Hollingbury

Hollingbury is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The area sits high on a hillside across the north of the city, east of Patcham which lies in a valley to the west, Coldean in a valley to the east, and the A27 bypass forming the northern limit. To the south it blends into the leafy Surrenden area and the busy Fiveways local shopping area.

Hollingbury Hill itself reaches an elevation of 584 feet (178 m) above sea level and on the summit is Hollingbury Castle Camp, an Iron Age hillfort dating from around the sixth century B.C. It is where Triangulation Point (or Trigpoint) TP3970 used for the 1936 Ordnance Survey mapping of Great Britain is located.

The north-western slopes of the hill have been developed and are populated with housing dating from the 1940s onwards with minor retail and industrial use.

The building of Hollingbury housing estate, located on the north-western slopes of the hill, commenced in 1946. The development is a mixture of bungalows, flats and houses with most of the earlier properties having large gardens. Some properties were originally owned by the local council and some were privately owned although a large number of the local council ones have since been sold. Some roads (Westfield Crescent for example) contained clusters of houses for use as armed forces or police service housing. Most of these have been sold and are now privately owned.

The housing is divided by small parades of local shops which are located throughout the estate along with some public houses.

The estate is the town's largest post-war (World War II) council estate and is built on land originally acquired by the council in November 1909.

The most notable part of this area Hollingbury Castle or hill fort (TQ 322 078). It is to the east of Hollingbury housing estate and the Ditchling Road, Although considered the Castle to be Iron Age, the mounding of four round barrows suggests even Bronze Age people held this place sacred. Now all that remains are thickets of gorse which shine yellow in spring and are home to linnets and goldfinch. European stonechat is a familiar bird, too, and the rarer whinchat and redstart are seen regularly on passage to and from their breeding grounds. The soil within and around the camp has a layer of superficial acidity, with sorrel, bent-grass and tormentil growing there. The Castle is located within Hollingbury Park, an area of approximately 240 acres (0.97 km²; 0.38 sq mi) most of which is occupied by the golf course, designed in 1907 and remodelled in 1936. To the east is Wild Park and to the north is Hollingbury Ridge which runs up to the ancient Stanmer Park, with grazed, downland fields either side of the Ditching Road.

The Park itself has six tennis courts, a bowling green and a children's playground. For many years the park was known by locals as "The Rocket Park" on account of the rocket-shaped climbing frame in the playground but this was removed and the playground extended in the early 1980s. An area towards the northern end of the park is fenced off and contains a weather station and underground reservoir. On a clear day, the park offers views over the city to the English Channel and you can even see the Isle of Wight.