Brighton Walking Tour

This walk takes about an hour and a half.
It is a circular route that takes you from the West Pier along the seafront towards the Palace Pier, through the Lanes, around the Pavilion Gardens, along the North Laine area and up to St Nicholas Church. It then takes you through Clifton conservation area and back down to the West Pier near the i360.
Although I have started at the West Pier, it is possible to start at any point on the route; just check the time on the podcast for each point of interest.
The content is suitable for any age group and focuses on history, architecture, murders, ghost stories, famous residents and nature.
If you enjoyed the walk or have any comments about how it could be improved, please add a review or you can make a donation using the link.
Thank you.

Transcript

Hi, if you’ve just started listening, I’m Kitty Fisher and this is a  free audio tour of Brighton.

There are no ads but I have included a link for donations at the end.

This podcast gives you the stories behind unusual buildings, unsolved murders and iconic institutions loved by the locals.

The novelist, Keith Waterhouse, once described Brighton as “a town that always looks as if it’s helping the police with their enquiries”.

Personally, I feel that “a town that’s perverting the course of justice” would be a more apt description.

Scandals and unsolved crimes seem to be lurking round every corner. So if this gives you some material for a best-selling novel, please remember to leave a donation at the end.

I’m going to start the tour at the West Pier but you can start at any of the points listed in the programme notes.

The West Pier

The West Pier is now just a rusting skeleton of what remains of a grade 1 listed Victorian pier.

Designed by Eugenius Birch, it was originally a wooden platform that enabled visitors to promenade and enjoy the healthy sea air. By the Edwardian era, about the time of the Titanic disaster, the pier had a domed concert hall and covered pavilions. It remained open to the public until 1975 when it was closed due to safety concerns.

It remained closed for the next 28 years, during which time campaigners raised money to reopen the pier and a number of plans for restoration fell through.

Then in March 2003 part of the pier was destroyed in an arson attack and in May of the same year another fire occurred.

A letter to the Evening Argus claiming responsibility for the fire was mysteriously signed by ‘Piers Burns’ but the police were unable to trace the sender.

Shortly before the second fire broke out there were reports of a man climbing on the pier but again, this man has never been found.

Since the pier closed, it has taken on a new role...as a rather glamorous backdrop for one of the most incredible natural spectacles...starling murmerations.

In the autumn and winter months, huge clouds of these birds can be seen swarming close to the West Pier. Up to 40,000 birds swirl around, changing direction and forming increasingly larger groups.

Because starlings are partial migrants, birds from colder climates will join British birds during the winter months. It is thought that murmerations are a survival mechanism that deter predators, making individual birds harder to attack.

Continue walking in the direction of the Palace Pier, stopping just below the Grand Hotel. This is next to the red brick Metropole Hilton and just above the Pump Rooms Cafe which is in an archway below the road.

The Pump rooms

The Pump Rooms originally housed a pump that brought sea water to the luxury hotels along the sea front. In the 1800s the Metropole Hotel had hot, cold and sea water taps in every room while the grand hotel incorporated a sea water bathing pool to the left hand side of the building.

The Grand Hotel

But the Grand Hotel is probably better known for the 1984 bombing by the IRA during the Conservative Party conference.

The bombing of the Grand Hotel has been described as “The most audacious attack on a British government since the gunpowder plot.”

On October 12th 1984, at 3 in the morning, a bomb exploded in the hotel. The Prime Minister of the time, Margaret Thatcher, survived the attack but 5 people were killed and a further 31 were injured.

Although little remained of the area where the bomb had been planted, it was discovered that a long delay time bomb had been the cause of the explosion.

Using hotel guest records, suspicion eventually fell on a man by the name of Roy Walsh who had stayed in room 629. The police were unable to find Mr Walsh who was in fact Provisional I.R.A. member, Patrick Magee.

When the staff were questioned about Mr Magee they remembered that he wore a heavy coat despite it being one of the hottest days of the year and a chamber maid noticed marks on the side of the bath, suggesting that a panel had been removed to conceal the bomb.

Patrick Magee was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was released as part of the Good Friday agreement after serving fourteen years of his sentence.

Continue walking in the direction of the palace pier until you get to the modern building that looks like it has a Toblerone around the top, this is the Odeon Cinema at the bottom of West Street- the location of a bizarre poisoning.

