Labour Councillor for South Portslade and local Mayor, Cllr Alan Robins, on the bright future of Portslade Old Manor:

This summer as Mayor of Brighton, Hove and Portslade, it was my honour and privilege to officially open Portslade Old Manor and declare the ruin a community resource for learning and heritage conservation.

It is an amazing achievement and a great credit to all those involved in all the hard work that has been done and continues to be done to bring this ancient ruin back to life.

Portslade Old Manor is tucked away behind St Nicolas church, very few people know of its history, it was built in 1130 by the Lord of the Manor of Portslade and was lived in until the early 1800s before falling into disrepair, the Manor is a particularly rare example of a secular Norman building and as such is both a grade 2 listed building and a scheduled ancient monument giving it similar status to Stonehenge.

When viewed next to the church, the pair make a clear coherent visual group and say much about the medieval relationship between the power and prestige and the villagers.

On the same day Brighton and Hove Archeological Society came along to conduct the first ever dig of the site.

My ward colleague Les Hamilton and myself were pleased to contribute our ward budgets to help create a learning resource for both adults and children including information boards around the site and educational packs for local schools.

Councillor Alan Robins

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Image: Easthill Park