In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Brighton like this:
Brighton, fashionable watering-place, parl. and mun. bor., and par., on the coast of E. Sussex, 50 miles S. of London by rail -- par., 1625 ac. land and 91 foreshore, pop. 99,091; parl. bor., 3715 ac., pop. 128,440; mun. bor., 2514 ac., pop. 107,546; 4 Banks, 12 newspapers. Market-day, Thursday. The town extends about 3 miles along the shore, which is faced by a massive sea-wall with a drive and promenade along its whole length. It has two fine promenade piers each over 1000 ft. in length. ...
The Pavilion, a unique pile of domes and minarets, in the Oriental style of architecture, built (1784-1823) by George IV. for a royal residence -- its original cost was upwards of £1,000,000; it was purchased by the town in 1849 for £53,000 -- contains an assembly-room for 3000 persons, museum, picture gallery, and free library, and is surrounded by extensive pleasure-grounds. The Aquarium, opened in 1872, has two tanks capable of holding 100,000 gallons of water each. B. was for some centuries previous to 1780 only a populous fishing village; the herring and mackerel fisheries are still extensively carried on. The bor. returns 2 members to Parliament.
Brighton through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Brighton has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Brighton and Hove. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Brighton and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Brighton, in Brighton and Hove and Sussex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/554
Date accessed: 20th May 2013
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