West Street 

West Street is the western boundary of the original town of Brighton which is now called ‘The Lanes’ and one of the haunts of the ‘Chocolate Cream Killer’.

In the 1870s Christiana Edmunds moved to Brighton with her elderly mother. She fell in love with her neighbour, Dr Charles Beard and the two of them exchanged passionate letters and may have had an affair. Unfortunately for Christiana, Dr Beard was married.

Undeterred,  Christiana visited Mrs Beard with a gift of Chocolates...but these were no ordinary chocolates...they were laced with strychnine.

Mrs Beard tasted the chocolates and became suspicious and told her husband. Dr Beard then ended the relationship. But Christiana was determined to prove her innocence. She did this by framing the sweet shop owner. She bought more sweets from the shop, added poison and exchanged them for others, the owner of the shop then sold the chocolates to other customers. She then asked local boys to buy chocolates for her and gifted them to wealthy residents. She even claimed that she herself had been a victim of the poisoner.

The shop owner was questioned by the police, the stock was destroyed, but the poisonings continued. One victim, a four year old boy, died as a result of eating chocolates and many others became ill.

Eventually a reward was offered for information leading to an arrest and at this point, Dr Beard came forward with his suspicions about Christiana.

At her trial, Christiana faced the death penalty but was sentenced to life in Broadmoor Secure Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Now we’re going to continue walking in the direction of the Palace Pier until we get to the Fishing Museum and while we’re walking I’m going to talk about Brighton’s development in the Regency period.

Dr Russell and Martha Gunn

So, Brighton would have been a small fishing community until the 1740s when a Dr Russell, from Lewes published a dissertation on the benefits of bathing in and drinking of seawater. By 1747 he had relocated to Brighton where he had a house built on the seafront and treated his patients there. The popularity of the seawater cure brought wealthy visitors, and even after Russell’s death the heir to the throne, the Prince Regent, built his Royal Pavilion here, ensuring Brighton’s popularity as a spa town.

The trend for sea bathing created employment opportunities for local people and a number of men and women were employed as bathers and dippers. 

Their job was to guide the horse drawn bathing machines into the sea so that their clients could immerse themselves in the water.

The bathing machines were heavy wooden sheds that allowed bathers to change their clothes and be carried into the sea without walking down the pebbly beach.

Martha Gunn was the most well known and popular of these dippers and her career spanned about 60 years. Her house and her grave are a little further round on this tour.

When you get to the Fishing Museum, walk up the slope and cross the road to the Old Ship Hotel.

The Old Ship Hotel 

We are now standing in front of the Old Ship Hotel. Although the front of the hotel doesn’t look very old, this is the oldest hotel in Brighton and was built in 1559.

In 1670 the hotel was bought by Nicholas Tattersal who owned the ship that took Charles 2nd to France to escape Cromwell’s army. He had been told that he was taking two men to France to escape a duel but recognised Charles immediately as even without a long black wig he was 6ft 4 with an unusually dark complexion.

When Charles returned from France and the monarchy was restored, Nicholas Tattersall rose to the position of high Constable of Brighton but it seems he was an unpleasant character who spent much of his time persecuting Quakers and other non-conformists.

Turn left in front of the Old Ship Hotel and walk up Ship Street.

Ship Street

Ship Street developed at the start of the 17th century and was known as the street of the hemp shares. At that time hemp was an important crop for the navy and fishing industry because it was used to make rope and caulk ships. Without it there would have been no food, no defence from invaders and no British Empire. Although hemp is also used to make cannabis, nobody in Brighton seemed to have considered smoking it at that time.

At the bottom of Ship Street, The Hotel Du Vin was once a wine merchants and booking office for cross channel journeys. The building is more modern but built in a mock Tudor and gothic style.

On the opposite side of the road to the Hotel Du Vin, number 69 is made from dark grey squares of knapped flint.

Flint is the stone that makes the pebbles on the beach. Many Regency houses in Brighton are fronted with whole pebbles that are painted black. Knapped, comes from the old Norse word to hit or hammer. This means that the pebbles would be broken to create a flat surface. A lot of the churches in Brighton are made from knapped flints but it is unusual to see square flints, which would have required a great deal of skill to break so perfectly.

The work of knapping was very dangerous. Without eye protection you could easily damage your eyes but the worse disease was ‘knapper’s rot’ This was silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling flint dust. It is described as the first industrial disease and many knappers died before the age of 50.

