Hastings past and present with notices of the most remarkable places in the neighbourhood

[ - ]

HASTINGS , PAST AND PRESENT.

[ - ]

HASTINGS , PAST AND PRESENT :

WITH NOTICES OF THE MOST REMARKABLE PLACES

IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD :

AND AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO THE DISTRICT,

AND OTHER SUPPLEMENTARY MATTER .

BY THE AUTHOR OF "A HANDBOOK TO HASTINGS AND ST. LEONARDS ;"

' BRAMPTON RECTORY ; " AND OTHER WORKS.

HASTINGS : WILLIAM DIPLOCK, ROYAL MARINE LIBRARY.

LONDON : JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO-SQUARE.

1855.

[ - ]

[ v ]

PREFACE.

THE Handbook to Hastings and St. Leonards being out of print, it has been thought desirable to supply its place by a work which should more nearly combine the character of a local History with that of a Visitor's Guide ; and for this there are increased facilities in the publications relating to the neighbourhood which have appeared within the last few years. But besides the information which was to be gained from these sources, the writer has to acknowledge the assistance which has been derived from the kindness of friends , to whom it is felt that much of the original matter is to be assigned. The writer's thanks are due especially to the Rev. E. Marshall, of Oxford, who contributed the List of Books in the Appendix, and to whose opportunities of access to the Bodleian Library many of the most [ vi ]interesting particulars are owing. They are due also to the Rev. W. D. Macray, for reference to MSS. in the same library ; to the Rev. H. B. W. Churton, of Icklesham ; the Rev. J. H. Simpson, of Bexhill ; the Rev. J. M. Lukin, of Guestling ; the Rev. Burrell Hayley, of Catsfield , and other clergymen, for information respecting the churches with which they are severally connected ; also to Wm. Holloway, Esq. , of Rye, for an account of Playden Church ; to J. Underwood , Esq . , of Battle , Mr. F. Miller , late of Herstmonceux , and Mr. A. Ransom, of Hastings , for information respecting the plants of the district ; and to Mr. Tumanovicz, of Hastings, for lists of the algae , zoophytes, and fresh-water shells .

For the description of Brede and Northiam , the writer is chiefly indebted to a gentleman intimately acquainted with the history of those parishes. [ vii ]

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

CHAPTER I.
	Page
Situation of Hastings -Some Passages of its History	1-28
CHAPTER II.
The Castle - Internal Changes - Progress of the Town - St. Leonards	28-44
CHAPTER III.
Parishes, Churches, and ancient Ecclesiastical Establishments - Dissenting Chapels - Returns of the Census of Religious Worship	45-66
CHAPTER IV.
THE TOWN.
Public Buildings - Trade - Bathing - Internal Government - Schools - Literary Institutions - Population - Occupations of the Inhabitants	67-88

[ viii ]

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

	Page
CHAPTER V.
Remarkable Characters, Natives, Inhabitants, or Visitors of Hastings - Literary Notices	88-104
CHAPTER VI.
NEIGHBOURHOOD OF HASTINGS.
Ecclesbourne - Fairlight - Pett - Guestling - Old Roar - Hollington - Crowhurst	105-124
CHAPTER VII.
REMARKABLE PLACES NEAR HASTINGS.
Bulverhythe - Bexhill - Hooe - Pevensey - Herstmonceux - Ninfield - Ashburnham	124-158
CHAPTER VIII.
REMARKABLE PLACES NEAR HASTINGS, CONTINUED.
Battle, and some of the neighbouring villages - Etchingham	159-191
CHAPTER IX
REMARKABLE PLACES NEAR HASTINGS, CONTINUED.
Westfield - Brede - Northiam - Bodiam - Sedlescombe	192-216
CHAPTER X.
REMARKABLE PLACES NEAR HASTINGS, CONTINUED.
Winchelsea and Icklesham	217-247

[ ix ]

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.
	Page
REMARKABLE PLACES NEAR HASTINGS, CONCLUDED.
Rye and Playden	ix
Bexhill	x
Bodiam	ibid.
Brede	xi
Crowhurst	ibid.
Etchingham	ibid.
Fairlight	ibid.
Hove	ibid.
Herstmonceux	ibid.
Pevensey	xii
Playden	ibid.
Robertsbridge	xiii
Rye	ibid.
Sedlescombe	ibid.
Winchelsea	xiv

[ x ]

			Page
No. II. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES AND CORRECTIONS.
Note	1.	Mint of Hastings	xv
	2.	St. Valery	ibid.
	3.	Landing of William	xvii
	4.	Burial of the body of Harold	ibid.
		Correction, p. 22	xviii
	5.	Descent of Hastings Castle	ibid.
	6.	Harbour and Pier	xix
	7.	The Bourne	xx
	8.	The Town Wall	xxi
	9.	Situation of White Rock	ibid.
	10.	Road by White Rock, &c.	ibid.
	11.	Military State of Hastings	ibid.
	12.	White Rock-place	xxii
	13.	Churches formerly existing at Hastings	ibid.
	13.	Ruins of the Church of St. Andrew	xxiii
	14.	Deans of the College of St. Mary	ibid.
	15.	Remains of the Priory	xxv
	16.	Grant of Sir John Pelham	ibid.
	17.	Mechynge's Will	ibid.
	18.	Canopy borne at Coronation	xxvi
	19.	Cannon Balls fired on the town	xxviii
	20.	Rev. John Goodge Foyster	ibid.
	21.	Church of the Holy Trinity	ibid.
	22.	St. Mary Magdalene	ibid.
	23.	Parish of St. Leonard	xxx
	24.	Elm trees of the Avenue	ibid.
	25.	The East Well	ibid.
	26.	Changes in the Coast	ibid.
	27.	Increase of Population	ibid.
	28.	The Emperor of the French	xxxi
	29.	Distinguished Residents, &c.	xxxi
	30.	Literary Notice of Hastings	xxxi

[ xi ]

