Peacehaven, United Kingdom

Initially, the town was called New Anzac-on-Sea, but less than a year later, on 12 February 1917, it was renamed Peacehaven.

In 1927, the directors of Peacehaven Estates Ltd, of South Coast Road, Peacehaven, and 7, Pall Mall, Westminster, were Lord Teynham (chairman), CW Neville (managing director), and G. Kay Green.

Although it has been claimed that the town was originally formed for retiring World War I veterans in order for them to escape and recover from the effects of the war, this is not proven. Neville's publicity promoted the town as being an idyllic setting; sea air and simple lifestyle were thought to have aided good health. The land was also cheap and, as a result, working-class families from the city started to buy plots and gradually build makeshift homes for weekends and holidays. This movement of frontier-style buildings made with whatever materials were available at the time was called the plotlands movement. Inhabitants felt a sense of freedom in living off what they needed and enjoying a simpler life away from the busy, polluted city. The plotlands provided the working class an opportunity that might not have been available otherwise.

By 1924, there were 3,000 people living in Peacehaven. Original houses were often very temporary affairs (some were old railway carriages). Others were constructed from former army huts, brought from North Camp near Seaford, a few of these still survive, having been given an outer concrete block wall (they can be identified by their oblong shape that tends to be end-on to the road). Eventually the local council invested in water and electrical services and so people started to build more substantial houses. After World War II, the local council introduced a zoning scheme in order to distinguish areas for improvement along the coast road. In 1974 the Town Centre Map and Action Plan was formed to aid development.

There are two listed farmsteads in the town: Halcombe Farm House, built in the 17th century; and Hoddern Farm House, from the 18th century. Another old building is the Shepherds Cot; now in the garden of a private house in The Compts in north Peacehaven. This flint hut was built in the 1880s to shelter shepherds in the lambing season.

In 1933 the popular singer and comedian Gracie Fields set up the Gracie Fields Children's Home and Orphanage, for children of those in the theatre profession who could not look after them. She kept this until 1967, when the home was no longer needed. This was near her own home in Telscombe, and Fields often visited, with the children all calling her 'Aunty Grace'.