A little way down Ship Street a narrow alleyway cuts across the road. The old word for these narrow lanes is ‘twitten’. To the right, Black Lion Lane is said to have been where Charles the 2nd was carried piggy back by a fisherman as he escaped Cromwell’s army. 

In the 1800s a rather over-weight man by the name of Mr Bullock challenged the younger, fitter Lord Barrymore to a race on the grounds that he chose the location and was given a ten yard start. It was agreed, and Mr Bullock chose Black Lion Lane. Unable to pass him, Lord Barrymore lost the race, while Mr Bullock simply strolled to the finish line.

The Friends’ Meeting House

Continue up Ship Street and cross Prince Albert Street. You are now standing outside the Friends’ Meeting House. This is owned by the Quakers and if the gate is open the garden has a sign welcoming visitors. The garden is actually a burial ground and 54 adults and 34 children are buried here in unmarked graves.

Continue up Ship Street a little way until you are at the entrance of Union Street. Opposite is the Seven Stars Pub. This is a late Victorian building in a very ornate gothic style.

Union Street

Go down Union Street where there are many well preserved eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings.

At the end of the road on the left is what was once a Presbyterian chapel. Erected in 1698, it is the first non-conformist chapel in Brighton. Although it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1825, the side of the building that faces meeting house lane is much earlier.

Turn right at the T junction at the end of Union Street and follow the road round to the left and then turn right towards the sea. This is taking us round the back of the Quaker Meeting House. Look out for a bricked up archway in the wall on the right.

This is said to be the place where the ghost of a nun is seen. The apparition is dressed in grey and is thought to be a woman who had an affair with a soldier. It is said that she was bricked up here as a punishment.

Now we are going to continue along this alley to the point where the road widens out and intersects Prince Albert Street because there are two interesting pubs here.

The Black Lion Inn and The Cricketers

Just opposite you can see the Cricketers and the Black Lion. The Cricketers is the oldest public house in continual use in the town. It dates from around 1545 and there is a room dedicated to Graham Greene, the author of Brighton Rock. 

Next door to the Cricketers is The Black Lion. This was originally a brewery established by Deryk Carver, a Flemish immigrant escaping religious persecution. The Black lion comes from the Flemish coat of arms. 

In 1553, Mary Tudor, or ‘Bloody Mary’ as she was known by her opponents, attempted to reverse the Protestant Reformation .  As a Protestant, Carver was arrested in 1554 and after being imprisoned and interrogated in Newgate Prison London, was burned in a barrel in Lewes. During Mary’s five year reign, around 300 people were burned for their religious beliefs.

Today, the town of Lewes still commemorates the Protestant martyrs by burning an effigy of the Pope on November 5th each year.

The Pump House

Turn left down Nile Street and left at the bottom of the road where you will be in a triangular sloping area. At the top of the triangle is the pump house. Like the pump rooms on the seafront, this building  housed a pump that brought seawater to hostelries in the area.

There is a stone fireplace in the bar that still has the initials of Miss Elliot who owned the building in 1766.

Near here, there was a public well in an area called the knab. According to the Old Police Cells website, on 25th  of May 1794 the head of an ‘unknown prostitute’ was found in the public well by workmen. It doesn’t give any more information about this incident but it is believed that the prostitute was known to the Prince Regent whose Pavilion was built in 1787.

From the pump house, walk down the slope through the narrow alley to the side of the Sussex Pub. The alleyway opens out into a square to the side of East Street.

English’s Seafood Restaurant

On the right hand side of the square is English’s Seafood Restaurant. This restaurant is one of the oldest and most well known  in the country. Owned by the Leigh Jones family since 1945, guests have included Charlie Chaplin, Jeremy Irons, Joan Collins, Lawrence Olivier and Tony Blair.

Martha Gunn’s House, East Street

Next to the Sussex Pub in the north west corner of the square is the house of Martha Gunn,  the sea dipper. She had eight children and died in 1815. Her grave is in St Nicholas church yard which we will visit near the end of the walk.

We are now in East Street, this marks the eastern boundary of the old town. Beyond East street is the Old Steine, from the old English ‘stoene’ meaning ‘stony place’. A large number of sarsen stones were once found in the area. Sarsen means sarasen in the Wiltshire dialect. It meant Muslim and denoted anything non-Christian or pagan.

