Woodingdean

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Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, separated from the main part of the city by downland and the Brighton Racecourse. It grew up after the First World War in the northern part of the parish of Rottingdean and consisted of plots of land on the South Downs which had formerly been used for sheep-farming. These were sold by developers (often but not exclusively to returning soldiers) and most were originally smallholdings, e.g. poultry farms. The area was locally notorious, like nearby Peacehaven, for the shacks that were put up on these plots, whose architectural styles ranged from Wooden Hut to Railway Carriage Body. Life in these plotlands was satirized in a stage play by H.F. Maltby called "What Might Happen" (1927). At a former paupers' school in Warren Road, whose site is now a hospital, is the deepest hand-dug well in the world. The area has gradually been brought into mainstream town life and is now a modestly prosperous suburb with a population of 9547 in 2001. The place takes its name from a former farm at the southern end of the modern suburb, whose main claims to fame are to have been owned by the comedian Max Miller and used as a retreat by the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie.

The development of the present residential area very much mirrors that of neighbouring Ovingdean. From the 1920s building plots were sold off and first generation shacks and houses began to appear. In 1928, Woodingdean and Ovingdean became part of Brighton County Borough, a move which heralded a substantial increase in residential development. The area has a population in excess of 10,000 but despite its size still manages to maintain its village atmosphere. Woodingdean today has dynamic social and religious communities of clubs, associations and organisations which also include sports and leisure facilities.