Timeline of Brighton

The following is a timeline of the history of Brighton, England.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Prehistory

• c. 3650 BC – Activity at Whitehawk Camp starts. ^[1]
• c. 600 BC – Hollingbury Castle is built, although the site was preceded by a c. 1200 BC enclosure. ^[2]

Early history to the 10th century

• c. 100 AD – A Roman villa is built near what is now Preston Park. ^[3]
• c. 270 AD – A fire destroys the Roman villa at Preston Park. ^[3]

The 11th to 17th centuries

• 1086 – The Domesday Book records 87 households in the settlement of Bristelmestune. ^[4]

18th century

A painting of the Royal Pavilion by John Nash from 1826.

• 1703 – 17 November: The Great storm of 1703 causes significant damage to the town, with Daniel Defoe reporting that it looked "as though it had been bombarded. ^[5]
• 1722 – Construction starts on Stanmer House.
• 1730s – Richard Russell begins to prescribe the medicinal use of seawater for his patients.
• 1738 – Preston Manor is rebuilt.
• 1764 – Patcham Place is almost completely rebuilt.
• 1765 – Marlborough House is built and would later be renovated in 1786.
• 1771 – Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, first visits Brighton, establishing it as a popular resort.
• 1780 – The development of Brighton's characteristic Georgian terraces begins.
• 1783 – George, Prince of Wales, (later King George IV) has his first visit to Brighton.
• 1786 – George, Prince of Wales, rents a farmhouse at the Old Steine.
• 1787 – George, Prince of Wales, begins construction of the Royal Pavilion on the site of his farmhouse.
• 1790 – Moulsecoomb Place is built.
• 1793 – The Preston Barracks are completed.
• 1795 – The first six Percy and Wagner Almshouses are built.

19th century

Brighton's Chain Pier, Sussex's earliest pier, was built in 1823. Painting Chain Pier, Brighton by John Constable, 1827

• 1823 – Brighton's first pier, the Chain Pier, is built. ^[6]
• 1828 – 11 June: Sussex County Hospital (now Royal Sussex County Hospital) opens in Brighton. ^[7]
• 1837 – 27 March: Death of Maria Fitzherbert, longtime companion of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom at her home in Steine House, Brighton. ^[8]
• 1839 – 1 March: Sussex County Cricket Club formed, the first county cricket club. ^[9]
• 1840 – 11 May: The first railway line in Sussex, from Brighton to Shoreham opens. ^[10]

20th century

• 1926 – 11 May: Angry confrontations known as Battle of Lewes Road take place in Brighton during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike.
• 1940 – German air raids on Sussex begin, those in Brighton being known as the Brighton Blitz.
• 1945 – 8 May: VE Day marks the end of the war in Europe. ^[11]
• 1961 – August: Charter granted to the University of Sussex, the first university in Brighton and Sussex. ^[12]
• 1965 – 14 June: Bishop David Cashman is made the first bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton. ^[13]
• 1966 – Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was designated; it was revoked in 2010 upon the establishment of the South Downs National Park.
• 1967 – The first Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe are held.
• 1968 – Sussex Police is formed. ^[14]
• 1972 – October: Sussex Gay Liberation Front holds a demonstration in favour of gay rights, a precursor to the annual Brighton Pride event. ^[15]
• 1974 – April: Brighton hosts the 19th Eurovision Song Contest, where Sweden's ABBA wins with their song Waterloo at Brighton Dome. ^[16]
• 1974 – As part of the Local Government Act 1972 the Lord Lieutenancy of Sussex replaced with one each for East and West Sussex which are made ceremonial counties. ^[17]
• 1982 – At a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Brighton, delegates vote for a moratorium on commercial whaling. ^[18]
• 1984 – 12 October: Brighton bombing assassination attempt on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. ^[19]

