Brighton Forum

The ancient Sussex fishing village of Brighthelmston, which in the 18th and 19th centuries developed into the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, lay within the Anglican Diocese of Chichester. In the 19th century, before the Elementary Education Act 1870 centralised the provision of primary-level education and established school boards, most 5- to 12-year-olds were taught (if at all) at schools founded and sponsored by charities, private benefactors or churches. There were many such church schools in Brighton: Anglican churches with their own schools included Christ Church, St Bartholomew's, St John the Evangelist's, St Mark's, St Martin's, St Paul's and St Stephen's. The Diocese…

Brighton Forum is built on a high, prominent corner position, giving it good visibility from the west and south and long southward views. Knapped flint is the main building material, augmented by stone dressings and some yellow brickwork to the quoins. The roof is laid with tiles. The two-storey façade to Viaduct Road is E-shaped and regular, with a symmetrical seven-bay plan. The first and seventh bays project further forward than the centre (fourth) bay, which is formed by an elevated entrance porch. This has lancet windows on the sides, grouped under single hood moulds and with a string course. The doorway is under a segmental arch which is topped by a gable. The rest of the ground floor…