The site of this battery is marked by the Old Battery House, opposite the Rising Sun, to which is attached the following legend of
OLD STRIKE-A-LIGHT:—
“A tremendous gale had ceased, but still the mountainous swellings of the sea burst violently on the shore, when the boat of Swan Jervoise came into the Brighton roadstead, having weathered the storm. The night was pitchy dark; scarcely could the outline of the horizon be perceived, and not a light illumed the blank. The surprise of Jervoise and his crew was therefore great when they beheld a stream of meteor-like splendour burst from every window of the ‘Rising Sun’ Inn, and as suddenly all was again involved in utter darkness. This terrific appearance was repeated many times. Swan Jervoise was one of those men who never conjecture, but proceeded at once to ascertain a cause. He therefore, with two of his men, went ashore; but proceeded alone to the ‘Rising Sun,’ expecting to find the people up. After knocking and bawling loud enough to rouse all the dead in the Bartholomew’s Chapel, without wakening the landlord, he was about to force the door, when the light again burst from the windows, and he distinctly heard a ticking as of a person striking a light with a flint and steel, each stroke producing this supernatural blaze of light. In a moment afterwards the door was opened, and a being seven feet high, wrapped in a large black cloak, with a high conical white hat, issued forth. He noticed not the poor drenched fisherman, but he strode on until he disappeared in the darkness. Jervois’s hair stood, stiff on his head; his limbs trembled with fear; and he shrieked aloud with terror. The landlord heard his cry, and came down with his torch. Seeing his neighbour in such a plight, he bade him come in, roused up a fire, made him take a seat in the capacious chimney, and—having comforted him with good words—placed a rushlight on the table, and then retired to procure a jug of ale. Jervoise, scarcely recovered from his fright, was thus again left alone. As he sat musing by the crackling fire, the dim rush throwing a fitful light around the room, he chanced to turn his head; when, from over the back of the settle, he beheld the deathlike features—pallid as a sear cloth—of the tall man in the conical hat. His countenance was most ghastly, and he fixed his grey-glazed eyes full on Jervoise, and pointed to the hearth. This was more than he could bear,—he uttered one loud scream, and fell senseless to the ground. He was thus found by the landlord, who conveyed him to bed; and the next day Jervoise related the particulars to Father Anselm, of St. Bartholomew, and then expired. But the blessed Virgin and Saint Nicholas oft-times bring good out of evil; for on examining the hearth to which ‘Old Strike-a-Light’ (as the apparition has since been called) pointed, a vast treasure was found, which is still safely deposited with the principal of this order in Normandy; nor has the ‘Rising Sun’ since been haunted by the unholy spirit of ‘Old Strike-a-Light.’ The faithful may therefore know there is no truth in the story that ‘Old Strike-a-Light’ has lately been seen seated astride a barrel of beer in the cellar chinking a piece of money on a pewter dish. The family vault of Jervoise, the oldest in the churchyard of Brighthelmston, Anno Domini MCXVII, may still be seen on the south side of the church—near Tattersall’s.”
Towards the latter end of the year 1793, two new batteries were commenced for the defence of the town; one on the West Cliff, which mounted eight 36-pounders, and the other on the East Cliff, which mounted four of the same weight. The guns of these batteries were of French casting, ship guns, taken from the French fleet captured by Lord Howe, in his memorable victory of the 1st of June, 1794. The latter of these batteries was at the bottom of the Marine Parade, opposite the south-end of German Place; but after being in position about ten years,—as the explosions of the guns and the encroachments of the sea had made the walls dangerous,—it was removed. The west battery was opposite Artillery Place. The Sea Fencibles, volunteers, during the war with France used to practice at this battery. They were accustomed, also, to exercise with boarding-pikes, in Belle-vue field, now Regency Square. Colonel Moore’s volunteers went through their initiation drill, with faggot-sticks, on the ground behind the battery house, Artillery Place. Colonel Moore resided on the Old Steine, in the mansion which was afterwards occupied by Lady Ann Murray, and then by Mr Harrington, (Squire Harrington, as he was usually spoken of,) now the residence of Captain Thellusson. This noble structure was erected by the Right Honourable W. G. Hamilton, Esq., formerly M.P. for Haslemere. According to a manuscript diary in possession of the compiler of this history: “On the 17th of August, 1805, soon after 12 o’clock, a shot was discharged from this battery by the Sea Fencibles, at a cask moored purposely in the offing, and it fell very close to the object: a second shot was also fired, of 42 pounds weight, merely to ascertain to what a distance the gun would throw it. From the time of the explosion until it struck the water, there was a lapse of 27 seconds; the ball consequently, ere it was received by the liquid clement, must have traversed to a distance of three miles. The weight of the cartridge used was 14 pounds.” Also, June 13th, 1807: “The Volunteers this morning, for the first time this year, were practised at the Fort, in discharging the forty-two-pounders at a cask, moored, and floating on the water, at about three quarters of a league distant from the shore. Twelve rounds were fired; and though some of the balls immediately struck the object, they generally dropped so close to it, that a moderate sized fishing-boat would scarcely have escaped being injured by either of them. Many elegant spectators were on the Cliff during the exercise.” The west battery was removed in 1859. A flagstaff within a railed space, marks its last site; as, twice after its original construction, it was removed with the sanction of Government, to admit of widening the King’s Road at that spot, to accommodate the increased traffic. The battery house and the other buildings in connexion with the Battery, were disposed of by auction by Mr. P. R. Wilkinson, on Monday, September 9th, 1861, and by the 28th of that month the space was entirely cleared for the erection of an hotel, Government having disposed of the ground to the Brighton Hotel Company. The remnant of the battery platform, marked by the flagstaff, belongs to the town, the Corporation having purchased it of Government to prevent any other purchaser placing buildings upon it. Brighton thus, wholly depends upon such means of defence as the emergency of the occasion may require to be brought into operation, by means of the railway, the facility of transit offering the full assurance that every materiel would be at hand for the ready service of our Volunteers, should an enemy have the temerity to invade our shores and put to the proof every Englishman’s motto, “Pro aris et focis.”