			Page
Note	31.	Song on Fairlight Glen	xxxiii
	32.	Font at Hollington.	ibid.
	33.	Wreck of the Amsterdam	ibid.
	34.	Richard de la Wych	ibid.
	35.	Bexhill Church Window	xxxiv
	36.	St. Mark's, Bexhill.	xxxv
	37.	Vicar of Hooe	ibid.
	38.	Pevensey Harbour	ibid.
	39.	Lady Pelham's Letter	ibid.
	40.	Prisoners of Pevensey	xxxvi
	41.	Signification of the word Hurst	xxxvii
	42.	Herstmonceux and Archdeacon Hare	xxxviii
	43.	Charles I. and Mr. Ashburnham	xl
	44.	Relics of Charles I	ibid.
	45.	Sussex Iron Works	xl
	46.	Edmund Cartwright	xliii
	47.	Battle and other Chantries	ibid.
	48.	John Wythine	ibid.
	49.	Scenery around Battle	xlv
	50.	Catsfield Place, &c.	xlvi
	51.	Mountfield Church	xlvii
	52.	Netherfield Church	ibid.
	53.	Cumb and Cwm	ibid.
	54.	The Rother	ibid.
	55.	Church of Rye Harbour	xlviii
	56.	Situation of Rye	xlviii
		Correction, p. 249	l
	57.	Queen Elizabeth's Visit	ibid.
		Correction, p. 255	ibid.
	58.	The Murder of Mr. Grebell	li
	59.	Endogenites erosa	ibid.
	60.	Corallines	ibid.
	61.	Zoophytes	liii
	62.	Turton's Land Shells}	ibid.
	63.	Marine Shells	ibid.

[ xii ]

			Page
	64.	Holt's Library	lvii
	65.	Hours of Service at St. Andrew's	ibid.
		Correction, p. 313	ibid.
	66.	Home for Invalid Gentlewomen	ibid.
	67.	Cemeteries	lix
	68.	List of Schools	lx
	69.	Royal Visit	ibid.
		Correction, p. 124	lxi
	70.	Bulverhythe	ibid.
	71.	Hollington Campanile	ibid.
	72.	Hooe	lxii
	73.	Memorial to Archdeacon Hare	ibid.
	74.	Documents relating to the Harbour, omitted in List of Books	ibid.
	75.	Other additions to the List of Books	lxiv

NOTE To the names of Marine Shells found at Hastings add the following :-

Syndosmya	alba.
	prismatica.
	Tellenidǽ
Mangelia	costata.
	turricula.
	Conidǽ.

[ 1 ]

HASTINGS - PAST AND PRESENT .

CHAPTER I.

By easy marches to the town he came,
Which from the Danish pirate takes its name,
First of those sister ports which since arose,
The nation's guard against invading foes,
When naval services, in ages past, Kings paid with honours which shall ever last.

— Hay's Mount Caburn, p. 16.

SITUATION OF HASTINGS .- SOME PASSAGES OF ITS HISTORY .

THE towns of Hastings and St. Leonards, once distinct, but now united by intermediate lines of building, so as to constitute, in fact, one large watering-place, are situated on the east coast of Sussex, in lat. 50 ° 51 N. , and long. 0 ° 34' E.

They are distant from London, as the crow flies, about fifty-four miles ; by the London, Brighton, and South-Coast Railway, about seventy-six ; by the London and South-Eastern, about seventy-four miles.

North and east of Hastings lie the high grounds of Fairlight, whilst St. Leonards has on its west the flats [ 2 ]of Bulverhythe, and both alike look southwards on the sea lying between Beachy Head and Dungeness.

Hastings is situated in the rape, to which it gives its name. It is in the diocese of Chichester, and the archdeaconry of Lewes. It is a municipal and parliamentary borough, and sends two Members to Parliament, and, as a Cinque Port, has certain liberties of its own.

" The general aspect of the country around Hastings, " says Dr. Mackness, " is undulatory ; the hills rise to considerable heights, but their sides slope so gradually as to deprive them of any very bold or striking effect, and hence the landscape is rather pleasing than grand or picturesque. The distance which the eye can traverse is often very great, when the observer is placed on the summit of one of the hills, and the scene is varied and interesting, woodland being mingled with tracts of arable land - and now a farmhouse, with its barns and hop-kilns- now a village, with its little church-enlivens the scene. Should the day be bright, with now and then a cloud intervening between sun and earth, the effect is much heightened by the shadows which flit across the declivities of the hills ; still the picture wants a more striking background to perfect its beauty.

" The valleys usually run from north to south, and are numerous, owing to the wavy character of the surface.

The country is drained by various small streams, the 'currents of which are slow, and hence arises one cause of  [ 3 ]the difficulty of obtaining good harbours on this part of the coast, the back-water being insufficient to keep the channels clear of shingle. Near the shore may be observed extensive tracts of level land, in which many of the valleys terminate. These flats have, doubtless , at some time been covered by the sea, which has either receded from them , or they themselves have been raised above it by successive deposits of alluvial matter brought down from the higher grounds. A good example of one of these flats is furnished by Pett Level, about four miles from Hastings, on the eastern side. "

The soil of Hastings is composed of immense beds of sand and sand-rock, with calciferous grit, and fuller's earth, slaty clay, and shale, with iron-ore.

On the eastern side, the high and precipitous cliffs, which extend for four miles eastward, to Cliff End, near Winchelsea, are broken by several valleys , in one of which lies the old town of Hastings, the germ of the present watering-place, the ancient Cinque Port, in whose neighbourhood England was lost and won.

The first time Hastings is mentioned in historical recordsis in a charter of Offa, who reigned from 755 to 794, by which Berhtwald, Duke of Sussex, settled on the Abbey of St. Denis, at Paris, the village of Rotherfield, and the havens of Pevensea and Hastings, with their [ 4 ]marshes, in acknowledgment of his recovery from sickness .

Towards the close of the next century, the south coast of England was repeatedly ravaged by the Danish Viking Hasting, who, " having," says Hume, " ravaged all the provinces of France, both along the sea- coast and the Loire and Seine, and being obliged to quit that country, more by the desolation which he himself had occasioned than by the resistance of the inhabitants, appeared off the coast of Kent with a fleet of 330 sail."

