Shoreham’s Buckingham House then and now . . . and not everything has changed

Phil, of Woodview, sent in the photo of Buckingham House, Shoreham, as it is today, taken in the recent snow, and compared it to the West Sussex County Council Library Service’s Victorian image, dated 1900, available on the website www.westsussexpast.org.uk.

You may think that times have changed but not everything is different.

“We still have a ‘resident’ fox come to see us,” explained Phil.

The picture, left, shows the Southdown Hunt at Buckingham House.

The local hunt, with foxhounds congregated in the grounds, is shown with the main house in the background.

Huntsmen in their riding clothes are mounted on horses, surrounded by onlookers.

Sadly, about 10 years after this photo was taken, the mansion was destroyed by fire. Only the shell remains, but the ruins are grade-two listed.

The east and south walls have been trimmed to safety, while the north and west sides are formed by the Woodview Court flats.

The original house was designed by Worthing architect John Rebecca, son of Biagio Rebecca, in 1820, and it features in George Moore’s novel, Esther Waters, where it is named Woodview. In the 1980s, the internal part of the house was revamped as a garden.