Photograph Collections:
The Great Storm of 1987
During the night of October the 15th and 16th 1987 Brighton and the rest of the South East of England was hit by a massive storm. It was the worst storm to hit Brighton since 1703.
Most people, if asked, can remember what they were doing and where they were on that night. Even today 24 years later there is still much evidence of the Great Storm of 1987 particularly in the woods around Sussex.
My memories & photos of the Great Storm
I was baby sitting for my nephew Christopher in Portslade when it started. I remember coming home in a taxi back into Brighton as the hurricane was beginning to make itself known. I was awake most of that night, listening to the storm and hearing glass breaking here and there.
We lost all electricity that night, not such a nightmare then as it would be today. We had battery operated radios (yes, it’s true!) so we could still keep in touch with what was happening.
Anyhow the next morning I stupidly got up for work as usual and walked into East Street. A lot of the following photos are from my journey to work that morning and some from the days that followed. Really I should have gone off sick like most did and gone out and took even more photos!
Elm Grove
On the morning of Friday the 16th of October 1987, (the morning after the storm,) I walked to work as usual. It was shocking to see so many trees in Elm Grove blown over on to the houses. The most noticeable thing though, was that I could see much further into the distant town than ever before.
The Level
Turning into the Level was the worst scene of devastation I witnessed. It seemed that most of the trees of the Level were down, across the roads. The old walls of Union Road and Hanover Crescent (which were approx. 150 years old at the time) were very badly damaged, as my photos show. The saddest thing for me though, was the vast amount of dead birds everywhere.
St Peter’s Church, Victoria Gardens & the Old Steine
The valley of Brighton consisting of the Level and Victoria Gardens, down to the Old Steine seem to have been hit the hardest by the storm. I’d love to know if there is a record of how many trees we lost in the valley that night.
New Road
This scene of the telephone boxes in New Road, photographed by many people, appeared in several newspaper articles about the storm.
St. Nicholas Church
This was very badly damaged. Many of the gravestones were lost at this time.
Queens Park
The Saturday after the storm I went out with my parents, around town, to take more photos of the devastation caused by the storm. The climbing tree at Queen’s park lost one of its huge branches. Trees had blown over onto the flats of Carn Court.