" In this year (893), " says the Saxon Chronicle, " the great army, about which we formerly spoke, came again from the eastern kingdom westward to Boulogne, and there was shipped , so that they came over in one passage, horses and all, and they came to land at Limnemouth with 250 ships. This port is in the eastern part of Kent, at the east end of the great wood which we call Andred ; the wood is in length, from east to west, 120 miles or longer, and thirty miles broad ; the river, of which we before spoke, flows out of the weald . On this river they towed up their ships as far as the weald, four miles from the outward harbour, and there stormed a fortress within the fortress a few churls were stationed, and it was in part only constructed . Then, soon after that Hasten, with eighty ships , landed at the mouth of the Thames, and wrought himself a fortress at Milton, and the other army did the like at Appledore. "

The name of the town of Hastings has often been derived from this Danish chief, on the supposition that it might have been the site of one of his temporary fortresses ; but this conjecture, in itself not very probable, is overthrown by the mention of the name in Offa's charter, a century prior to the appearance of Hasting. [ 5 ]

MINT OF HASTINGS.

Amongst Offa's exploits, are mentioned attacks on the Hestingi ; and it has been supposed that these were natives of Hastings. Mr. Durrant Cooper, however, seems to be of opinion that there was a Danish settlement at Hastings, and that it was the only one in Sussex.

The importance of Hastings under the Saxon rule is proved by the fact of its possessing a mint. This was the case from the reign of Athelstan down to the reign of William Rufus. The name of Hastings , in every variety of spelling, occurs on coins of the reigns of Canute, Edward the Confessor, Harold, William the Conqueror, and William Rufus. A considerable number of Anglo-Saxon silver pennies were discovered in 1843 at Alfriston, by Mr. Charles Ade, a member of the Sussex Archǽological Society. Several of these were struck at Hastings by a moneyer named Bridd ; amongst them one very rare coin of Harthenute (Hardicanute).

By whom and at what time the Castle was erected, seems a point involved in obscurity. In the Chronicles of the Dovor Monastery, printed by Leland occurs this passage, " When Arviragus threw off the Roman yoke, it is likely he fortified those places which were most convenient for their invasion, viz. , Richborough, Walmer, Dovor, and Hasting. "

The whole of the south-east coast of England shared in the vicissitudes of the family of Godwin, the powerful and patriotic Earl of Wessex. Many manors in Sussex were held by him, or by his son Harold . Sweyn, the eldest son of Godwin, had been banished by the King for the crime of seducing the Abbess of Leominster. In 1049 he returned, professing submission to Edward. He requested assistance from his cousin Beorn, but being refused, retired to Bosham, whither he afterwards inveigled Beorn, and murdered him. " Then the King and all the army proclaimed Sweyn an outlaw. . . . A little [ 6 ]before this the men of Hastings and thereabouts fought his two ships with their ships, and slew all the men, and brought the ships to Sandwich to the King. Eight ships had he ere he betrayed Beorn, afterwards they all forsook him except two. " He seems then to have taken refuge at Bruges, with Baldwin, Earl of Flanders.

" In the summer of 1052, Godwin, who had been exiled from the kingdom by the influence of King Edward's Norman favourites, set out from Bruges with several vessels , and landed on the coast of Kent. He sent secret messengers to the Saxon garrison of the port of Hastings, in Suthsex (or, by euphony, Sussex). Other emissaries spread themselves north and south. On their solicitations numbers of men fit to bear arms bound themselves by oath to the cause of the exiled chiefs, all vowing to live and die with them. "

Godwin," says the Saxon chronicle, " enticed to him all the men of Kent, and all the butse karls " (crews of the busses, or transports), " from Hastings, and everywhere there by all the sea- coast and all the east end, and Sussex, and Surrey, and much else in addition thereto. Then all declared that they would with him live and die. "

Had not the fleet of Harold been dismissed a fortnight before the Norman invasion, it is not probable, from the attachment of the inhabitants of the coast to his family, that the landing of William would have been so quietly effected .

The mention of the ships and port of Hastings reminds us that, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, Hastings, with Dovor, Sandwich, Hythe, and Romney, was incorporated into the league of the Cinque Ports. The service which Hastings with its members (subsequently added) had to render, was to supply twenty-one ships, and in each ship twenty-one men, with a boy, called a gurmet. On the common seal of the port of Hastings is repre[ 7 ]sented, on the obverse side, the contest of St. Michael and the Dragon ; and it is inferred that St. Michael was the patron saint of the port of Hastings.

Not many years after the incorporation of the Cinque Ports occurred the event which gave to Hastings its place in general history. The death of Edward the Confessor took place on the eve of Twelfth Day, 1066. Harold, though professing no hereditary claim, succeeded to the throne with the general consent of the nation, and his disappointed rival, the Duke of Normandy, immediately prepared to submit his pretensions to the chance of war.

" The point from which the Norman armament set sail has been satisfactorily proved to be St. Valery, at the mouth of the Somme, in Picardy, and not the town of the same name in Normandy, as has been asserted by many historians. St. Valery lies about twenty-five miles to the north-east of Dieppe, in a direction nearly south-south-east of Hastings.... Pevensey is the place to which the majority of historians have given their suffrages for this event (the landing of William), although William of Malmesbury names Hastings.