21st century

• 2000 – Brighton and Hove is granted city status.
• 2011 – 1 April: South Downs National Park becomes fully operational. ^[20]
• 2014 – UNESCO designates land between the Rivers Adur and Ouse to be the Brighton and Lewes Downs Biosphere Reserve, Sussex's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. ^[21]
• 2018
  • The Rampion Wind Farm becomes operational, a wind farm that lies off the Sussex coast between Worthing and Seaford. ^[22]
  • 3 October: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make their first official visit to Brighton as Duke and Duchess of Sussex. ^[23]
• 2020 – 6 February: The first case in Brighton of COVID-19 was reported when a man who returned from Singapore and France to Brighton on 28 January. ^{[24] [25] [26]}
• 2021 – March: DEFRA announces a bylaw first proposed by the Sussex IFCA to prevent trawling on 304 square kilometres (117 sq mi) of sea bed off the coast of Sussex. The law should help the rewilding and regeneration of the Sussex kelp forest. ^{[27] [28] [29]}

References

1. "About Whitehawk Camp". University College London . Retrieved 24 March 2025.
2. "Hollingbury Castle". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
3. "Monument Number 401953". Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
4. "Brighton". Open Domesday. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
5. Defoe, Daniel (1704). The Storm . Penguin. ISBN   0-14-143992-0.
6. Drewry, Charles Stewart (1832). A Memoir on Suspension Bridges, Comprising the History of Their Origin and Progress, and of Their Application to Civil and Military Purposes. Longmans, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman. pp. 69–74.
7. "History of Royal Sussex County Hospital Programme Board Presentation" (PDF). Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
8. Knowles, Rachel (16 October 2011). "Mrs Fitzherbert (1756-1837)". Regency History. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
9. Scott, Les (2011). Bats, Balls & Bails: The Essential Cricket Book. Random House. p. 14. ISBN   978-1-446-42316-5 . Retrieved 1 December 2012.
10. Christopher, John, ed. (2014). Locomotives of London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN   978-1445634517.
11. "1945: Rejoicing at end of war in Europe". BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
12. "About the University". University of Sussex. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
13. "Bishop David John Cashman". Catholic Hierarchy. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
14. "Sussex Police Authority". National Archives. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
15. www.sitebysimon.co.uk, Simon Chilton -. "Brighton Ourstory :: A History of Lesbian & Gay Brighton Chapter 3: Out of the Closet, 1967-87". www.brightonourstory.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
16. "Brighton 1974 – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
17. UK Government. Local Government Act 1972. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
18. McCarthy, Michael (2 January 2006). "20 years on and whales are under threat again" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
19. Tebbit, Norman (12 October 2014). "Brighton bombing: I can't find it in my heart to forgive the creature Magee, says Norman Tebbit". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
20. "'Historic day' for South Downs National Park". BBC. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
21. "Brighton & Lewes Downs". UNESCO. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
22. "Rampion Offshore Wind Farm Hits Full Stride". Offshore Wind.biz. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
23. "Harry and Meghan visit Sussex as duke and duchess". BBC. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
24. Spiteri, Gianfranco; Fielding, James; Diercke, Michaela; Campese, Christine; Enouf, Vincent; Gaymard, Alexandre; Bella, Antonino; Sognamiglio, Paola; Sierra Moros, Maria José; Riutort, Antonio Nicolau; Demina, Yulia V. (5 March 2020). "First cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24 January to 21 February 2020". Eurosurveillance. 25 (9). doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.9.2000178. ISSN   1025-496X. PMC   7068164 . PMID   32156327.
25. Boseley, Sarah; Campbell, Denis; Murphy, Simon (6 February 2020). "First British national to contract coronavirus had been in Singapore". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
26. Mohdin, Kim Willsher Aamna; Madrid, and Sam Jones in (8 February 2020). "Coronavirus: British nine-year-old in hospital in France". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
27. "Trawl fishing banned off Sussex coastline to restore kelp forests". Oceanographic Magazine. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
28. "Kelp". Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
29. "Trawl fishing ban off Sussex coast aims to restore seaweed forests". 22 March 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.