site in the Old Town, Belle Vue Field was used as one of several temporary locations. Belle Vue Field is sometimes said to have been the site, in 1793, of a 10,000-man military encampment. However, Belle Vue Field did not yet exist in 1793 and contemporaneous sources show that the encampment occupied a much wider area of land, extending as far as the boundary with the neighbouring parish of Hove. Jane Austen refers to the encampment in her novel Pride and Prejudice (written in 1796 and published in 1813). The heroine Elizabeth Bennet's sister is invited to Brighton and elopes with, and later marries, army officer George Wickham. The annual military encampments moved to other sites in and around Brighthelmstone in subsequent years. Hanson builds the square In 1818, the field was acquired by Francis Hanson's son, Joshua Flesher Hanson, a businessman. By this time, Brighton's profile was such that speculators were commissioning architects and builders to design and lay out sea-facing residential developments to attract wealthy long-term visitors or permanent residents. Royal Crescent, New Steine and Bedford Square were already in existence; Clarence Square, Russell Square and Marine Parade were being developed. Hanson's plan for Regency Square was on a much larger scale than these developments. He divided Belle Vue Field into 69 plots, leased them individually and put strict covenants in place, demanding that each house be built in a specific style in order to ensure architectural harmony. In return, the leaseholders (mostly private builders) would have the right to buy, and would end up with houses much larger than average for the town, with excellent sea views and exclusive access to the large central garden. Most leaseholders bought the houses as soon as they could, which was to Hanson's advantage as he made money and had no ongoing responsibility for the buildings. Restrictions in the covenants included the requirement to erect a façade with an iron balcony, to clad the area below the balcony in stucco, to paint the façade at least every three years, to repair any damage, and to pay towards maintenance of the central garden. No stucco was to be applied above the balcony line. The covenants included a requirement to form a residents' committee, whose job it was to ensure the covenants were obeyed and to impose a levy on the occupiers of the houses to pay for the upkeep of the garden.