April 2011 (issue 123) - The Sussex Archaeological Society

Books
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
Books
A place-name history
of Rottingdean and
Ovingdean
RICHARD Coates is one of the
country’s leading place-name
scholars and it is to the benefit of
Sussex - and Brighton’s far eastern
suburbs – that he has produced this
multi-faceted volume. It can be read
at a variety of levels, whether the
interest is in the linguistic history of
particular places or the derivation of
suburban house-names and while
Rottingdean has books a-plenty on
its history there is little on Ovingdean,
Saltdean and Woodingdean; so
this composite territorial collection
is indeed welcome. The research
is assembled in discrete sections
with a general account of the area,
its geology and history, leading
to a detailed listing of individual
names and of geographical areas,
which include offshore locations,
an oft-forgotten aspect of coastal
landscapes. The suburban nature
of the contemporary landscape
gives scope for sections on street
names and detailed gazetteers
of individual house-names; as a
suburban aficionado this reviewer
found the latter category a rich
seam to mine!
The book is illustrated with a
selection of good quality images
and its scholarly approach is
attested by the inclusion of 13
pages of bibliography, the only
detraction has to be the lack of
an index, which in a densely factpacked
volume would be a bonus.
Geoffrey Mead
By Richard Coates, 2010.
English Place-Name Society,
Regional Series Vol. 2.
Nottingham University.
Paperback, 240 pp.
ISBN 13: 978-0-904889-84-0.
£18.00.
West Sussex
Constabulary: 110
years of history, April
1857-December 1967
IF any book could be said to
represent a labour of love, then this
is one. It is the product of many
years of research (and indeed
frustration) on the part of the
author who joined the West Sussex
Constabulary as a Cadet Clerk in
September 1950 and remained with
that force for his whole working
life. It is an affectionate history but
thankfully does not fall into the
trap of unquestioning sycophancy
as some individual force histories
have been wont to do. It draws
heavily on original documents and
photographs now stored at West
Sussex Record Office and articles
published in the force magazine
“Patrol” to give the reader a good
impression of this police force from
an insider’s perspective.
For the historian of policing the
book, at over 350 A4 sized pages,
brings to a wider readership a great
deal of previously unpublished
empirical evidence, much of it
from primary sources. For the
more specialist student of police
uniforms and insignia the vast
number of illustrations (many
never published before) provide an
authoritative reference source, and
for former members of the West
Sussex Constabulary (probably a
significant target audience for the
author) the book will bring back
many memories.
It is not an easy read. Some of
the text seems to assume a certain
level of insider knowledge on the
part of the reader, and whilst it
takes a broadly chronological path
from 1857 to 1967 some of the
flashbacks (drawn from articles in
“Patrol”) can catch out the unwary.
Sadly there is also no index and the
lack of a contents page belies the
loose layout of chapters. It can also
be difficult at times to determine
where captions for illustrations
end and the main text begins, and
in one or two places the author’s
comments can be mistaken for
content from other sources.
Since it primarily represents a
history of West Sussex Constabulary
(and not of policing in West Sussex)
Chichester City Police receive some
mention, but their counterparts in
the one-time separate police forces
of Arundel and Worthing get much
less. The plethora of other policing
organisations that existed in West
Sussex before 1857 are, as a result,
almost invisible.
But every historical text has its
limitations, and it is important to
see this book in context: it actually
does what it set out to do. It does
not claim to be an encyclopaedic
study of the policing history of
West Sussex, but compared with
many other individual police force
histories it gets pretty close. It does
not claim to be an academic work,
but even if it isn’t intended to be,
the text is nonetheless insightful.
But having said this, and compared
with the history published by the
West Sussex Constabulary to
mark its centenary in 1957, it is a
vast improvement as an accurate
historical source. The information is
there, albeit that it might take you a
while to find it.
So is it worth reading or indeed
buying? The answer on both counts
must be an unequivocal yes. At
£13.50 (for the current, second,
print run) and £5 postage it is
quite exceptional value for money.
Unless and until someone gets
round to a decent postgraduate
thesis on the subject this book is
likely to be seminal, and rightly so.
