The Acts of Parliament authorising the construction and abandonment of two Brighton-related railway projects that never came about are among those the Law Commission were only recently repealed by another Act of Parliament. To build railways in Victorian England it was necessary to present a Bill to parliament, which became an Act authorising the raising of capital, the acquisition of land and the construction of the railway and its associated infrastructure. If the project did not proceed, another Act was needed to repeal the first Act. The first was the South-eastern and London, Chatham and Dover (London, Lewes, and Brighton) Railways Act of 1866. This authorised the construction of five lines branching off the main London to Dover railway, each following on from the previous section, the last of which would have run from the parish of St Ann in Lewes to a point on the east side of the Steine Gardens in Brighton. This would have given the town a second rail terminus, to complement the main line station at the top of Queen's Road, which opened in 1840. It proved impossible for the promoters of the scheme to raise the money and two years later, in 1868 the London, Lewes, and Brighton Railways Abandonment Act was passed to abolish the scheme. |
It would then run in an easterly direction for seven miles, seven furlongs, two chains and 40 links to a junction with the Lewes, Newhaven and Seaford branch of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway in Denton. This would have taken the line along a route that began between Kemp Town station and the tunnel, across Sutherland Road, behind Brighton College and then not far from the coast all the way to Newhaven. Imperial measurements of distance Click here for a list of all Acts of Parliament relating to Brighton and Hove railways. |
Page created 24 December 2015