OUR  TOWN  :  HASTINGS,  EAST  SUSSEX,  ENGLAND

LOCATION

The town of Hastings lies on the Sussex coast in the south-east of England. The historic "old town" of Hastings nestles in the valley between two hills, with the modern town to the west of them. The town of St. Leonards-on-sea, founded in the 19th century to the west of Hastings, has grown to the point where the two towns are now contiguous and form part of one combined borough. To the west is Bexhill-on-sea, to the north Battle (site of the famous "battle of Hastings" in 1066) and to the north-east the historic towns of Winchelsea and Rye.

Hastings is on the A259 coast road that runs the length of Sussex from Chichester in the west through Brighton Eastbourne and Hastings, and on eastwards to Rye and into Kent and the English Channel port of Folkestone. If you are coming by road from London or the north, take the A21 south from the M25.

By rail, trains go east to Rye, then on to Ashford to connect with the Eurostar services to France and Belgium. Westwards trains go along the coast to Bexhill, Eastbourne, Lewes and Brighton. For London, the most direct route is the Charing Cross service which takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, going through Battle and Tunbridge Wells. There is also an alternative London service going west to Lewes and then north via Gatwick to Victoria. As well as the main Hastings rail station there is a smaller one called Ore to the east which is convenient for the Ore, Halton and Clive Vale areas of the town, and there are two stations in St. Leonards-on-sea: Warrior Square, in the heart of St. Leonards served by all the trains, and West St. Leonards which is for trains on the Charing Cross line only.

          Hastings town centre and the Castle (photograph: Peter Bolwell)

 

HISTORY

Hastings is best known because of the so-called Battle of Hastings on 14th October 1066 when William Duke of Normandy having invaded England and captured the town of Hastings, confronted and defeated the Saxon army and killed King Harold. The effect of this on England was cataclysmic. Unlike other famous battles such as Agincourt or Waterloo (which though spectacular did not really have much effect upon subsequent events) the Battle of Hastings altered the whole course of our history. It is indeed fascinating to speculate what would have happened if Harold had won. It was after all by no means an easy victory for the Normans, and the result could quite conceivably have gone the other way.

In fact the battle itself took place some 8 miles to the north of the town, although the result of the battle was quickly stamped on the soil of Hastings itself, where the Normans erected a castle on the West Hill, the remains of which can still be explored today. Afterwards William built an abbey on the site of Harold's last stand, and a small town grew up around it called Battle. Almost 500 years later the abbey was dissolved at the time of the Reformation, but the building remained intact and today is used as a private school. You can visit the town and the abbey, and wander round the fields where the destiny of England was decided so long ago. There is a railway station at Battle on the Hastings - Charing Cross line.

Hastings flourished during the Middle Ages as one of the leading members of the Cinque Ports confederation - a group of towns along the south-east coast that were granted special privileges by the King in return for providing and manning ships when needed - usually for fighting against the French. However the silting up of Hastings harbour meant that it lost its use as a port, and the town became a modest fishing community with a lively sideline in smuggling, until the fashion for sea bathing at coastal resorts gave Hastings a new lease of life in the 18th century. One side-effect of this was the planning and building of a new town just to the west of Hastings by the architect James Burton. It was called St. Leonards-on-sea, and included some impressive features such as the Maze Hill Gardens and Warrior Square. As both towns continued to grow however they inevitably filled up the space between them, and merged effectively into one - although even today there are still noticeable differences in the "feel" of the two communities.

There is a fascinating "snapshot" of Hastings in the early years of the 20th century in the pages of "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" by Robert Tressell, the pen-name of a decorator and sign-writer called Robert Noonan who lived and worked here for a while. Under the name of "Mugsborough" the Hastings of the Edwardian era is described from the viewpoint of the depressed and chronically hard-up workers in the decorating trade that Noonan knew so well, in the days before there was any such thing as "unfair dismissal" or social security.

A few years later Hastings had another brief moment in the spotlight of history. In 1923 at the age of 35 the Scottish inventor John Logie Baird came to stay on medical advice, hoping that the sea air would be good for his health, which was always poor. Having tried and failed to earn a living at assorted ventures which included making insulated socks in Glasgow and jam in Trinidad, it was in Hastings that he made the breakthrough that would immortalise his name: the invention of television, which was first demonstrated in his bedroom in Linton Crescent to a group of journalists.   

At about the same time, one of Hastings most famous sons was making a name for himself on the other side of the world. Archibald Belaney was born in Hastings in 1888 - making him the same age as Baird, as it happens - and was educated at Hastings Grammar School. His greatest wish was to live the life of an American Indian - and as soon as he was old enough, he ran away to Canada and became one! Having experienced at first hand the beauty and grandeur of the Canadian wilderness, he was one of the first to realise the implications of the destruction of the forests  for commercial gain and the insidious spread of roads and cities everywhere, and he became in effect one of the earliest "conservationists". Using the pen-name "Grey Owl" he wrote passionately in defence of the wilderness and its creatures. His true identity only became public knowledge after his early death in 1938. Richard Attenborough's recent film "Grey Owl", starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role, tells a small part of his fascinating life story.

For more information there is an exhibition about Grey Owl's life as well as other American Indian artefacts in the Hastings Museum in Cambridge Road, which is a short way up the hill from the town centre. Entrance to the museum is free and it is worth a visit for the other fascinating exhibits on display as well, especially a realistic hologram of an Iguanadon dinosaur that once left its footprints on the beach.

