By definition, there could never have been a laine (or field) south of the Old Town overlooking the beach. What was washed away and covered by shingle before and around 1703 was the Lower Town, where the fishing community worked under the low chalk cliff.
An attempt five years ago to re-name Bond Street Laine (a small shop development in 1982 in North Laine) as a “lane” (as it was misleading) was refused by local magistrates. You can read an account of this in the article Applied psychogeography: the case of Bond Street Laine at theargus.co.uk.
Roy Pennington
Brighton
