Meerkat Trail – Interesting Facts

Hove Station

The present Hove station was opened on 1 October 1865. It was originally named Cliftonville, then West Brighton, before being renamed Hove and West Brighton in 1894 and finally Hove in 1895.

Conway Street, Bus Depot

In 1884 Major horse bus operators William Taylor Beard, William Mayner and Henry Thomas amalgamate to form Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company based at Conway Street.

The West part of the Conway Street Garage of (then) Southdown company was the site of a major fire on 14th April 1978. The inferno seems to have begun in one vehicle and destroyed or partly destroyed a number of buses, including some which had originated with the Brighton Hhove and District Omnibus Company.

Honeycroft Café and Nursery

The nearby St Barnabas Church was built between 1882 and 1883, and was built when it was recognised that there was a need for a new church in the area whose population had increased by 10,000 during the most intensive period of development (1865 to 1880). At a meeting on 14 March 1881 at Hove town hall, a piece of land was offered, and this was purchased for £1,500; a subsequent meeting helped to start the fundraising effort, which by June 1881 had generated £2,500 towards the eventual £6,500 cost of construction.

Stoneham Park

In August 1906, the Duke of Portland gave a piece of land as an open space for the people of Hove for recreation. The land was originally a gravel pit but the Duke kept pigs there. Hence, 'Stone' for the gravel pit and 'Ham' representing the pigs.

West Hove Infants, School Road

The Portland Road Schools were originally Board Schools set up under the Hove School Board. The school was built on the north side of Portland Road, approximately 250 yards west of the Aldrington National School (built in 1888) and immediately before the turning for Grange Road. Plans had been drawn up in 1896 and the school opened on 29 August 1898 for junior mixed and infants. In 1903, following the 1902 Education Act, the school came under the control of the Education Committee of the Borough of Hove. In 1906 the junior school was reorganised to form separate schools for boys and girls and it was not until September 1951 that the departments were again combined. By 1946 the schools were known as the West Hove Junior and Infants' Schools. From 1955 the school was known as Portland Road Junior Mixed and Infants' School, and from 1957 as Portland Road Primary School. The schools are now (June 1993) known as West Hove Junior and Infants' Schools.

Hove Town Hall

Hove Town Hall was built in 1882, and was damaged by fire in 1966. The current town hall building, built by John Wells-Thorpe in the Brutalist architecture style, was constructed in 1971.

Hove Library

The borough of Hove established a public library in 1890 in a house on Grand Avenue which was adapted for the purpose. By 1892 it stocked nearly 5,000 books and a range of newspapers in its "newsroom". The library moved to another house in nearby Third Avenue in 1900. Three years later, Andrew Carnegie's endowment of £10,000 allowed the borough to provide a permanent library in purpose-built premises. Architects Percy Robinson and W. Alban Jones won the commission in competition

West Hove Infants, Connaught Road

The architect of the building, Thomas Simpson was born in 1825. He started his professional career in Brighton, articled to James Charnock Simpson, his uncle, who designed the first purpose built National School in Hove. He worked in Chichester and London before moving back to Brighton.

Hove Museum

Opened in 1927 by the Hove Corporation, the museum is located in a late 19th- century villa originally known as Brooker Hall. Brooker Hall was constructed in 1877 by the architect Thomas Lainson for Major John Vallance. The building is in the Italianate style made popular by Osborne House, Queen Victoria's residence on the Isle of Wight. It stands in grounds now laid out as a public park.

King Alfred Leisure Centre

The purpose-built leisure facility Hove Marina was ready to be opened to the public when war was declared on 3 September 1939. It was almost immediately commandeered by the Royal Navy for the training of RNVR officers and was commissioned as HMS King Alfred. After the war, and with permission from the Admiralty, it officially adopted the name by which it was now universally known.