OLD ETCHING OF NEWHAVEN
Looking west c1855
By John Hills
If you had been standing about midway down Railway Road looking over the east quay towards the west, this is the view you might have seen back in the mid 1850's. At this time the town would have had a population of around 1,500.
Clearly visible is St Michaels Church and old Union Workhouse on top of the hill.
Also in this etching of Newhaven you can see the railway had arrived a few years earlier in the December of 1847. The trains then terminated at the only station at that time Newhaven Wharf (out of picture to the left) which served the south end of the harbour on East Quay and the reintroduced ferry services to the continent.
In the centre of the picture we can see the Congregational Chapel with Meeching House to it's right, which may have been the Manor House of the old village, with The Bridge Hotel and Brewery buildings towards right-hand side of the picture.
At this time Denton Island had not been formed, the cut to form the North Quay was made in the mid 1860's, so the people who lived in that area would have walked to St Leonards Church in Denton of a Sunday to worship, hence how it got it's name Denton Island.
Looking from the east c 1855
From an old picture postcard.