The words of the Bayeux Tapestry are, 'Here Duke William in a great ship crossed the sea, and came to Pevensey.' "Hic Willelm Dux in magno navigio mare transivit, et venit ad Pevenesǽ" The anonymous chronicler of Battle Abbey says, "Dux ergo . . . . . navigationem aggressus, prospere tandem prope castrum Pevenesel dictum applicuit. ( The Duke having set sail, arrived safely near to the castle called Pevensey. )" The landing of troops from six hundred vessels could not, of course, be confined to one particular point. It most likely extended along Pevensey Bay for several miles, and the easternmost vessels may have reached land at Hastings. This may in some measure justify Malmesbury's assertion. . . . "Food having been obtained by the foragers " (at Hastings, as shown by the Tapestry), " it was cooked upon the shore, and the Duke and his followers dined, Bishop Odo, the chief [ 8 ]ecclesiastic, saying grace. It is not very material where this dinner took place ; it was probably nearer Hastings than Pevensey, although the rock formerly pointed out by tradition as the ' Conqueror's Table ' seems too near the former place. .. .. .. .. The armament of the Normans possessed too many appliances for convenience to render it necessary for their chieftain to dine upon a rock ; and the Tapestry represents the feast as taking place at the usual semi-circular table of the period . The next legend in the Tapestry brings us to Hastings. Iste jussit ut foderetur castellum at Hestengaceastra. ( He-namely, Robert of Moriton, the Duke's half-brother- ordered that a castle should be dug at Hastings. ' ) " It has been supposed that this castle was the ancient castle, the ruins of which now exist, but it is most improbable that any such massive and elaborate works could have been undertaken for the purpose of temporary defence. The castle now built is with more probability supposed to have been an intrenchment of earth, fortified by woodwork, which, as Thierry relates, was brought with them from Normandy. Mr. Lower thinks this camp or castellum was situated in the fields to the right of the London road, between the Priory and Bohemia, therefore very near the site of the present railway station. The great embankment on the East Hill, Mr. Lower supposes, may have been an outpost for observation to the eastward.

The landing of the Norman fleet was effected on the 28th of September. William remained at Hastings till the battle, which took place on the 14th of October. During this interval the Norman army must have subsisted on the spoil of the recent harvest.

" Whatever may have been the Conqueror's orders to restrain his army from plundering " (William of Malmesbury represents him as desiring them to abstain from plundering what must soon be their own), " it is con[ 9 ]clusive from the Domesday Survey ' that they were of no avail. The whole of the country in the neighbourhood of Hastings appears to have been laid waste. Sir Henry Ellis, in the last edition of his General Introduction to Domesday, ' observes, that the destruction occasioned by the Conqueror's army on its first arrival is apparent, more particularly under Hollington, Bexhill, &c. The value of each manor is given as it stood in the reign of the Conqueror ; afterwards it is said, ' Vastatum fuit, ' and then follows the value at the time of the survey. . . . The situation of these manors evidently shows their devastated state to have been owing to the army marching over them ; and this clearly evinces another circumstance relating to the invasion, which is, that William did not land his army at one particular spot, at Bulverhithe or Hastings, as is supposed, but at all the several places proper for landing along the coast from Bexhill to Winchelsea."

In one instance the Bayeux tapestry represents a house being burnt, but that the town of Hastings was not materially injured is proved by its affording shelter to William's troops after the victory. " Harold was at York, wounded and resting from his fatigues, when a messenger arrived in great haste to inform him that William of Normandy had landed and planted his banner on the Anglo-Saxon territory. He immediately marched towards the south with his victorious army, publishing on his way an order to all the provincial governors to arm their fighting men and bring them to London. The militia of the west came without delay ; those of the north were later, on account of the distance ; but there was still reason to believe that the King of the English would soon find himself surrounded by the forces of the whole country. One of those Normans, . . . who now played the part of spies and [ 10 ]secret agents of the invader, sent word to the Duke to be on his guard, for that in four days the son of Godwin would have an hundred thousand men with him . Harold, too impatient, did not await the expiration of the four days ; he could not overcome his desire to close with the foreigners, especially when he learned the ravages of every kind which they were committing round their camp.

The hope of sparing his countrymen further evil, and , perhaps, the desire of attempting against the Normans a sudden and unforeseen attack, like that which had succeeded against the Norwegians, determined him to march to Hastings with an army four times less numerous than that of the Duke of Normandy. [ 11 ]"But William's camp was carefully guarded against a surprise, and his outposts extended to a great distance. Some detachments of cavalry falling back, gave notice of the approach of the Saxon King, who, they said, was advancing furiously. Failing in his design of attacking the enemy by surprise, the Saxon was obliged to moderate his impetuosity ; he halted at a distance of seven miles from the Roman camp, and, suddenly changing his tactics, entrenched himself to await them behind ditches and palisades.

" Some of the Saxon chiefs advised the King to avoid a battle, and to retreat towards London, ravaging the country on his way, to starve out the foreigners . I !' exclaimed Harold, I ravage the country which has [ 12 ]been confided to my care ! By my faith, that were indeed treason, and I prefer taking the chances of battle with the few men I have, my courage, and my good cause. "

The line of the Norman's march, " says Mr. Lower, in his paper on the Battle of Hastings,"from their camp at Hastings to the battle-field, must have lain on the south-western slope of the elevated ridge of land extending from Fairlight to Battel ; that is, to the north of the village of Hollington, through what is now Crowhurst Park, to the elevated spot called Hetheland, but now known as Telham Hill. This district, which is even at the present day encumbered with woods, must have presented many obstacles to the advance of a multitudinous army. But every possible means to facilitate their movements had been employed ; and early on the morning of the fatal 14th of October they stood upon the heights of Telham, in full view of the Saxon camp, more than a mile distant. "

No town or even village, Mr. Lower thinks, existed at Battle in the Saxon times. "It was probably a down, covered with heath and furze, a wild rough common, without houses or trees. " The armies met, according to the Saxon chronicle, "at the hoar apple-tree.

"During the march from Hastings, a distance of about six miles, the Normans had not worn their armour, and it was only when they came in view of the Saxon camp that they proceeded to arm.

