads there were in some number by 1780, but the following decades saw a substantial increase in mileage and, after 1800, an improvement in quality. The building and maintenance of bridges by the county justices advanced apace, while bridges near the mouths of the Adur and Ouse were built under local Acts. Public gas works appeared in the second decade of the 19th century. And numerous other schemes never went beyond the drawing boards (or fertile minds) of engineers, amateur and professional.
Engineers were thus a key group in advancing economic development. The stimulus for this article was the frequency with which the name of Cater Rand occurred in connection with engineering projects in East Sussex between 1775 and 1825, but its justification lies more in the absence of published research on local civil engineers in Sussex or elsewhere. So if a minor figure is perhaps accorded over-generous treatment, it is in the attempt to begin building up a general picture and to stimulate further research; and if the sum total of works completed to his plans or under his direction was small, the projects with which he was involved provide a cross-section of the types of engineering work, with the exception of roads, contemplated or executed in Sussex around 1800. By way of introduction, Section 1 briefly discusses the backgrounds of the engineers responsible for that work.
Engineers were thus a key group in advancing economic development. The stimulus for this article was the frequency with which the name of Cater Rand occurred in connection with engineering projects in East Sussex between 1775 and 1825, but its justification lies more in the absence of published research on local civil engineers in Sussex or elsewhere. So if a minor figure is perhaps accorded over-generous treatment, it is in the attempt to begin building up a general picture and to stimulate further research; and if the sum total of works completed to his plans or under his direction was small, the projects with which he was involved provide a cross-section of the types of engineering work, with the exception of roads, contemplated or executed in Sussex around 1800. By way of introduction, Section 1 briefly discusses the backgrounds of the engineers responsible for that work.
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.
Shoreham and Ford: a history of two Sussex airfields, by John A. Bagley, published 1973 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 6, article, pp.25-29) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/6] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:The account which follows makes no claim to completeness, but the author feels that the industrial archaeology of aviation is a sufficiently neglected topic to justify some notes on two airfields which, between them, illustrate many of the significant phases in the development of aerodromes in Great Britain.