On 22 April 1822, the 8.05 acres of land that today form the Level was given in trust to Brighton by Thomas Read Kemp and other landowners. Thereafter, apart from of downland near Brighton Racecourse, far out of town on top of Race Hill, The Level was the only area of common land available to the town's residents. In the same year Union Road was built to connect the Ditchling and Lewes Roads, marking the northern edge of the Level, and the land to the north of it was sold. Local entrepreneur James Ireland established the Royal Gardens on this section, but the venture failed and the land was later sold again; Park Crescent was built on it from 1849. Also in 1822, the Level itself was designed and laid out by architect Amon Henry Wilds and horticulturist Henry Phillips. The elm trees, a gift to the town from Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester, were planted in November 1844. Many were uprooted in the Great Storm of 1987, although at the time Brighton Borough Council was considering felling many of them because of an outbreak of Dutch elm disease.