Portslade in the Past: Cattle Arches

17 July 2020

Cattle Arches

Judy Middleton 2002 (revised 2020)

Portslade

The cattle arch under the railway line was built in around 1840 when the railway was laid out from Brighton to Shoreham. It was of course an unwelcome extra expense for the railway financiers but the new railway would cut right across an ancient right of way that started on the coast and went all the way onto the Downs.

For centuries local people had used this route for access to all parts of this large parish as well as to move cattle, sheep and produce to market. This ancient right had to be honoured even to the present day because Tesco’s in Station Road were obliged to make provision for it in their expansion plans. Most of the ancient route can still be followed, although it is lost in Victoria Recreation Ground, and was moved in Locks Hill.

The cattle arch continues to be in regular use, and children love going through it because it also provides a lovely echo. However, in recent years, it has suffered from vandalism, and became dark and gloomy, especially if someone had broken the lights. Then in early 2019 the ambience grew even worse from the severe smoke damage caused by a deliberate fire.

But there was help on hand. Around 30 volunteers scrubbed the surface clean, and whitewashed it. Then artist Rhys Taylor (akka HarpoArt) got to work and created a beautiful and bright mural with the heads of a ram an a cow as a nod to the rural past. The finance for the venture started off with a grant from cleaning producer Cif’s ‘Hello Beautiful Neighbourhood Project,’ and was a collaboration between Taylor and the Friends of Vale Park. Alan Robins, deputy Mayor of Brighton & Hove, officially opened the newly-decorated cattle arch on 27 July 2019, and gave an appropriate speech.

Hove

The Hove cattle arch is a contemporary of the Portslade one, although the Hove one was known as a cattle creep. It seems that the humble Hove edifice was involved in something of a legal tangle, which was tidied up in April 1905. There were three agreements with Hove Council thus:

Agreement One – between Edward Beves, and another man as to the right of way immediately north of Tamworth Road, leading to the cattle creep.

Agreement Two – London, Brighton & South Coast Railway for the use of the cattle creep as a footpath.

Agreement Three – with Baron Sackville as to the use of a strip of land 8-ft in width that led from the north side of the cattle creep to Old Shoreham Road. However, in November 1925 Hove Council received a letter from E. B. Glasier, on behalf of Lord Sackville, giving them a notice of six months to terminate the council’s tenancy.

In 1927 the sewerage system built for new roads Aldrington Avenue, Lullington Avenue, and Milcote Avenue drained into the sewer at Amherst Crescent, which then travelled south through the cattle creep to Tamworth Road.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
An October 1835 notice in the Brighton Herald of a Bill to
be put forward in Parliament to allow the laying of railway tracks
through Hove, Aldrington and Portslade

Sources

Argus (30/7/19)

Brighton & Hove Independent (2/8/19)

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove