Administrative Boundary
Hove and Brighton were originally two fishing villages some two miles apart. Hove village was centred on Hove Street, close to the sea. The old parish boundary between Hove and Brighton ran down Boundary Passage, down the middle of Little Western Street, crosses what is now Golden Lane and on to the sea front between Brunswick Terrace and Embassy Court. We have marked it in red on the satellite view below.
Hove, in 1800 a parish of about 100 souls, included the Wick Farm Estate, which adjoined the boundary with Brighton and Brunswick Town was built on this land. This old map of 1826 shows the development as originally planned, in 1826 building had only just started.
The parish boundary can be clearly seen on the map, just to the east of Brunswick Town. This is part of a larger map, and the legend on the boundary reads "Parochial Boundary". When the boroughs of Brighton and Hove were amalgamated the boundary ceased to have any administrative significance.
Electoral Boundaries
The Ward boundary is an electoral boundary set by the Local Government Commission for England. When Brighton and Hove were separate local authorities the old parish boundary defined the local ward boundaries. Once Brighton and Hove became a unitary authority in 1997 the ward boundary between Brighton Regency and Brunswick and Adelaide was redrawn to run down the middle of Norfolk Street, down the west side of Norfolk Square, and down the middle of Western Street. We have marked this boundary on the satellite view below.
Confusingly, the Parliamentary Constituency boundary between Hove and Brighton Pavilion is still along the line of the old parish boundary except that Golden Lane, which straddles it, is all in Brighton Pavilion constituency. There is a proposal to move the constituency boundary to coincide with the local Ward boundary.
Postcodes
Postcodes are set by Royal Mail and Central Brighton is BN1, our part of Hove is BN3. The boundary between these is roughly the old parish boundary except that both sides of Little Western Street are BN1 and so is all of Golden Lane. It would be nonsense to have two different postcode areas in one street.
Conservation Areas
The boundary between the Brunswick Town and Regency Square Conservation Areas is drawn along the old parish boundary.
The west side of Little Western Street is thus in Brunswick Town CA while the east side is in Regency Square.
Golden Lane is also divided between the two.
Red is the old Brighton/Hove, constituency and Conservation Area boundaries.
Green is the local Ward boundary.
Image: Google Earth
Some Useful Links:
Brighton & Hove Conservation Areas Sreet Directory
UK Election Maps. Enter "hove" or "brighton pavilion",
navigate and zoom in to street level to find our locality.
Select the "layers" tab and choose which boundaries to show from
the checklist.