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Two hundred years ago, the Kingscliffe area bustled with boarding houses and lodgings just as it does today. In 1800 one in three Brighton houses offered accommodation and the streets were packed with single rooms or whole buildings to rent for weeks or months at a time, with or without meals. In 1815 Richard Sticklemore enthused:" No town is better furnished than Brighton for boarding houses. They have all the advantages of an Inn, without the bustle, and all the comforts of a private house without the inconvenience of domestic concerns. For £2 12s 6d a week an individual may live in a sumptuous manner."

Once settled new arrivals headed straight for a library, such as Baker's on the Steine at the bottom of St.James's Street or Tuppen's on Marine Parade. There, they signed the visitors' book announcing they were in town and looked to see who else had arrived. Soon after, they received a visit from Brighton's Master of Ceremonies - who presided over the town's balls, concerts and a range of other social activities.

A typical day revolved around promenading and taking part in events on the open space of the Steine, or visiting the libraries which were like clubs where one could buy or borrow the latest novels or gossip and gamble at cards. But the pastime which first put Brighton on the map was bathing. Usually done before breakfast, it was seen as necessary for good health rather than an amusement. Visitors undressed in a sentry box-style bathing machine which was pulled by a horse or wheeled into the water. They would descend to be immersed by an attendant - male ones were called "bathers" and female "dippers". Many people bathed naked but some women wore long flannel dresses - not surprisingly, as folk on shore often watched through telescopes!

Novelist Fanny Burney wrote of a 6am dip with friends in 1782: "By the pale blink of the moon we went to the seaside where we had bespoke the bathing woman to be ready, and into the ocean we plunged. It was cold but pleasant. I have bathed so often as to loose my dread of the operation, which now gives me nothing but animation and vigour."

POET'S CORNER

St.Mary's Church was a favourite church of poet laureate Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984). It was originally built in a classical style in 1826 by Amon Henry Wilds, the architect son of the well-known builder. It was said to be a copy of the Temple of Nemesis, goddess of vengeance, in Athens. But in 1876 it collapsed and was rebuilt by Sir William Emerson in a French Gothic style. It has a splendid interior with a vaulted ceiling and seating for up to 1,000. A painting of the original church hangs in the vestry (ask and you may be shown)

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