"Having arrived at a hill called Hechelande, situated in the direction of Hastings, while they were helping one another on with their armour, there was brought forth a coat of mail for the Duke to put on, and by accident it was handed to him the wrong side foremost. Those who stood by him and saw this cursed it as an unfortunate omen, but the Duke's server, Fitz-Osborne, bade him be of good cheer, and declared that it was a token of good [ 13 ]fortune ; namely, that things which had hitherto kept their ground were about fully to submit themselves to him. The Duke, perfectly unmoved, put on the mail with a placid countenance, and uttered these memorable words : I know, my dearest friends, that if I had any confidence in omens I ought on no account to go to battle to-day ; but committing myself trustfully to my Creator in every matter, I have given no heed to omens, neither have I ever loved sorcerers . Wherefore now secure of His aid, and in order to strengthen the hands and courage of you, who, for my sake, are about to engage in this conflict, I make a vow, that, upon this place of battle, I will found a suitable free monastery, for the salvation of you all, and especially of those who fall ; and this I will do in honour of God and His saints, to the end that the servants of God may be succoured, that even as I shall be enabled to acquire for myself a propitious asylum, so it may be freely offered to all my followers.'

"Among those who heard this vow was a monk of Marmoutier, one William, surnamed Faber, who formerly, while in the service of the Duke, had obtained the name of Faber, or ' the smith.' . . . . .
This man, afterwards changing his profession, betook himself to a religious life at Marmoutier, the fame of which, for sanctity, was then very great. And when the descent of the Duke upon England was everywhere extolled, he, in order to advance the interests of his Church, attached himself to the army. Immediately upon hearing the Duke's vow, which was exactly suitable to his wishes, he proposed that the monastery should be dedicated to the blessed Bishop St. Martin. The pious Duke favoured his suit, and benignly promised that it should be so."

In all William's plans for the acquisition of England, a [ 14 ]great show of zeal for religion was prominent, and it is painful to think that the Church was seduced to sanction his deeds of rapine and injustice. He had, as is well known, trepanned Harold into swearing on the relics of the saints, to assist him in obtaining the kingdom to which he laid claim on the ground of an alleged promise of Edward the Confessor. In virtue of this oath Harold was considered guilty of perjury and sacrilege in resisting him, and, as a token of this, the invader wore round his neck, over his armour, some of the most valuable relics on which Harold had sworn. A banner, blessed by the Pope, was also in the army. "The general influence of superstitious ideas prevented indifferent spectators of this dispute from understanding the patriotic conduct of the son of Godwin, and his scrupulous deference to the will of the people, who had made him king. The opinion of the majority upon the Continent was with William against Harold, with the man who had employed holy things as a snare, and accused of treason the man who refused to commit it. " The approbation of William by the Church was, however, by no means unanimous, for in the assembly of cardinals there were many dissentients, and but for Hildebrand, then an archdeacon, the Norman Duke would scarcely have had the Church's support.

" On the ground, which has ever since borne the name of Battle, the lines of the Anglo- Saxons occupied a long chain of hills, fortified by a rampart of stakes and willow hurdles. In the night of the 13th of October William announced to the Normans that the next day would be the day of battle. Priest and monks, who had followed the invading army in great numbers, attracted , like the soldiers, by the hope of booty, met to pray and chant litanies, while the warriors prepared their arms. The time which remained to them after this first care, was employed by them in confessing their sins, and receiving [ 15 ]the sacrament. In the other army the night was passed in a very different manner ; the Saxons diverted themselves with noisily singing old national songs, and emptying around their fires horns filled with beer and wine.

"When morning came, in the Norman camp, the Bishop of Bayeux, brother, on the mother's side, of Duke William, celebrated mass and blessed the troops, armed with a hauberk, under his rochet ; he then mounted a large white courser, took a baton of command, and drew up the cavalry. . .
" The army soon came in sight of the Saxon camp, north-west of Hastings . The priests and the monks, who accompanied it, retired to a neighbouring hill, to pray and watch the combat. A Norman, [ 16 ]named Taillefer, spurred his horse in front of the array, and began the song, famous throughout Gaul, of Charlemagne and Roland. As he sang he played with his sword, throwing it far into the air, and catching it, as it fell, in his right hand ; the Normans repeated the burthen, or shouted, Dieu-aide ! Dieu-aide !

"Coming within shot, the archers began to discharge their arrows, and the crossbowmen their bolts , but most of the shots were rendered useless by the high parapets of the Saxon redoubts. The infantry, armed with lances, and the cavalry, advanced to the gates of the redoubts, and endeavoured to force them. The Anglo-Saxons, all on foot, around their standard planted in the ground, and forming, behind their palisades, a compact and solid mass, received the assailants with heavy blows of their axes (œvissimœ secures, as the historian calls them), one blow of which broke the lances , and cut through the coats of mail. The Normans, not being able to penetrate the redoubts, or to tear up the stakes, fell back, fatigued with their useless attack , upon the division commanded by William. The Duke then made all his archers advance, and ordered them not to shoot straightforward, but into the air, so that the arrows might fall into the enemy's camp. Many of the English were wounded , most of them in the face, by this manoeuvre . Harold himself had his eye pierced with an arrow ; but, nevertheless, continued to issue his orders and to fight. The attack of the infantry and cavalry again commenced, amid cries of Notre Dame ! Dieu-aide ! Dieu-aide ! But the Normans were driven back from one of the gates of the camp to a deep ravine, covered with brushwood and grass, the growth of time, into which they and their horses fell one upon the other, [ 17 ]and thus perished in great numbers . There was a moment of terror in the foreign army. The report spread that the Duke had been killed, and at this news a retreat commenced. William threw himself before the fugitives and barred their passage, threatening them, and striking them with his lance ; then uncovering, 'I am here,' he exclaimed, Look at me, I still live, and, with the help of God, I will conquer.'

" The cavalry returned to the redoubts, but they could not force the gates nor make a breach ; the Duke then thought of a stratagem to induce the English to quit their position ; he ordered a thousand horse to advance and immediately retreat. The sight of this feigned flight made the Saxons lose their coolness . They all rushed in pursuit, their axes hanging from their necks. At a certain distance, a body, previously disposed, joined the fugitives, who turned ; and the English, surprised in their disorder, were assailed on every side by blows of lances and swords, from which they could not defend themselves, having both their hands occupied in wielding their great battle-axes. When they had lost their ranks, the redoubts were forced ; horse and foot made their way into them, but the combat was still fierce, hand to hand. William had his horse killed under him, Harold and his two brothers fell dead at the foot of their standard, which was torn up and replaced by the banner sent from Rome.

