James Gray: The scene in Ditchling Road when the line of telegraph poles came down, many resting on the tramway wires. At the left is Semley Road, with the corner butcher’s shop, which incidentally more than 60 years later is still used for that trade. The date is said to be 19 June 1914. jgc_20_152
2019: (Photographer: Mary McKean)
James Gray: Laying the rails in wood blocks in Ditchling Road – April 1901. At the left foreground is Grantham Road and the last house across the road is the present No. 188. jgc_20_132
2018: The wooden blocks laid to raise the surface of the road to the level of the tram lines have gone. In the James Gray photo, the last house on the right (east) of the street is No 188. It has a square bay and side windows. Within four years of the 1901 photo, Nos 174 and 176 had been built. They have distinctive chamfered bays but are now almost indistinguishable from their slightly older neighbours. (Photographer: Andrew Renaut)
James Gray: This house, easily the largest in Ditchling Road in recent times, was built about 1860 at what was then the northern extremity of the town. It had an extensive garden overlooking the railway from Brighton to Lewes. The site has been the subject of controversy between Brighton Corporation who want it for a new school to replace Ditchling Road school, and the previous owners who wished to continue using it for industrial purposes. Photographed from within Florence Road on 4 July 1971, the building has since been demolished. The house may well have given its name to nearby Warleigh Road that was certainly built after it. jgc_20_089
James Gray: The tramway shelter in Upper Hollingdean Road, in 1902. As can be seen there was little development in the valley then, other than the houses in Hollingbury Road, and the area was chiefly agricultural. The shelter is in almost the same position today, 1956, though behind it the house, Hollingside, was built in 1928. jgc_20_112