BPC00219
Steel engraving, published by Newman & Co. c1860. No artists named.
In J.G. Bishop’s Peep into the Past: Brighton in the Olden Time, he explains ‘The Flag-staff on the present Esplanade, opposite the Grand Hotel, shows the site of the old Battery’. This was the West Battery, with eight 36-pound guns, which was erected in 1793 opposite Artillery Place, a crescent of houses where the Grand Hotel now stands. This is the origin of the crescent shape in the seafront road in front of the hotel. The battery was removed in 1858, and this print was probably produced to illustrate the new layout of the seafront. The battery now gives rise to the place names of Cannon Place and Artillery Street.
In the Brighton Gazette of 15 March 1855 is an article expressing concern over our ability to defend Brighton from the French, or others, citing the present inadequate battery, described as ‘en barbette, mounting six 42 pounders taken from the French by Lord Howe’.
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