The History of 11 Chichester Terrace

1 Val’s Taverne

2 Bas Reliefs


Val’s Taverne

Val’s Taverne was simply a pub or bar that operated out of the basement in No.11 - the premises were licensed and Val held the licence. This was unusual as it was very difficult for a woman to hold a licence in the 1950s.

      Val's Taverne 1951-52

    The photograph of Val’s Taverne shows Val herself by the bar 1951-52. The fireplace in the photograph still exists.

    Bas Reliefs

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Hermes escorting a soul to Hades
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Thracian mercenaries on horseback. After the Alexander Frieze by Bertel Thorvaldsen c. 1820
Thracian mercenaries on horseback after Berterl Thorvaldsen. Also in No 3 Chichester Terrace
Thracian mercenaries on horseback after Bertel Thorvaldsen. Also in No 3 Chichester Terrace

The house also has four bas reliefs, two of which are believed to have been copied from sections of the 1822 frieze ‘Alexander the Great’s Entry into Babylon’ by Bertol Thorvaldsen. Commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to celebrate his triumphant entry into Vienna in 1809, the original, also in plaster, is 35 metres long and decorates a hall in the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, now the Italian Presidential Palace. There are marble and plaster versions of the frieze at the Thorvaldsen Museum at Copenhagen and a plaster version in the Harris Museum Preston UK.

The book, Hidden Treasures: Bas-Reliefs on the Kemp Town Estate by Vanessa Minns, published by KTS in 2023, illustrates and documents the provenance of all the 40 bas reliefs on the Estate and indicates where they can be found in other Houses in this country (Chatsworth, Osborne House). It can be purchased on Amazon.