Here are some links to (mostly) free resources which contain useful information about Brighton.
Dumpman Films
Chris Bedford has spent years filming the old disused railway lines of Sussex and beyond. Here you can buy his fantastic films, many of which include the Kemp Town Railway and the Seashore Electric Railway, the Dyke Railway and more.
Ghost-trains
Loz Russell’s extensive research of the Kemp Town Railway and Brighton Loco Works plus other disused sites around Brighton.
Brighton-Past Facebook Group
Over 40000 local people sharing photos and memories. A great place to ask questions.
Brighton and Hove Stuff
Andy Garth’s collection of old maps and photographs of Brighton, including the Argus Photo Archive. A great resource!
My House My Street
A Heritage Lottery funded project managed by The Regency Town House. You can search scans of Brighton & Hove street directories by the name of a street, and see who lived there in previous decades.
The Keep
The official repository of physical records relating to the history of East Sussex. They have an online catalogue, but also have many resources which have not yet been indexed. They also hold workshops where you can learn more about how to conduct local history research. Well worth a visit!
Royal Pavilion & Museums Brighton & Hove’s Digital Media Bank
Thousands of digitised images of Brighton over the centuries, searchable by keyword or browsable by category.
The James Gray Collection
Over 8000 photographs from the collection of the wonderful James Gray. Curated by The Regency Society into areas of Brighton, Hove and beyond.
The Regency Society
Many beautiful prints and engravings of Brighton and Hove from the Regency and Victorian eras. Made available by The Society of Brighton Print Collectors.
http://www.brightonhistory.org.uk
Contains a gazeteer of streets, various old maps, a list of old newspapers, all kind of statistics about health and poverty, articles about local governance and architects who helped make Brighton how it looks today, and much more. If you have access to the census and want to browse by street rather than look up a person, they also have helpful schedules of Brighton enumeration districts here.