The wreck of the English army, without chief and without standard, prolonged the struggle to the end of the day, so late that the combatants of the two parties only recognized each other by their language.

"Then, and not till then, did this desperate resistance end. Harold's followers dispersed, many dying upon the roads of their wounds and the fatigue of the combat. The ' Norman horse pursued them, granting quarter to none. The victors passed the night on the field of battle, and the next day, at sunrise, Duke William drew up his [ 18 ]troops, and called over the names of all those who had crossed the sea with him, from the list which had been drawn up before their departure from St. Valery.......

" The mothers and wives of those who had come from the neighbourhood to fight and die with their King, united to seek together and bury the bodies of their relations. That of King Harold lay for a long time on the field of battle, without any one daring to claim it. At length, Godwin's widow, Ghitha, subduing for the moment her grief, sent a message to Duke William, asking his permission to render the last honours to her son. She offered, say the Norman historians, to give the weight of his body in gold. But the Duke sternly refused, saying that a man who had been false to his word and his religion, should have no other sepulchre than the sand of the shore. He relented, however, if we are to believe an old tradition, in favour of the monks of Waltham Abbey, which Harold had founded and enriched . "

The chronicles of the time are at variance respecting the ultimate disposal of the corpse-William of Malmesbury asserting that it was given unransomed to his mother, and by her buried in the Abbey of Waltham ; the author of the " Carmen," on the other hand , affirming that it was taken to Hastings, and there buried in the sand of the sea-shore." The popular belief, encouraged, for their own purposes , by the fraternity of Waltham, was, that Harold had found honourable sepulture among them ; though it may deserve a place among historic doubts, whether his real grave is not upon the cliffs of the Sussex shore. "

The Saxon Chronicle gives the following brief summary of the foregoing events :-

" Then came William, Earl of Normandy, into Pevensey, on the eve of St. Michael's-mass ; and, soon [ 19 ]after they were on their way, they constructed a castle at Hasting's-port. This was then made known to King Harold, and he then gathered a great force, and came to meet him at the hoar apple-tree ; and William came against him unawares, before his people were set in order. But the King, nevertheless, strenuously fought against him with those men who would follow him ; and there was great slaughter made on either hand . There was slain King Harold, and Leofwine the eorl, his brother, and Gyrth, the eorl his brother, and many good men ; and the Frenchmen had possession of the place of carnage, all as God granted them, for the people's sins.

This fight was done on the day of Calixtus the Pope. And William the eorl went afterwards again to Hastings, and there awaited to see whether the people would submit to him. But when he understood that they would not come to him, he went upwards with all his army which was left to him, and that which afterwards had come over sea to him, and he plundered all that part which he overran, until he came to Berkhampstead. "

There can be little doubt that Sussex was treated as a conquered territory, and that the neighbourhood of [ 20 ]Hastings had its full share in general misery. The lands of Harold were parcelled out amongst the Norman nobles. The castle and houses of Hastings, with numerous manors, were bestowed by the Conqueror on the Earl of Eu.

In the year 1093, Hastings had the presence of William Rufus and his Court for the space of a month . Nobles and prelates had been assembled to do homage to the King before his departure to Normandy. He was detained by contrary winds, and took up his abode in the castle, which seems then again to have been in possession of the Crown. During this month Robert Blovet was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln, by the celebrated Anselm , Archbishop of Canterbury.

Hastings seems at this time to have been in high repute for ship-building, since the favourite yacht of Henry I. is described in a document as "Esnetka" (Snecca, whence snack) mea de Hasting. " This yacht was frequently used for the conveyance of the Royal family to and from the Continent:

In the wars with the barons, in the reign of Henry III. , [ 21 ]Hastings, like the rest of the Cinque Ports, seems to have favoured the popular party, since, in a letter to the King, from his brother, the King of the Romans, respecting the landing of foreign troops, a doubt is expressed of the friendly disposition of the ports . The letter, which was written at Berkhampstead, and bears date October 23, 1262, is found among the Tower MSS. The passage alluded to is this :
"Because, if entrance be denied the foreigners by the Cinque Ports, we will by other means contrive a sure and abundant readiness to be exhibited towards them," & c., &c.

On the defeat and dispersion of the baronial party, the ports felt it necessary to conciliate their Sovereign, and the authorities of Hastings addressed to him a curiously apologetic letter, which is still in existence, and is as follows :-- "To their most excellent lord, and most dear lord, the most illustrious King of England, his liege and faithful barons of Hastings, greeting, in the Saviour of all , and prompt and ready willingness to obey in all things, even to the division of soul and body, with all subjection, reverence, and honour. We have thought it right to declare by these letters, to the excellence of your Royal Majesty, that extreme grief of heart, and anguish beyond measure, have now for a long time past affected all and each of us, inasmuch as we have neither been able to approach the bodily presence of your loyal clemency during the delay of your long sojourn in remote parts, nor to direct sure messengers in order to ascertain the certainty of the good condition of your person , for the sake of both the love and honour of which, we are ready to be crowned with a victorious death, if necessary. Moreover, let your Royal excellence take notice that we have, up to this time, guarded your town of Hastings for your use and that of your heirs, and at your good pleasure, shall guard it for ever, although anything to the contrary may have been suggested to your pious ears by our enemies against us. [ 22 ]To which enemies, indeed, do not give credence, since they are not to be believed in anything ; and although some persons, without the assent of our community, may have offended your Royal Majesty, we have at no time adopted them nor their evil deeds, but, even in the presence of your Royal Majesty, have disapproved and disavowed them and their evil works, and have never ceased to disapprove them. Wherefore, we humbly implore the clemency of your Royal Majesty, insomuch that you may intimate your good pleasure to us, as to your liege and faithful men, concerning all and singular matters which may please your Royal Majesty. May the excellence of your Royal Majesty be in health, and flourish to endless time ! "

On the 21st of August, 1378 , in the second year of Richard II. , Stowe states that the French became possessed through fraud of the Isle of Wight, which having plundered, they quitted, and coasted to the town of Winchelsea, which was saved by the spirited resistance of the Abbot of Battle. Stowe further states , that the French detached a part of their company to Hastings, where, finding the town almost deserted, they burnt it. That Hastings was not the principal object of attack, would seem to imply that at this time it was considered a less valuable prize than Winchelsea. St. Clement's Church was burnt at this time ; and it has been asserted that, when the town was rebuilt, it was divided into the three parishes of All Saints, St. Clements, and St. Mary in the Castle.

