Andy Garth: Laines and Common Fields

During the World Cup and the hot Summer this year I have sat in my shop and wondered: what am I doing here as everyone else is double busy and the shop had tumbleweed rolling around the front door!

Yes, ‘quiet’ is an understatement and things have been tough but this week one of those moments that I hoped would happen in my Brighton and Hove Stuff world came about.

Someone came in with a bag of B & H stuff and asked for it to be assessed for our next auction in September. And there it was; a beautiful hand-written book dating from approximately the 1820s, used by land owners and solicitors in the town, with all the land in the town specifically drawn and set out in parcels with the actual owner’s name written next to it, and the first column showing the owners from 1738 and the second column being the owner from 1792.

From an Anorak’s point of view it’s a huge pot of information

From an Anorak’s point of view it’s a huge pot of information that can be used for all sorts of historical use, but even to the least historically interested party it’s a work of art that must have taken hours of work to get right.

The name on the front is ‘Mr Charles Chalk’, who I have discovered was a partner of Freeman & Black Solicitors of 58 Ship Street Brighton in the 1840s, and was well renowned in his field as his name appears in some national law journals of the time.

So the tumbleweed disappeared for a moment to let me know that it can be worth the wait and that there is so much stuff out there still undiscovered. So please search those lofts, cupboards and drawers as you never know what you might have lurking.

The next Auction is 25 September, with entries now being taken up until the last week of August.

Contact me at Brightonandhovestuff@gmail.com