Bevendean is a district of the city of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex, England.

The estate lies to the north-east of central Brighton, and was largely developed after World War II with a mixture of council housing and private development. A large proportion of the properties are council houses. The area has limited local facilities and there is only one road access route into and out of the area.

The manor of Bevendean was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is derived from 'Beofa's valley'. It was later divided into two estates, Upper Bevendean on the hill and Lower Bevendean in the valley. Some housing development began in the 1930s, with the population expanding rapidly from 1948 onwards. An industrial estate was developed from the mid-1950s.

The two local churches are: the Church of the Holy Nativity, built in 1963 as a Modern-style building in brick by architect Reginald Melhuish, ARIBA, and The Salvation Army - which occupies a building that was previously a baptist Chapel built around 1950s. The local school is Bevendean Primary School, a community school that educates children from the range of 3 to 11.

The Bevy opened on 12 December 2014 making it the first co-operative pub on a housing estate in the UK.

Notable areas

left|thumb|Bevendean Down (Local Nature Reserve)

Bevendean is in a valley and the South Downs which surround the valley offer beautiful views.

Bevendean Down

Bevendean Down, above Heath Hill Avenue and Norwich Drive, is known for its butterflies and in the area there have been key butterfly species including adonis blue, grizzled skipper, dingy skipper, small blue, green hairstreak, chalkhill blue, and dark green fritillary. Other species include common blue, marbled white, wall brown and small and large skippers.

left|thumb|Hogtrough Bottom - grazed access downland

Hogtrough Bottom, is on the east slope of the Down and has a mixture of taller grasses, short sheep’s fescue turf and scrub. Some years on the shorter ground are large swarms of autumn ladies tresses. There are lots of scarce species such as bastard toadflax, waxcap and webcap fungi, four-spot orb-weaver and purseweb spiders, but David Bangs, Sussex field naturalists says, "the main delight is the tapestry of summer colours - purple knapweed and felwort, blue scabious, yellow hawkbit and rockrose". The site is so special that the entire woods has been designated a Local nature reserve with Bevendean Down and Hogtrough Bottom.

Heath and Race Hill

The south side of the Bevendean estate is a place of horse paddocks and scrub thickets, old allotment sites and cattle grazing. At the eastern end Upper Bevendean Farm () looks down from the higher slope. It was once one of many farms and an outlier of the old Bevendean Manor, which nestled in the valley where the Primary School now is. It has now become the only farm in the valley.

References

  • Bevendean pages on My Brighton and Hove site.
  • Bevendean Community Garden
  • Bevendean Primary School
  • Bevendean History Project