Returning to the subject of actors, you may be interested to know that Cecil Parker was born in Hastings in 1897  - you may remember him playing King Roderick in the Danny Kaye film "The Court Jester", or as the hapless Lord Loam opposite Kenneth More in "The Admirable Crichton". A near contemporary of his was the conductor and composer Anthony Collins (probably best known for the light-classical favourite "Vanity Fair") who was also born in Hastings in 1893, in the house in Queen's Road where his father kept a music shop. He began his career playing violin in a small local orchestra here before moving on to bigger and brighter things. Two important folk musicians were also born here in the 1930s: sisters Dorothy and Shirley Collins, whose ground-breaking 1969 album "Anthems in Eden" remains a landmark in English folk music. Shirley Collins still lives in Sussex, though Dolly sadly passed away in 1995.

 

HASTINGS  TODAY

 

                         The Pier at sunset   (photograph: Peter Bolwell)

 

Today Hastings has a population of something over 80,000 and depends heavily on tourism to earn its living.  There is still a fishing fleet based at The Stade in the Old Town, though severely hampered now by restrictions imposed from Europe. There is a remarkable amount of creative talent in the town: artists, writers and musicians seem to be particularly attracted here. Current Hastings residents include the satirical cartoonist Martin Honeysett, folk fiddler Peter Knight (of "Steeleye Span"); jazz diva Liane Carroll, the award-winning science fiction writer Christopher Priest, and American-born novelist Leigh Kennedy. If rare musical instruments are your thing, have a look at the small 18th century John Snetzler organ, rebuilt in 1837, which found its way from Derby to Hastings, and is now sitting unobtrusively in the Unitarian Chapel in South Terrace (just a few doors along from the Quaker Meeting House).

Hastings never quite achieved the prosperity of resorts like Bournemouth or Brighton, but it has a comfortable, "lived in" feel and a lot to recommend it which is not perhaps obvious to the casual visitor.  On the sea front, don't miss Pelham Crescent and its centrepiece St. Mary-in-the-Castle, magnificently restored with its Georgian columns and soaring dome. On either side of the nearby fountain are two excellent Italian restaurants, "Trattoria Italia" and "The Italian Way", both offering good food and wine, a warm welcome and an authentic Italian atmosphere. The ruins of the Norman castle on the West Hill are a major attraction as are St. Clement's caves nearby.For those who enjoy walking in the countryside, the unspoiled Country Park stretches from the East Hill up and down the glens and over the "fire hills" to Fairlight - and further if you can manage it!

The Old Town, nestling between the East and West Hills, is well worth exploring: as well as the picturesque houses and shops, the streets are riddled with a surprising network of little alleyways (or "twittens" as we call them in Hastings!) The beach is home to the largest shore-based fishing fleet in England, and to the eye-catching tall wooden huts where the fishermen dry their nets. There are also some great places to eat in the Old Town. Particular favourites are "No. 27" in George Street - very good for that special occasion - and Porters in the High Street, which also offers live music on certain nights of the week. Almost next to Porters you will find Judges Bakery, which featured in The Independent newspaper's 2006 guide to the top 50 food stores in Britain. Various kinds of organic bread are freshly baked on the premises each day, and they also have a wide selection of other organic food and drink of all kinds.

For those who take an interest in the quality of the food they buy, there have also been some very positive developments on the other side of town in St. Leonards. Simply Wild has opened up a shop on the Crowhurst Road (just a short distance from the junction with Queensway) selling organic meat, vegetables and household goods, while in the heart of St. Leonards on the seafront near the bottom of London Road you will find "Plenty" which specialises in food that is not only organic but also locally produced, saving on carbon emissions and strengthening the local economy at the same time.

Entertainment in Hastings can be had at the White Rock Theatre just opposite the pier, the Odeon cinema in the town centre, and for less "commercial" films the smaller "Electric Palace" cinema in the Old Town, which in 2008 was named by The Guardian newspaper as one of the top ten independent cinemas in Britain . Watch out for the huge morris-dancing festival of "Jack in the Green" over the early May bank holiday, and the Hastings Bonfire and fireworks celebrations on the beach, on the Saturday closest to 14th October (battle of Hastings day!)

St. Leonards-on-sea incidentally is the home of the well-known peace activists Maya Evans and Milan Rai, who made legal history in October 2005 when they became the first people to be convicted under the notorious Serious Organised Crime & Police Act 2005 for the crime of holding a political demonstration in Parliament Square in London. What they actually did was simply to stand there and read out the names of people (on both sides) who had died in Iraq. No really, this is now a criminal offence unless you receive permission from the police beforehand. Merry England!

 

Links to other pages:

 HOME  PAGE  find us, join us for worship, "thought for the month"
 INTRODUCTION  learn about Quaker origins, beliefs and worship
 LOCAL  EVENTS  what have we been up to?
 WORLD  EVENTS  one Quaker's views on some current news items
 EAST  SUSSEX  find the other Quaker meetings in East Sussex
 SEARCH  search for words or phrases within this website

You can find more information about Hastings by following the links below  BUT  TAKE  NOTE that these links will take you away from this website. Use the "Back" button on your toolbar to return here when you have finished.                   

 HASTINGS COUNCIL  the "official" site, with lots of links and information
 TOURISM  attractions, accommodation etc for  the area
 THE LOCAL PAPER  website of the Hastings and St. Leonards Observer
 JACK IN THE GREEN  details of the morris-dancing festival in May