BPC00261
(this is a very small original image – see note on image sizes)
Steel engraving from Six Views of Rottingdean and its Neighbourhood published by H Tuppen, stationer, Rottingdean, c1840. Engraved by Newman & Co, London.
The other titles in the set are ‘Rottingdean looking East’, ‘Rottingdean from Beacon Hill’, ‘Rottingdean from the Newhaven Road’, ‘Rottingdean Church’, and ‘Kemp Town, Brighton’. The set, in wrappers, is in the collection of the Rottingdean Preservation Society. Tuppen also ran the Royal Marine Library in Brighton, from where he published a range of lithographs and aquatints during the 1830s.
This view is from Cattle Hill, looking north-east towards the small 11th century flint church of St. Wulfran, one of the oldest buildings in the neighbourhood of Brighton. The print shows Ovingdean Grange with the roadway, today called Greenways, in front of it. Behind the Grange is Ovingdean Hall, built for Nathaniel Kemp (Thomas Read Kemp’s uncle) in the late 18th century. Nathaniel Kemp’s eldest son, Charles Eamer, is buried in St. Wulfran’s churchyard and examples of his stained glass work are in the church. In the left distance the trackway that became Ovingdean Road can be seen winding its way along the side of the hill, later named Mount Pleasant. To the left of The Grange are the five small homes called Peartree Cottages, built c1800 and recorded as being in place in 1839. They were demolished in 1934/5 for road widening.
This is the only known 19th century engraving that shows Ovingdean Hall, which so far appears to be a house unrecorded in print form. In the V & A archives there is a handwritten quote from William Tuppen, dated 14 Feb 1792, ‘To build a house at Ovendean for Nathaniel Kemp as per plan and elevation etc. . . the work will come to abt: £2,653. 10s 0d and there abouts as nigh as I can tell’. This can be viewed on the ‘My Brighton and Hove’ website. It is reasonable to assume that Tuppen also built the Grange, of which this is also the only known engraved image.
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