2026 summer wildlife fair on 31 july, 11am-2pm !
About the Old Brickfield
In the Middle Ages, the Old Brickfield was a tidal inlet and at its southern edge you can still see the remnants of shingle and rare salt marsh dotted with sea thrift, sea kale and bugloss. By the 1500’s, the inlet had dried up and we dont know much about it after that until the 1800’s. We believe that it was about this time that it became home to a brick-making factory and may have even supplied bricks for the Martello Tower in around 1810. Sadly there is no longer any trace of this on the Brickfield itself.
After this, for many years, the Old Brickfield was a peaceful place for a walk and a vital shelter for its abundant wildlife. This was all threatened when the field was bought by a housing developer and fenced off from the public and in 1997, the builders started to fill it with rubble (some can still be seen today). Alarmed at the inevitable impact that this would have on Brickfield’s wildlife and rare habitat, local people formed the ‘Friends of the Old Brickfield’ to oppose the development. After more than a year, a public enquiry ruled the development was illegal, preventing the loss of important and rare habitat - one of Seaford’s few green spaces
The Friends of the Brickfield help conserve, manage and protect the Old Brickfield for everyone in Seaford.
Manage
Conserve
Since 1997 Lewes District Council has been conserving the site with the help of the ‘Friends of Seaford Old Brickfield’ and it is now designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance .
Organising events (litter picks, wildlife surveys, fairs) and finding funding. In 2009, Awards for All funding helped us to create a small pond next to the railway embankment. Many creatures found homes here - even the odd duck!
Protect
The fight to save the Brickfield
It took over a year of protests and a 4 day public inquiry to save the Old Brickfield from the developers. Their plan was to fill the Brickfield with 67,000 cubic metres of soil and concrete, using lorries that would need to make 500 trips a week for a year. To give you an idea of the scale of that, the Brickfield is just over 2 hectares - about the size of 2.5 football pitches.
Fortunately, the public enquiry confirmed the Brickfield’s status as a much loved “strong feature of the Seaford landscape and a wildlife haven boasting a rare mix of grass, vegetation and salt marsh."
