Whitehawk

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For other uses, see Whitehawk (disambiguation).

Whitehawk is a suburb of Brighton, England.

The modern housing estate of Whitehawk is built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally developed by the local authority between 1933-7 and included nearly 1,200 houses. The Swanborough flats were built in 1967.^[1]

During the 1970s and 1980s Whitehawk was largely rebuilt by altering the road layouts and increasing the number of houses.

Whitehawk is overlooked by the White Hawk, a chalk carving in the hill at Sheepcote Valley. The White Hawk was carved in 2001 by local artists Same Sky with support from the Friends of Sheepcote Valley and Whitehawk residents.

Whitehawk is part of the East Brighton ward of [Brighton and Hove City Council], represented by three Labour councillors Gill Mitchell, Warren Morgan and Craig Turton.

1 History of Whitehawk
2 Places of worship
3 Education
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History of Whitehawk

[edit] Pre-1920

Whitehawk Camp is one of the earliest signs of human habitation in the Brighton area. It is the remains of a neolithic causewayed camp inhabited sometime around 2700 BC and is a scheduled ancient monument. It is one of only twelve remaining examples of a causewayed hill camp from the Windmill Hill culture in Britain and one of three known to have existed in the South Downs. It reaches 396 feet above sea level and measures 950 feet by 700 feet. It is made up of four concentric ditches broken up by causeways. The first written mention of the camp (as "White Hawke Hill") was in 1587. It was excavated 3 times between 1929 and 1935.

Horse racing started on Whitehawk Down in the late 18th century. Brighton Race Course is still on the site. ^[2]

By 1870, the neighbouring Sheepcote Valley was being used as a rifle range to train voluteer soldiers. By 1916 it had begun to be used as a refuse tip. A site at Sheepcote close to the edge of the Whitehawk housing is still used as a Council waste centre for domestic users.

[edit] 1920 to World War II

By the beginning of the 1920s, the Whitehawk area consisted mainly of pig farms, smallholdings and allotments. This would all change between 1920 and 1931 when Brighton Corporation, in common with local government authorities all over the country, began a program of slum clearances. Whitehawk was one of the areas used for new homes to house the residents. The homes were designed to have "all modern conveniences" including electricity, gas and running water. They also had gardens. This was a huge contrast to the small, back to back terraces in the town centre, which they replaced. Some people found it very difficult to adjust. This was partly because many of those moved earned their living as rag and bone men, conducting their business by horse and cart. This was hard to do from so far out of town.

Between 1933 and 1937 the council estate was developed with a large building scheme. By 1937 there were nearly 1,200 houses in Whitehawk.

East Brighton Park, at the Eastern extremity of Whitehawk, was home to the first Municipal Camping Ground, opened by the mayor of Brighton, Herbert Hone, in May 1938. It utilised buildings already at the site, formerly belonging to the Newhouse Farm. These buildings are thought to date from the late 18th Century.

The first Whitehawk Library opened in 1934 in front of the Primary School. In 1935 an open air swimming pool was built on the seafront at Black Rock, a short distance from Whitehawk (via the eastern extremities of Brighton's Kemp Town seafront development).

[edit] 1950s and 1960s

Post-war Brighton suffered a housing shortage and so further building work was carried out in the Whitehawk area. New low- and high-rise flats were built to the west of Whitehawk (known as the Bristol Estate) and private housing was also started, most notably a large self-build scheme in Wilson Avenue at the far east of the estate.

The high rise Swanborough Flats were built by Brighton Corporation in North Whitehawk in 1967.

By 1969 the library site was needed by the school for classrooms and so a temporary library was opened in Rugby House, Rugby Place.

[edit] 1970s to 1990s

The Community Centre, along with a new library, including a toy library for children was opened by Princess Alexandra in November 1973 in Whitehawk Road. At the time it was the largest in Brighton.

From 1975, the Council started a remodelling exercise in Whitehawk. Initially, houses were left empty as they became vacant, and were boarded up. Huge areas of drab housing were demolished. Many of the long roads in Whitehawk were removed and replaced with smaller cul-de-sacs. This allowed larger numbers of houses to fit into the same space and by the end of the scheme the number of houses in Whitehawk had increased to over 1,400. The last part of the scheme, Lintott Avenue (South) was completed in 1988.

In 1979, the Black Rock Swimming Pool was demolished in conjunction with the development of Brighton Marina. Construction of the marina had already started in 1971. ^[3]

The Brighton and Hove Bus Company maintains a depot in Whitehawk.

[edit] Places of worship

St. Cuthman's (Church of England) Church was built in the 1930s and completely destroyed by bombing in World War II. It was rebuilt after the war, being completed in 1952. It is sometimes called "the Children's Church" because local children famously saved their pennies to help fund the rebuilding. The church hall was sold to the local Community Association in 1982 and is now known as the Valley Social Centre. The church also runs a drop-in centre. ^[4]

St. David's Mission Hall (also Church of England) was used prior to the building of St Cuthman's. It is now used as a community centre.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Louis, King of France opened in 1964 and was demolished in 1982 after being declared unsafe. A block of flats now stands on the site. ^[5]

[edit] Education

[edit] Primary

Whitehawk Primary School caters for children aged between 3 and 11 years old. It was formed by the amalgamation of the old separate Infant and Junior Schools.

St. John the Baptist Catholic School caters for children aged between 4 and 11 years old.

[edit] Secondary

Stanley Deason Secondary School was opened in 1976. The name was changed to Marina High in September 1997 and East Brighton College of Media Arts (often abbreviated to COMART) in September 1999. It closed in August 2005. It catered for children aged between 11 and 16 years old. When the school closed the pupils were enrolled in the various other schools in Brighton and Hove.^[6]^[7] The buildings are now leased to City College Brighton & Hove.

[edit] Post 16 / adult

Whitehawk Inn is a community learning centre in South Whitehawk, occupying a former pub. It was founded in 2001. It provides various long and short term, full and part time courses in a wide range of subjects as well as providing advice on gaining employment. City College runs courses in construction skills and in media studies in the former COMART buildings.