Welcome to the Mapping Mithras project
The Mapping Mithras project (2022-2024) was created through the former Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories at the University of Brighton and captured and preserved the rich social history of Moulsecoomb through a series of oral histories, transcripts, images and community reflections. These have now been archived at The Keep, Brighton and are available to the public.
Local people in Moulsecoomb and surrounding areas were encouraged to take part in a oral history and heritage project exploring the changes taking place around the University of Brighton’s Moulsecoomb campus, exploring the history of Mithras House and its precursor, the Allen West factory, and the local Lewes Road area.
The Mapping Mithras project – named after Mithras House, which sits at the heart of the campus on Lewes Road became the new location for the School of Humanities and Social Science in 2024 and the project 2022-2024 – aimed to capture local community, student and staff perspectives on the rich and varied history of this corner of Brighton with offers of oral history training as well as public events and building tours,
The resources gathered explored social and community histories of the area and also neighbouring Bates Estate, Saunders Park and Bevendean. Saunders Park was one hundred years old in 2024, so this was a positive way to celebrate this.
These recordings include memories from a soldier stationed at Preston Barracks in the 1960s, a 1970s University of Brighton student, a former Allen West employee, local residents, and the artist behind the project’s accompanying artwork.
As part of the project’s legacy, four two-metre-long illustrated panels exploring this rich local heritage are now permanently installed at Mithras House, University of Brighton, on the walls of the Humanities and Social Sciences department.
In addition, a series of project postcards and eight mobile pull-up banners—owned by the university but available for loan—continue to share the area’s layered industrial and social history with wider audiences.
We would like to thank all of the project participants for sharing their memories of the area for this project which took place in 2023.
For further information about the history of the Moulsecoomb area, please visit QueenSpark Books – a local history provider: https://queensparkbooks.org.uk/books-projects/moulsecoomb-memories-growing-north-moulsecoomb-thirties-forties/
The project was developed by Dr Deborah Madden, co-leader of the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories and managed by by Nicola Benge, who develops and delivers oral history projects exploring local memories and the shifting nature of historical narratives: https://nicolabenge.com.