between the Royal Sussex County Hospital and Arundel Street
James Gray: A view of St Mark’s Church, southern and east facades, at the corner of Church Place. Photograph printed from a waxed paper negative, period about 1860. Note the comparative newness of the Church, built in 1849. Additional Information: Street lamp. jgc_23_035
2019: James Gray’s picture depicts St Mark’s pretty much as it was when it was first consecrated in 1849. The modern picture shows the 19th century additions to the south transept and the east window. The window was built to commemorate the contribution made by the church’s original main benefactor, the 1st Marquess of Bristol. (Photographer: Alice Jackson)
James Gray: Externally this has changed little in its life of more than 100 years. It was built in 1849 more or less at the expense of the Marquis of Bristol, and used primarily as a chapel for St Mary’s Hall School. It soon superseded St George’s as the church for the recently built Kemp Town Estate. jgc_23_038
2018: St Mark’s Church and the adjacent building show remarkably little change in the modern picture, only the size of the trees indicates the passing of over a century. St Mark’s was deconsecrated in 1986 and now serves as The Spire Arts Venue. (Photographer: Alice Jackson)
James Gray: 244 Eastern Road, at the corner of Arundel Place, in 1903, when it was the office of a Builder and Undertaker. Little changed in 1973. Additional Information: Boater. jgc_23_041
2019: This site, on the corner of Eastern Road and Arundel Place, has changed only a little in the 115 years since 1903. Today the render is white and a low stone wall has replaced the front railing. It now houses Jonathan Rolls Property & Estate Management. (Photographer: Alice Jackson)
James Gray: [St Mary’s Hall school] Founded by the Rev. H V Elliott, Vicar of St Mary’s Church, Upper St James’s Street, as a school for the Daughters of the Clergy, it was opened on August 1st 1836. The photograph shows the cloister ‘for recreation in wet weather.’ Additional Information: swings, badminton. jgc_23_051
James Gray: The girls’ cricket team, period unknown. Additional Information: school uniform, boaters, cricket bats. jgc_23_052
2020: Gray’s beautifully quaint picture of the young ladies of St Mary’s Hall taking their leisure under and next to the cloister came from the late Victorian period. St Mary’s Hall is still there (now an NHS property) but the cloister has gone. It is uncertain exactly where it once stood. The remnant of a high wall (seen towards the back of Gray’s picture) suggests it may have been located to the west of the main building. If that is so then where the young ladies once recreated is now a service road, car park and temporary office. (Photographer: David Jackson)
James Gray: Photographs [see also jgc_23_089 on the Arundel Road page] taken in January 1992, of the extensive premises of the old established Wilson’s Laundry. The top photograph looks north along Arundel Road and the other, westwards in Eastern Road. Most of the area was later cleared and is now (1995) being redeveloped. jgc_23_088
James Gray: St Mary’s Hall School, founded as a “School for the Daughters of the Clergy” was opened on August 1st 1836. At some time thereafter, I do not know when, this large plot of vacant land, facing the School, was acquired. It must have been a long time ago, as this is shown as open space in maps of the middle and late 1800s. An oasis in a desert of buildings it must have been especially pleasing to the occupants of the houses seen in these photographs, taken in May and June 1988. Now more than fifty dwellings are to be built here resulting in the loss of “almost the last piece of unbuilt on land in Kemp Town”. Looking east along Eastern Road, to the houses in St Marks Street. [See also the reverse view at jgc_23_054 on the St Mary’s Square page] jgc_23_053
2022: This modern photograph was taken from the same spot on Eastern Road, with the entrance to St Mary’s Square situated on Chichester Place. St Mary’s Hall School merged with Roedean School in 2009. The site immediately behind the photographer is now part of Brighton College Preparatory School. (Photographer: Jayne Paulin)