It is remarkable that no mention is made of the castle itself, as affording any defence to the town, from whence Mr. Cooper infers that it was probably at this time already falling into decay.

In the reign of Henry VIII., Hastings was apparently [ 23 ]in a very low state, as the Charter of Incorporation granted to Sussex in 1544, recites, that " The town of Hastings, in our county of Sussex, one of the greatest of the ancient towns of the Ports aforesaid, and near the sea, where the entrance of our enemies and rebels may soonest appear, is, by the flux and reflux of the sea, and by conflagrations there often committed by such our enemies, not only of lands and tenements, but also of the inhabitants, there so reduced to waste, destruction, and poverty, " & c. , &c.; that, in short, it was not able to supply its contingent of shipping, and therefore Seaford was incorporated to make up the deficiency.

It does not appear that in the Civil Wars between Charles I. and his Parliament, Hastings was ever the scene of conflict. It did not, however, escape some of the vexations of those latter times, but was subjected under the Parliamentary rule to the following visitation :-

" On Sunday morning, being the 9th of July, 1643, in time of Divine service, Colonel Morley, the crooked rebel of Sussex, came toward Hasting, one of the Cinque Ports, but in his march being discovered, presently notice was given to Mr. Hinson, Curate of All Saints ' , who, knowing that one end of the Colonel's Sabbath-day's journey was to apprehend him, was compelled to break off Divine service in the midst, and fly into a wood near at hand there to hide himself. The Colonel being entered the town, scattered the body of his horse into several parts to intercept all passages out of the town, and having secured the ports, he summons the Mayor and Jurats, and demands the arms of the town, to which he found ready obedience ; for presently the [ 24 ]Mayor and Jurats sent their servants to command all the inhabitants to deliver up their arms, which was done accordingly ; and one of the Jurats, Fray by name, furnished the Colonel with a waggon. He sent them away to Battell, being a town in Sussex, some five miles from Hasting. That night some soldiers lay in the church where Mr. Hinson officiated, where one Wicker, a common soldier, getting up into the pulpit, preached unto his fellows ; and to show the fruits of so good doctrine, going out of the church, either the preacher or one of his auditory stole away the surpless.' This account is taken from the Mercurius Rusticus.

Mr. Car, " the parson of St. Clement's, " fled away from home the same Sunday, but finding that Colonel Morley had gone to Battle, he ventured to return. On the road he met with Fray, the treacherous Jurat, but being privately warned of his danger, he managed to escape. Mr. Hinson was arrested in his own house on the Tuesday, and after three weeks' imprisonment in the common gaol, was sent with a strong guard to Colonel Morley, and by him forwarded to London, whence he escaped, and joined the King at Oxford.

A curious passage in the history of Hastings is preserved in the Autobiography of Bishop Patrick. Patrick was Bishop of Chichester in 1690, at which time the deposed King, James II., was striving to regain the crown by the assistance of Louis XIV. of France. In July of that year, whilst William III. was absent in Ireland, the French fleet were hovering about the Sussex coast. The good Bishop's account is as follows :-

" In the latter end of May, 1690, I went to settle my family at Chichester, and, blessed be God, had a safe journey thither, and a comfortable habitation there. The thirtieth of June being Monday, I began my visitation at Arundel, and went the next day to Lewis, where I visited on Wednesday, and on Thursday went towards Hastings, [ 25 ]and heard by the way that the French were burning that town. But we resolved to go on, being invited to lie at Sir Nicholas Pelham's, whose house was not many miles from it. He was gone thither with other country gentlemen, the French having attempted to burn some ships that were run on ground there . He sent us word the town was safe, but he could not come home that night. At six in the morning he came, and said there was no danger, but the town in such confusion that it would be to no purpose to go thither ; for the churches were full of soldiers, who lay there all night, and the streets full of country people, and all the women frighted away and fled, so that there were none left to dress any victuals . He invited us, therefore, to stay with him, and entertained us most kindly. But my chancellor, Dr. Briggs, all on a sudden started up, and would go to Hastings, and about noon word was brought us some of the clergy were there ; which made me condemn myself for not going with him, though I followed the best advice I could get. And afterwards it appeared to be the best ; for though some of the clergy appeared, there was no place wherein to visit them ; and, besides, it might have proved dangerous ; for two men were killed with a cannon-bullet in the very next house to that where my chancellor sat, which made him run away in haste before he had done his business, and (as I remember) left some of his books behind him. Sir Nicholas went early the next morning to Hastings, and we heard the French continued before the town. So I went to Battle and confirmed some young people, and in the afternoon went back to Lewis, where on Sunday I preached in St. Michael's Church . The next day I went to Brightelmston, and confirmed such as I found fit foit there. In the afternoon I went to Stennyng, where I heard next day great complaints against the minister, which I found too true, and ordered him to appear at Chichester the next court day. I visited the school also in that [ 26 ]town, and ordered the master to leave it at Lady-day, he being unable in many ways to instruct the children. That evening I returned home, and was entertained with the joyful news of his Majesty's great victory at the Boyne, in Ireland, and of God's wonderful providence in his preservation. The next day but one I visited at Chichester, and preached myself to the clergy ; and, blessed be God, held out well to the end of these labours. "

The town of Hastings was fired on by the combined fleets of the French and Dutch in 1720, a memorial of which is preserved in two balls now fixed to the tower of St. Clement's Church.

