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A history of 55 Church Road, Portslade, East Sussex |
 Ivy, George and
Alfred in 1914
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This is the story of a house and family
taken from the memoirs of the youngest son born in 1924.
Alfred and Florence LANGRISH moved from Albion Street, Portslade to 55 Church Road in September 1913. Florence was born and grew up in Norfolk; Alfred was born in Portslade and his parents and aunts and uncle lived close by. They had two children with them Alfred (Alf) and Ivy; Florence gave birth to their third child George in December of 1913, the first of five children to be born in the house. Map |
 Photo taken in 1990s looking south  Box room walls during building work
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The house The modest mid terrace two story house stands in the lower part of Church Road. Solid walls were revealed under the plaster and wallpaper during building work in the 1990s. The front door opens on to the pavement and has no garden. Like many houses of it's time it has a yard at the back surrounded by a brick wall. An area big enough for a small patch of grass and flower beds. The Privy (outside toilet) was attached to the kitchen wall. As you enter the front door a narrow hall (passage as it was called) runs through to the kitchen at the back passing the front room and back room doorways on your right. Upstairs off a small landing are two bedrooms and a small box room. The larger room faces east, the front of the house, the other two the back. There was no bathroom in the house and no running hot water. A wash stand with jug and bowl stood in the box room for guests use. The rooms all had sash windows and fireplaces. The front room was kept clean and tidy as this was the room used for entertaining guests and even for 'laying out' the dead. The back room was really the hub of the house. The family ate here, played, read and listened to the radio. When the Langrish family first moved in this room was the kitchen with a black leaded cooking range on the chimney breast. The room at the end of the 'passage' with the sink and quarry tile floor was the scullery, this held the 'copper' in the corner used every Monday for the washing. Out through the scullery back door stood the mangle. Chickens were kept in the garden during the war years. In the time the children grew up in the house there was no television, telephone, washing machine, fridge or freezer! In later years things changed the cooking range was replaced by a fireplace in the back room and a gas cooker installed in the scullery. Thus the old kitchen became the back room and the scullery the kitchen. The copper was replaced by hand washing and a spin drier and the cold damp quarry tiles were covered. A record player was kept in the front room and later a television and telephone. Double glazing and running hot water arrived in the late 1990's. The house had no central heating when the keys were handed over to the landlord in 2003.
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 Rent books |
Rent Many old rent books survive dating back to 1913. They record the rent paid by the Langrish family over the years. Alfred and Florence (Alf and Flo) moved in with their 2 children. They paid a weekly rent of 7 shillings a week to landlord W. Hillman, North Street, Portslade-by-Sea until 1920 when the rent increased to 9 shillings and 10d (9/10d) by the end of that year. The following year 1921 saw the rent rise to 10 shillings and 3d (10/3d) by Christmas. The quarters of the year being Lady Day (Jan, Feb. March), Midsummer (April, May, June), Michaelmas (July, Aug, Sept) and Christmas (Oct, Nov, Dec) . Midsummer (Apr) saw a fall in rent to 9/ 9d this continued until July 1926 when once again the rent rose to 10/5d** per week. It remained the same within a penny or two for 20 years until 1946 when it rose to 11 shillings a week. During 1948 Alfred's son George became the named tenant and paid 11/7d to up to 1951 when once again it rose to 12/3d by the end of the year. In 1954 a weekly rent of 12/6d equalled £8 2shillings 6d per quarter. An increase of almost 2 shillings a week came in April 1956 to 14/3d and another 1 shilling increase in April 1957 this remained for 2 years. 1960 saw a weekly rent of 15/8d. 1970 and the landlord was Lyndale Development Company, 36 Preston Park Avenue, Brighton and the rent £64 per year or £1, 4 shillings and 6d. Decimalisation arrived. 1973 rent £2.04 end year £3.65 per week 1979 rent £5.67 end of year £7.50 1982 rent £9.50 end of year £11.50 1984 rent £12.75 end of year £14.00 1986 rent £15.00 end of year £19.00 1990 rent £25 per week |
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