Bibliography - Woodingdean, eastern suburb of the City of Brighton and Hove
Bibliography Home

The Bostle, Woodingdean, by G. P. Burstow, published August 1945 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. X no. 7, note, pp.160-161) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8228][Lib 2209] & The Keep [LIB/500212] & S.A.S. library

The Hunns Mere Pit: Story of Woodingdean and Balsdean, by Peter Mercer and Douglas Holland, published 1 November 1993 (273 pp., Book Guild Publishing, ISBN-10: 0863328520 & ISBN-13: 9780863328527) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

The World's Deepest Hand-Dug Well, by R. C. Grant, published June 1994 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 11 no. 2, article, pp.43-46) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14878] & The Keep [LIB/501263] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The story of digging the well at Warrren Farm, Woodingdean

Woodingdean 2000, Reflections and the Millennium, by Peter Mercer, published 2000 (Woodingdean Community Association) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

A Place-Name History of Rottingdean and Ovingdean (including Woodingdean and Saltdean), by Richard Coates, published 2010 (240 pp., English Place-Name Society, ISBN-10: 090488984X & ISBN-13: 9780904889840) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508951]

Richard Coates is one of the country's leading place-name scholars and it is to the benefit of Sussex - and Brighton's far eastern suburbs - that he has produced this multi-faceted volume. It can be read at a variety of levels, whether the interest is in the linguistic history of particular places or the derivation of suburban house-names and while Rottingdean has books a-plenty on its history there is little on Ovingdean, Saltdean and Woodingdean; so this composite territorial collection is indeed welcome. The research is assembled in discrete sections with a general account of the area, its geology and history, leading to a detailed listing of individual names and of geographical areas, which include offshore locations, an oft-forgotten aspect of coastal landscapes. The suburban nature of the contemporary landscape gives scope for sections on street names and detailed gazetteers of individual house-names; as a suburban aficionado this reviewer found the latter category a rich seam to mine!
The book is illustrated with a selection of good quality images and its scholarly approach is attested by the inclusion of 13 pages of bibliography, the only detraction has to be the lack of an index, which in a densely fact packed volume would be a bonus.

The Hunns Mere Way: The Untold Story of Woodingdean, by Peter Mercer, published 7 December 2010 (190 pp., Seaford: S. B. Publications, ISBN-10: 1857703626 & ISBN-13: 9781857703627) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

This is the final chapter of the story of Woodingdean. With nearly 200 photographs, maps and pictures - many of which have never been seen before. This book describes the untold history and the stories of the village. It tells the curious history of the Wick Valley, of Percy Harveys's Downs Estate and why Harold Price and Eustace Gibson joined the parish council to get Rottingdean its name. It also includes the story of the Selbach's, owners of much of the village land and Balsdean, along with their plans and aspirations to build a sanatorium and medical staff accommodation, of their long fight and arbitratration with the Corporation, their despair and final misery. Other chapters describe how Rottingdean became a parish, the pictorial history of the cross roads, Balsdean in pictures and some of the stories of the early settlers. It also tells of a link between the Volks Railway and the orphanage at Warren Farm School and provides the name of every well digger engaged in sinking the well.
This is the third and final book by Peter Mercer on the village of Woodingdean.