The author can be contacted
at 10 Duxford Close, Tangmere,
Chichester, PO20 2JH or via e-mail
on malmar.barrett@btinternet.
com
Dr Derek Oakensen
Old Police Cells Museum Society
By Malcolm Barrett, 2010.
M & M Barrett, Tangmere.
The Discovery of
SUSSEX
WHAT more could Peter Brandon
possibly have to say about Sussex?
In a seemingly constant stream of
publications, beginning for most of
us with his The Sussex Landscape
in 1974, he has been at the forefront
of British academic regional writers,
inviting us to think of the interplay
between landscape history, artistic
creativity and conservation.
There is, however, one important
difference from his earlier
publications. The latter offered
long-term narratives relating
to particular places: the South
Downs, the Weald, or the historic
county of Sussex. But this latest
volume is thematic. It examines the
social, cultural and environmental
changes within Sussex from the
end of the 18 th century through to
1939 – covering roughly 150 years
of ‘discovery’. Much is linked to
the influx of Londoners to Sussex
and their impact on a county which
otherwise seemed more resistant
to metropolitan influence than
other counties equidistant from
the capital. There were many who
encouraged and initiated change,
but also many who abhorred
modernity in its many guises.
Rapid urbanisation precipitated its
own counter-culture, and Sussex
saw a remarkable flowering of
painting, writing, arts and crafts
design, vernacular architecture
and landscape design, all charted
carefully through this volume.
Chapter 19 on Eric Gill and the
artistic communities of Ditchling
is a particularly delightful and
knowledgeable example of these
trends. We also hear of the radical
poet Charlotte Smith, ensconced
in the district around Bignor Park in
the late 18 th century, writing of class
warfare and moral degradation,
and criticising the ‘polluted, smoky
atmosphere and dark and stuffy
streets’ of London and yearning
for her South Downs. And other
personalities loom large in the book:
Belloc and Kipling make repeated
appearances, and if Brandon
characterises Belloc’s The Four
Men (1912) as “the most passionate
book on Sussex” (p.217), one could
summon up a decent argument for
making The Discovery of Sussex a
close second!
In any such examination of the
discovery of a county there is one
potential pitfall. Whose accounts
are we following? Who had the
articulacy to commit their thoughts
on paper, for good or ill? Is the
account therefore, one seen from
above, from outside, from the
vantage point of the literati? The
view of the discoverer, not the
discovered? It can be argued that
such a stance is inevitable, and
we are certainly reminded of the
existence of the Sussex natives
but they are too often seen from
outside, rather than revealing the
complexities of the society, culture
and economy that was to be
discovered by incomers. How can
we acquiesce, as Brandon seems
to do, with Lady Asquith, who saw
the only signs of the First World
War in Brighton as being poor,
legless men? Did she go anywhere
near the Royal Pavilion, being used
as a hospital for Indian troops? It is
also surely going too far to suggest,
as he does, that between 1918
and 1939 “the most characteristic
feature of country villages was the
young man in the old cottages
bursting forth with a motor cycle,
collection of books, and strong
and well-informed opinions as to
the state of society…” (p.191). This
is one example of a persuasive
argument, almost a polemic, to
promote what he refers to as ‘the
Sussex tradition’ of a leading
region for the manufacturing of the
rural idyll. While acknowledging
the huge burgeoning of creative
talent which headed for Sussex,
this reviewer feels uncomfortable
in the knowledge that similar
arguments might be made for the
West Country, for the Lake District,
or even for other Home Counties.
But it is perhaps the intimate
connection between London’s
push from just 50 miles away and
Sussex’s landscape pull for the
creative artists that made such a
difference.
This book is well written, an
erudite, lively and utterly readable
account, even joyous on occasion,
helped by 41 plates and 157 blackand-white
illustrations. There are
some minor bibliographic issues,
but overall the excellent partnership
with Phillimore has produced
another Brandon classic.
Brian Short
Emeritus Professor of Historical
Geography
University of Sussex
By Peter Brandon, 2010. Phillimore.
ISBN 978-1-86077-616-8. £25.00.
14 Sussex Past & Present April 2011
www.sussexpast.co.uk www.romansinsussex.co.uk Sussex Past & Present April 2011 15