Editing Brighton and Hove (section)

=== Portslade, Portslade Village, and Mile Oak ===
{{Main|Portslade|Mile Oak}}
[[File:Portslade_Station_2.jpg|thumb|left|Portslade Station]]
[[File:Cockroost_Bottom_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2584773.jpg|thumb|Cockroost Bottom]]
To the west of Brighton and Hove is '''[[Portslade]]'''. The area has three distinct centres with different histories, and includes '''Portslade-by-Sea''', '''Portslade Village''' and '''[[Mile Oak]]'''. Each is quite different in character.

Portslade-by-Sea is largely an industrial port, with a busy canal area that opens up to the [[River Adur]] and the [[English Channel]]. It has a long history of human settlement and the name came from the Roman port, Novus Portus.

Portslade Village has kept more of its antiquity and retains many elements of the downland village it once was. Many of the buildings have their original flint walls, and there are some early manor house ruins, tree-lined parks, a landmark church and a former convent.<ref>[https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/article/inline/downloads/conservation/UrbanStdy_Mile_Oak_Portslade_Village_final.pdf Mile Oak & Portslade Village: neighbourhood context]. Brighton and Hove Council. Accessed on 29 September 2021</ref>

[[Mile Oak]] is a newer development. Until the 1920s it was only a small group of farm buildings with surrounding corn fields, sheep downs and market gardens. Then, suburban housing started to be built, and there was considerable further development in the 1960s with the construction of bungalows and other private housing. In the 1990s, after the construction of the new [[A27 road]], Mile Oak's access to the Downs was largely blocked, stopping the spread of development.

==== Portslade downland ====
[[File:Trigpoint_on_the_approach_to_Mount_Zion_-_geograph.org.uk_-_669796.jpg|thumb|left|Trigpoint on the approach to Mount Zion]]
[[File:Electricity_Pylons_on_Cockroost_Hill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_54128.jpg|thumb|Electricity Pylons on Cockroost Hill]]
To the north of Mile Oak, on the other side of the A27, are a number of downland areas that are still in the Brighton and Hove area. These include the ancient chalk grassland slopes of '''Cockroost Hill''', '''Cockroost Bottom''' and '''Mount Zion'''. They are all special areas because of the remarkable wildlife still surviving there, including rare downland flowers, orchids, butterflies and rare insects.<ref name=":2" /> There is a lot of history on the slopes, including a large 4000 year old [[Bronze Age]] settlement, a possible 'henge' (as in [[Stonehenge]]), now lost under the A27 bypass, and evidence of [[Iron Age]] and Romano-British field systems.<ref>Wilkinson, K.N., 2003. Colluvial deposits in dry valleys of southern England as proxy indicators of paleoenvironmental and land-use change. ''Geoarchaeology: An International Journal'', ''18''(7), pp.725–755.</ref> To the north of the city boundary is  [[Fulking]] parish. The final stretch of the [[Monarch's Way]] passes through Mile Oak and Porstlade. It is a {{convert|625|mi|km|0|adj=on}} long-distance [[Trail|footpath]] that runs from [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] to [[Shoreham-by-Sea|Shoreham]].