The Old Steine was the place where some of the first wealthy residents had houses built. Dr Russell lived there and Mrs Fitzherbert, the Prince Regent’s mistress, had a house in the Steine.

From East Street, walk north towards the Indian gate leading into the Pavilion Gardens. 

The Indian Gate by the Royal Pavilion

The Indian Gate was a gift from India to mark British hospitality to Indian soldiers during the First World War. During the war, the Pavilion was used as a hospital for Indian service men. The blue plaque to the right of the Indian Gate commemorates Subedar Mir Dast who was awarded the Victoria Cross for rescuing eight soldiers whilst under enemy fire.

Go through the Indian gate and follow the path through the gardens in the direction of the Dome. During the Second World War, a Nazi propaganda broadcaster claimed that the Pavilion would not be bombed, as Hitler planned to use it as his summer residence.

Brighton Art Gallery and the Dome were originally the Prince Regent’s riding stables and he built an underground tunnel to take him to the stables without being seen by the public.

The path comes out in New Road. The original road was relocated further East to this position away from the royal palace.

The Theatre Royal, New Road

The Theatre Royal, just opposite the Pavilion in New Road is one of the oldest and most distinguished theatres in the country. Lawrence Olivier, Marlene Dietreich, Sir John Gielgud and Dame Judy Dench have all played at this theatre.

 The Colonnade Bar, which is to the right of the theatre was a place where actors, critics and theatre lovers often met. 

If you are facing the theatre, turn right, heading North, away from the direction of the sea.

The Unitarian Church, New Road

On your left, just before the end of the road, is the Unitarian Church designed in Greek Revival style and modelled on the temple of Theseus in Athens by Amon Henry Wilds, who designed many of the buildings we will see towards the end of the walk. 

At the end of the road turn left up the road into Church Street.

the black pebbled fronted building on the left was originally  opened as the Regent Hotel in the early 1800s.

Dockerills, Church Street

Next door is Dockerills. Established in 1915 it is still owned and run by the same family. 

Gardner Street

Take the second turning on the right, which is Gardner Street in the heart of the North Laine area. This street was developed in the early 1820s. Between 1800 and 1840, Brighton's population grew from 7,000 to over 40,000. By the 1850s there were up to 17 people living in some of these houses. There would have been no sewers, no running water and no refrigeration. With butchers shops, grocers, pubs and other businesses spilling out onto the street, this would have been a very vibrant and smelly place to live.

On the horizon you can just see Theobold House, a 22 story tower block built in 1967. This was the start of a slum clearance project that aimed to replace Victorian terraced  houses. Opposition to the demolition by planning officer Ken Fines and a number of other residents ensured that this area was preserved and the name ‘North Laine’ was adopted from traditional Sussex dialect meaning ‘an open tract of land’ which marked out this area as one of several ‘laines’ surrounding the old town.

Infinity Foods

On the right corner at the end of Gardener Street is Infinity Foods. this business started as a macrobiotic restaurant at Sussex University. As their popularity grew, they decided to open a wholefood shop but lacked the funds. However, their luck changed when their washer-uper, Andy the Anarchist’s aunt died, leaving him all her money. As he didn’t believe in owning property, he happily gave it to his friends to buy this shop.

Kensington Gardens

At the end of the road, cross at the crossing and walk along Kensington Gardens. In the middle of Kensington Gardens is Snoopers Paradise, two floors of vintage clothing, antique and second hand records and books.  

At the end of the road is a chip shop. if you were to turn right and left you would be in Sydney Street, where scenes from the Peter James novel adaptation ‘Grace’ was  filmed.

Upper Gardener Street

We are going to turn left here and go up the road to Upper Gardener Street and follow the road back in the direction we came. The numbers on the floor indicate where the stalls are set up on Saturdays. This street has had a market since the 1890s and Victorian barrow boys would sell their wares here. 

Just a couple of streets up from here and a little nearer to the station is Kemp Street. This is the infamous location of one of Brighton's most well known murders.

In 1934, a local builder noticed a smell coming from a property in Kemp Street. When police investigated, they found the body of 41 year old Violet Kaye hidden in a trunk.

