North Laine in 1826

The North Laine in 1826

from the collection of Terry Etherton, North Laine resident

As shown by J Pigot-Smith's map

By Peter Crowhurst, North Laine resident

By 1826 the street pattern, now familiar to us in North Laine, was well established. This street pattern was based on the way land had been organised, owned and sold. North Laine was one of five large fields that surrounded the town of Brighton and these fields were divided into furlongs and then sub-divided into paul pieces. To access the paul pieces, there were tracks which later became the main roads through the North Laine, going west to east whilst the paul pieces ran from north to south.

By this time the first furlong which ran from Church Street to North Road had been developed, as the town needed land for stabling, small workshops and market gardens. With the town being the fastest growing town in England between 1811 and 1820, new housing was needed for those moving to Brighton in search of work. So far we can see housing already built in much of the first furlong as well as in Kensington Gardens, Kensington Place and Frederick Gardens.

As land for more housing was needed, developers had to purchase several paul pieces together for it needed about four to have land wide enough for a street and houses. Gradually the market gardens were forced ever further out of town as North Laine was further developed.