Curiosity aroused by a golden glint

On closer inspection I saw that this was a small brass plate set into the carriageway, embossed with the number seven. What did this number in the middle of a busy road mean? It took me a while to work out the answer. In the Jubilee Gardens is a sundial placed on top of the old water fountain. At seven in the evening the long shadow obviously falls across the road so the brass plate is part of the design of the clock.

This got me thinking of some other curiosities in Seaford. I've often gazed up at the round white busts above the shops on the east side of Clinton place '“ who do they depict and why are they there?

Our telephone exchange in East Street was due to be officially opened in 1936 and as one of the first public buildings to be built during the reign of the new monarch, the Royal cipher of King Edward VIII was proudly carved above the door. Edward, of course, abdicated before he was crowned so our telephone exchange now shows a very rare royal crest.

Further up East Street an ancient archway leads into the Crouch Gardens. This doorway is Elizabethan and was discovered during building work at the Old Town Hall in South Street. In 1953 Berry Brothers, the blacksmiths of Crouch Lane, made an elegant wrought iron gate for the arch showing another royal cipher 'ERII 1953' to mark the Queen's Coronation. This gateway therefore links the two Queen Elizabeths.

Talking of Elizabethan design, six of the eight chimneys in a row on top of the FitzGerald Almshouses definitely have a Tudor look about them, even though they were erected in Victorian times and, just around the corner in Broad Street, Cameron's the Chemist still has an original gas-lamp outside. The base was designed to incorporate water troughs for hungry dogs (although they are now usually filled with small flower beds).

As you come out of the Barn Theatre car park into Saxon Lane, you may have noticed that the building opposite has the strange name of Vereeniging. The house was built in 1902, the same year that the peace accord was signed to end the Boer War. The house is named after the South African town where the pact was signed.

And what is my favourite curiosity? Possibly the wartime pillbox built on the roof of Bishopstone Station or maybe one that you have all probably seen but have not realised the significance. It is on the curved wall at the Esplanade end of Dane Road, just opposite the Beachcomber pub. During the blackouts of the Second World War all street furniture was painted with black and white paint to help improve road safety. Photographs of the time show all of Seaford's kerbstones and street lamps painted black and white and here, opposite the seafront, one small part of this curious colour scheme remains. If the paintwork does not look as if it is half a century old, that is because the council still regularly touches it up!

KEVIN GORDON