In the trial of her boyfriend, Tony Mancini, who was described as a violent, unpredictable petty criminal, it was discovered that he had taken the body with him from another residence and had placed the trunk at the end of the bed where he had used it as a coffee table.  Despite complaints about the smell, and body fluids oozing from the trunk, it remained in the room until it was discovered by the police.

What added to the notoriety of the case is that Tony Mancini was not convicted of the murder. 

Violet Kaye worked as a prostitute and was a drug addict. In court, her boyfriend claimed he had found Violet Kaye dead and hidden the body but had not gone to the police because he had a criminal record and would be assumed guilty.

In 1976, just before his death, he confessed to the murder.

At the end of Upper Gardener Street, turn left and then right and walk back along Gardener Street.

The Komedia, Gardener Street

On top of the Komedia Theatre and cinema you can see a pair of stripy legs on the canopy over the entrance. The legs were made by Jamie McCartney. Jamie is more famous for a work called ‘The Great Wall of Vagina’. Created in 2008, it is a cast of 400 women’s vaginas.

In an interview, he stated that he was inspired to create the piece to counter ‘body fascism’ or the rise in procedures dictating how women should look.

Opposite the Komedia is Vegetarian Shoes. This building was originally a charity school for girls. In a school inspector’s report, it stated that, when the windows were opened, "the ears and eyes of the children and female visitors are constantly offended with evil language."

At the end of the road turn right and walk up the steep hill until you get to Queens Road, which runs from Brighton Station down to the sea.

This is a fairly unattractive street of multistory car parks and empty buildings.  In the 1850s a report by a Dr Kembell stated that, “In no other town in the kingdom do the extremes of cleanliness and squalor exist more than in brighton.

Between 1840 and 1850 outbreaks of whooping cough, scarlett fever, small pox and consumption killed hundred of people in the poorer areas of the town.

A review of living conditions at the time revealed sewage seeping through the walls of houses, cesspools unemptied for five or six years and slaughterhouses discharging directly into the streets.

When cholera broke out in 1848 the authorities refused to acknowledge it for fear of tarnishing the town’s reputation.

Queens Road junction with Church Street, near  Brighton Station

At Queens road, cross over and continue up Church Street to St Nicholas Church.

At the church of St Nicholas on the left, we are going to circle the church and come out at the top of the road.

A church existed on this site possibly earlier than 1086. The Doomsday book records the presence of a church in Brighthelmstone (the old name for the town). The current church is mid 14th century and is one of the oldest buildings in Brighton. It survived a raid by French pirates who burned the medieval town in 1533.

If you follow the path around the church, the first grave protected by iron railings is of Martha Gunn, the dipper, and her husband and four of her children.

Slightly further down the hill is another interesting monument that is protected by railings. This is the grave of Phoebe Hessel. Phoebe was born in London in 1713. At the age of 15, disguised as a man, she joined the army as a foot soldier and fought in Europe and the Caribbean.

Whilst fighting in Belgium she was wounded in the arm and discharged from the army. 

She went on to marry twice and have 9 children. In her later years she sold gingerbread in the Steine Gardens and was invited to George the Fourth’s coronation in Westminster Abbey. She died aged 108.

Another notable grave is that of John Weiss. He was a surgical instrument maker and was so anxious about the possibility of being buried alive that he designed his own coffin. It had a spike that would penetrate his heart when the lid was shut.

Just down the hill from the church is Wykeham Terrace. These houses were built around 1830 and are attributed to Amon Henry Wilds. Their gothic style is quite unusual for Brighton. 

In the  1850s it is estimated that there were 325 prostitutes in Brighton and this included 25 children. Several of these houses were bought by Reverent Henry Wagner who converted them into a home for former prostitutes. The women were offered healthcare, education and training and were supervised by nuns.

The houses are now private residences once again and a three bedroom house here currently sells for over a million pounds. 

 Follow the path around the church and continue up the hill to the gate that leads back into Church Street. 

The last grave on the left has an inscription dedicated  to Elizabeth from her sister, Triphena Pendarves. Triphena Pardarves died at the age of 94 and is said to be buried in the Pendarve Mausoleum in Cornwall. However, local legends claim that her ghost wanders the estate because she was not buried on the family estate due to certain ‘misdemeanours’.

When you leave the graveyard, cross Church Street and then cross the main road and walk up. Take the first turning left which is Clifton Terrace.

