Moulsecoomb

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Moulsecoomb is a suburb of Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove. Its name is largely unaltered from the Old English for Muls Valley (Mul was a Saxon nobleman). Moulsecoomb Place is the oldest non-secular building in Brighton.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

Until the 1920s, the area was open downland with the valley bottom sheltering a string of nurseries (Bates) and market gardens (Woolards). The land was acquired by the borough in a "land grab" in 1922. Land in the south of Falmer parish was transferred, and the estate of Moulescoomb was developed from 1924.

The scheme was in the form of a garden city with winding roads, large grass verges, and big gardens. It was intended to fulfil the then current exhortation to provide "homes fit for heroes". In South Moulsecoomb, the earliest buildings were effectively an adjunct to the existing housing opposite Preston barracks, but the later extensions of North and then East Moulsecoomb took the estate out into relatively remote countryside.

The development was an attempt by the borough to rehouse families from some of the appalling slums which existed in inner-city Brighton. As a social experiment, it was only partially successful. The families which were moved there worked four miles away in Brighton; buses were infrequent and expensive, and few families had the wherewithal to fully furnish their new and large homes.

[edit] Today

Apart from post-war building on the Bates Nursery and on a small private estate near Woolards Field, the estate is a classic of local authority development. Moulsecoomb has experienced problems akin to those in other resort fringes: high unemployment, seasonal labour, run-down facilities and some drug and driving related crimes. Many of these difficulties are being addressed with regeneration budgets aimed at alleviating some of the long standing problems, on what is termed a "peripheral estate".

Moulsecoomb is the home to a major campus of the University of Brighton, with the large 10-storey Cockcroft building dominating most views in the area. As well as teaching facilities, the majority of the university's administration departments are located here, and some student halls of residence. Moulsecoomb Place is currently used by the accommodation and counselling services of the university.

Moulsecoomb has a railway station, located on the East Coastway Line. Direct destinations include central Brighton and another major campus of Brighton University at Falmer. In the immediate vicinity of the railway station are a number of allotment gardens.

Moulsecoomb is the location of Home Farm Business Park, where the United Kingdom subsidiary of United States arms manufacturer EDO Corporation are based. This factory has been the site of regular anti-war demonstrations since 2004.