St James Avenue, Kemptown, Brighton

These lovely covers are from my old stomping ground of the St James Street area of Kemptown. The area has changed a lot for the better (no doubt connected to my departure) but St James Avenue remains one is its most attractive residential streets.

The Clark and Hunt design is one of my favourites and the other one with a surround is a rare original.

Kemptown glories

I've been told that Kemptown has many good coal holes, and so it should - being stuffed with fine Regency and Victorian homes needing copious amounts of coal. I had half an hour to kill the other evening and did a quick circuit of the streets to the south of the County Hospital.

I encountered a fine mix of people - skinny dodgy-looking yoofs with big scary dogs, large shaven-headed middle-aged men with small yappy dogs, ladies of leisure drinking red wine on their doorsteps and smooth couples in matching dressing gowns on their Regency balconies.

I also encountered a fine mix of coal hole covers, including some larger-than-normal ones and some from manufacturers not encountered further west.  Feast your eyes on this lot.

First up, in Sudeley Terrace - a trio of Haywards covers in nice iron surrounds.

Moving on down to the seafront, on Chichester Terrace we find these great ones - some supersize like this Haywards with 19 glazed hexagonal panels.

And this nice chevron flower design.

And this very pleasing 'bullseye' Woodrow design.

this beautiful Clare, Hunt design from Shoreditch...

this unnamed design with slots in, and

a larger version of a fairly common design.

Round the corner, in Chichester Place there is this Haywards self-locking patent design 'D' model.

Go west - Worthing

Head west out of Brighton and Hove and, after clearing Shoreham and Lancing, you'll reach Worthing. It's a less racy place than B+H, but still boasts a fine pier, seafront and interesting hinterland of mainly Victorian streets. I'm lucky enough to work there and often enjoy a lunchtime constitutional stroll along the diddly om pom pom. My perambulations in search of coalhole covers have been slightly disappointing until this week.

Battling my way against a stiff westerly, I thought I'd investigate the pavement in front of Heene Terrace, a fine Regency (or maybe Victorian) terrace of 4 storey flats to the west of the pier. It is set back from the main promenade and the pavement is therefore less likely to have been resurfaced. Sure enough, there were a series of iron coalhole covers, all in very good condition. The one at the top is a large Haywards cover, but the other two pictured here are from Palmer and Company of Brighton, a foundry I've not encountered before. There were some other covers, but my phone ran out of juice. Watch this space.

The Worthing Civic Society do a fine job of protecting the town's heritage, but I can't find any reference to the coalhole covers on their website.

East Street, Brighton

Strolling along East Street one recent evening, I was staggered to notice this fine Clarke, Hunt and Company cover. Why staggered? Because
1 I've passed this way thousands of times and never noticed it,
2 it's the first time I've seen a cover by this manufacturer in Brighton, and
3 its striking design including spirals, sunbursts and circles.

Happy New Year.

Around the Pavilion

These are near my old doctor's surgery opposite the Pavilion, outside Pavilion Buildings and on the stretch of Old Steine down to the junction with St James Street. This was one of the first I 'rubbed' back in the day. Its from a Brighton Foundry C&J Reed with a nice sunburst design. The second is from an unnamed foundry with some nice solar motifs.

The Haywards 'self locking' cover is the first I've seen of this design.

Down the A23 - Beaconsfield Road and Beaconsfield Parade, Brighton

Wandering down the A23 towards the seafront I remembered I'd seen some nice coalhole covers on Beaconsfield Parade and Beaconsfield Road (the one way bits).

On the northbound section just north of the viaduct is an unbranded 'Improved Patent Safety Plate' with a lovely sunburst motif. What's the point of patenting it if the name of the foundry isn't shown?

The second is on the southbound section outside a florists - a lovely Ashton Green floral design.