Clifton Terrace at the junction with Dyke Road

Clifton Terrace is one of the most exclusive residential areas in central Brighton.  It was built in 1846 by the  owners or  Baring Bank and the East India Company. Clean air west of the station and on higher ground away from the old fishing village  made properties in this area more desirable.

The houses here are now part of the Cliftonville Conservation area. This mean that residents are required to repaint their houses every two years and the colours and types of paint are strictly regulated. The price of a five bedroom house in this road is currently around 1.5 million pounds.

Looking towards the sea from here you can see the tower blocks of Sussex Heights. Sussex Heights is a 24 story block of luxury apartments built between 1966 and 1968. It consists of 115 flats with a large penthouse taking up the whole of the top floor.

For several years, Peregrine Falcons have nested on the top of this building and residents have a webcam monitoring the nests. A two bedroom flat on the twentieth floor recently sold for around £500,000.

At the end of the road turn right  into Powis Court and then immediate left and left again so you are walking down Victoria street.

Victoria Street

At the top of Victoria Street on the opposite side of the road is a plaque dedicated to Minne Turner, suffragette. Minnie ran a boarding house here called Sea View. Minnie was brought up just down the hill in Preston Street where her family owned a shop. Whilst running Sea View,  she became interested in politics and her guest house became a haven for suffragettes and speakers campaigning for the rights of women. 

In 1906, the new liberal government had promised women the vote so women like Minnie had campaigned tirelessly for the Liberal Party and felt let down when they broke their promise.

In 1911, during a protest in London, she broke a window at the Home Office and was sentenced to three weeks in prison. When Minnie’s own windows were broken by rowdy youths, Minnie and her fellow suffragettes put up signs in the broken windows declaring, “Masculine Logic – Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

Turner was awarded the ‘hunger strike medal’ for valour. She died in 1948, aged 82.

Out to sea you can see the Rampion Wind Farm which generates enough green energy to supply 350,000 homes. It is the first offshore wind farm on the South coast of England.

When you reach the church at the bottom of the hill turn right and then left down the side of Billie’s Cafe . At the end of this road near the bottom on the right is the back entrance of Waitrose car park. These houses were originally owned by the Codrington family and Admiral Sir Edward Codrington was commemorated for his career in the navy by a plaque in Western Road. The plaque described him as ‘Hero of the Battle of Navarino’  but was removed in 2020 as a result of the family’s links to slavery.

Codrington’s status as a hero or villain is a controversial one. To some, he is considered a hero in the Greek War of Independence where he commanded a fleet that destroyed Ottoman invaders.

Despite this, he inherited slave plantations in Barbados and received compensation for his loss of income from the Slave Compensation Act of 1837. Even by the standards of the day, The Codrington estate was described as exceptionally brutal.

So the status of Edward Codrington is still a subject of debate.

When you reach Western Road, turn right, cross over and then walk 

down Sillwood Road. 

Sillwood Road junction with Westrn Road

About half way down the road at number 11 is another blue plaque marking the house where the artist, John Constable stayed. At that time this street was on the western boundary of the town and the area facing Constable’s house would have been the garden of Mrs Ann Sober. Mrs Sober was the sister of the builder, Thomas Kemp, who built Kemp town and she lived in the gothic style Western Lodge at the top of the hill, now 96 Western Road.

Looking down Sillwood Street towards the sea, you can see the 17 story tower block that was built on the site of the old  Bedford Hotel. The hotel was one of the first luxury hotels built along the sea front and was visited by Charles Dickens who wrote Dombey and Son there.  In the 1960s the owners of the hotel were in dispute with conservationists over plans to demolish it when a fire broke out destroying the original building. Two people died in the fire and

 although the cause was never discovered, some believe that it was started intentionally.

Turn right at the bottom of Sillwood Road and then continue along to Oriental Place.

Oriental Place

 At the top of Oriental place is a private gateway into Sillwood Mansions. This area was designed by Amon Wilds and until the 1960s there were Regency buildings on both sides.  

A steam heated glass house that looked like a miniature version of the Royal pavilion was originally planned on the site but was never built.

Now walk down Oriental Place towards the sea. This is the last part of the tour and along this road you can see that there are unusual ammonite capitals at the top of the columns.  These are a motif adopted by the architect Amon Wilds possibly as a pun on his name.

At the end of the road you will see the i360 and the remains of the West Pier which is the point where we started the tour and where the tour ends.

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