Chapter XII.
THE INCURSIONS OF THE SEA UPON THE TOWN.
Brighton has not had merely to defend itself against the aggressions of foreign invaders, but the encroachment of the sea at various times has checked its prosperity. Between 1260 and 1340, upwards of 40 acres of land had become submerged, [73a] and the sea made continual inroads upon the lower town. Previous to 1665 twenty-two copyhold tenements under the Cliff, belonging to the manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes, alone were swept away. Amongst them were twelve shops, with four stake places and four capstan-places attached to them, and three cottages and three parcels of land adjoining them. [73b] There still remained under the Cliff, 113 tenements (shops, capstan and stake places, and cottages) which were destroyed by the memorable storms of 1703 and 1705.
The storm of 1703 commenced about midnight on the 27th of November, and continued for eight hours with unabated fury. Many houses were demolished; and others were unroofed: the church leads were torn off; and the two mills belonging to the town, were prostrated by the storm. The town presented the ruinous appearance of a place severely bombarded. Nor was that the only disaster looked for by the dismayed inhabitants, from so dreadful a conflict of the elements. The bulk of their property, and their dearest relatives, were at the same time exposed to its utmost fury on the ocean, and the most dismal apprehensions for their fate were in many of them but too fully realised. Deryck Paine, master of the ketch, “Elizabeth,” was lost with all his crew. George Taylor, master of the ketch, “Happy Entrance,” was lost with all his crew, except Walter Street, who supported himself on a mast for three days, between the Downs and North Yarmouth, and was taken up at last. Richard Webb, master of the ketch, “Richard and Rose,” was lost with all his crew, near St. Helen’s. Edward Freind, master of the ketch, “Thomas and Frances,” was stranded near Portsmouth. Edward Glover, master of the pink, “Richard and Benjamin,” was stranded near Chichester. One man was lost; the master and the rest of the crew saved themselves in the shrouds. George Beach, master of the pink, “Mary,” was driven from the Downs to Hamburgh, with the loss of anchors, cables, and sails. Richard Kitchener, master of the “Chomley” pink, was lost, with nine of her crew; five men and a boy were saved by another vessel. Many able seamen, belonging to the town, were also lost in the Queen’s (Anne’s) ships of war, transports and tenders.
The 11th of August, 1705, was marked by another dreadful storm, which began at one in the morning, attained its greatest fury at three, and raged until eight. It completed the destruction of all the lower buildings which had escaped the fury of all former inundations. Every habitation under the Cliff was utterly demolished, and its very site concealed from the owner’s knowledge beneath a mound of beach. The roof of the parish church again also suffered much, the lead being completely stripped away. A record of this event is preserved in the tower of the church, beneath the bell storey; on the wall of which is nailed a tablet of sheet-lead, measuring 4ft. 6in. by 2ft. 6in., that was taken from the roof of the sacred edifice on the restoration of the church in 1853. It is inscribed in raised east characters, thus:—
RICHARD MASTERS.
RICHARD TVPPEN.
JOHN MASTERS.
CHVRCHWARDENS.
1 7 0 5.
Above the names is a cherub at each corner of the tablet; and between the 7 and 0 are represented two nude children amidst scroll-work, which is surmounted with an angel in the act of sounding a trumpet.
Dr. Mantell remarks that at Brighton the inroads of the sea have been very extensive. The whole of the ancient town was situated on the spot which is now covered by the sands, and the present cliffs were then behind the town, like those of Dover; and Mr. Lyell, in his “Principles of Geology,” says:—“The sea has merely resumed its position at the base of the cliffs, the site of the old town having been a beach which had for ages been abandoned by the ocean.” In the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliæ et Walliæ, auctoritate P. Nicholas (A.D. 1292), and Nonarum inquisitiones in coria scaccarii (A.D. 1340), mention is made that the losses of land sustained by the action of the sea, between the years 1260 and 1340, a period of only eighty years, were in Brighthelmston, 40 acres; in Houve, 150 acres; Aldrington, 40 acres; and in Portslade, 60 acres.