In August, 1796, a French privateer came into the roads, and approached so near to the coast as to occasion inquiry what she could be, and what was her object. Some supposed she was a smuggler, but were surprised at her daring. At length all doubt was removed by a boat's crew being put out, who rowed directly to a lime vessel and took possession of her. The privateer immediately made out to sea, followed by the same vessel navigated by French sailors. The fishermen, indignant at this outrage, immediately manned their fishing-boats, taking with them what fire-arms they could collect, and the whole town, including the visitors, became the spectators of the chase. At length the fishing-boats overtook the lime vessel, the French sailors yielded to superior numbers, the vessel was brought back, and, before the sun set, the French sailors were deposited in the cage or prison in the High-street.

To these memorabilia in the history of Hastings may [ 27 ]be added the following account of a curious natural phenomenon related in the " Philosophical Transactions " by Mr. Latham :--

" On Wednesday last, being July 26th (1797), about five o'clock in the afternoon, whilst I was sitting in my dining-room at this place (Hastings), which is situated upon the parade close to the sea-shore, nearly fronting the south, my attention was excited by a great number of people running down to the sea-side. Upon inquiring the reason, I was informed that the coast of France was plainly to be distinguished by the naked eye. I immediately went down to the shore, and was surprised to find that, even without the assistance of a telescope, I could very plainly see the cliffs on the opposite coast, which, at the nearest part, are between forty and fifty miles distant, and are not to be discerned from that low situation by the aid of the best glasses. They appeared to be only a few miles off, and seemed to extend for some leagues along the coast. I pursued my walk along the shore to the eastward, close to the water's edge, conversing with the sailors and fishermen upon the subject. They at first could not be persuaded of the reality of the appearance, but soon became so thoroughly convinced, by the cliffs gradually appearing more elevated, and approaching nearer as it were, that they pointed out, and named to me, the different places they had been accustomed to visit, such as the Bay, the Old Head, or Man, the Windmill, &c., at Boulogne, St. Valery, and other places on the coast of Picardy, which they afterwards confirmed when they viewed them through their telescopes. Their observations were, that the places appeared as near as if they were sailing at a small distance into the harbour.

" Having indulged my curiosity on the shore for nearly an hour, during which the cliffs appeared to be at some times more bright and near, at others more faint and at a greater distance, but never out of sight, I went upon the eastern cliff or hill, which is of a very consider[ 28 ]able height, when a most beautiful scene presented itself to my view, for I could at once see Dungeness, Dovor cliffs, and the French coast, all along from Calais to St. Valery, and, as some of the fishermen affirmed, as far to the westward as Dieppe. By the telescope the French fishing-boats were plainly to be seen at anchor, and the different colours of the land upon the heights, together with the buildings, were perfectly discernible. This curious phenomenon continued in the highest splendour till past eight o'clock (though a black cloud totally obscured the face of the sun for some time), when it gradually vanished . "

A similar instance of atmospheric refraction is said to have occurred here in 1822. [ 29 ]

CHAPTER II.

THE CASTLE. - INTERNAL CHANGES. - PROGRESS OF THE TOWN. - ST. LEONARDS.

BEFORE proceeding to a detailed description of Hastings, some notice must be bestowed on that ancient structure which presided over its rise, watched in silent powerlessness the varied events of its history, and may be destined to survive its decay.

Crowning the summit of the West Hill, and commanding attention when the first glimpse of Hastings is descried, stand the ruins of her Castle. Little is known of its history beyond the names of its successive owners .

The Castle, Honour and Rape of Hastings were bestowed by William the Conqueror on the Earl of Eu, by one of whose descendants they were forfeited to the Crown in the reign of Henry III. After several changes they were granted by Henry IV. to the Earl of Westmoreland, with a reversion to Sir John Pelham . By Sir John Pelham they were conveyed to Sir Thomas Hoo, of Hoo, in Bedfordshire, who seems to have had some claim over them which was a source of dispute with Pelham . Sir Thomas Hoo was created Baron of Hastings by Henry VI., and his descendants became Earls of Huntingdon. Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, died on the 20th November, in the second year of Elizabeth's reign ; and in the valuation of his estates in that year the Honour and Rape of Hastings are estimated at 100l. Henry, the last owner of the Huntingdon family, is described by Dugdale as a person of a gentle disposition , who was [ 30 ]so wrought on by the Puritan party as that he did not a little diminish his estate in cherishing that sort of people. " In 1591 , in consideration of 2,500l . , he sold the Honour, Castle and Rape to Thomas Pelham , amongst whose descendants they have ever since remained .

" At what period the Castle fell into decay is uncertain. The town was only partially fortified. In 1265 Simon de Montford preferred Winchelsea to Hastings for his retreat after his father's defeat at Evesham, and in the fifth of Edward III. , the Dean and Chapter of the King's Free College, to protect their own property, prayed to be allowed to repair the walls of the Castle, which had been devastated by frequent inroads of the sea, and their petition was granted. In Richard II., when the French burnt a portion of the town and the church, the Castle was useless as a protection. The fifth , sixth, and seventh Earls of Eu resided for a long time at their Chateau d'Eu, and founded many monastic establishments in Normandy ; and it is most probable that Hastings Castle was neglected, and fell into decay during the latter half of the twelfth century or the commencement of the thirteenth . "

Besides the Castle itself the lords did not possess any large property within the town as it then existed . The Royal Free Chapel within the walls was not theirs, nor had they the ecclesiastical patronage of the churches, which belonged to the Abbey of Fécamp, and was subsequently granted by Henry VIII. to the possessor of Battle Abbey, Sir Anthony Browne.

A great part of the town also belonged to the Abbey of Fécamp, and formed part of the manor of Brede.The following is a list of the holders of the Honour of Hastings, given in Horsfield's History of Sussex :-
1. King William I., by conquest. [ 31 ]2. Robert, Earl of Eu, by grant. He endowed the church of St. Mary, in the Castle.
3. King William II.; taken by artifice, at the death of King William I., by Eudo de Rie. A parliament was held in the Castle.
4. William, Earl of Eu, by grant.
5. Henry, Earl of Eu, by inheritance. He confirmed to the canons of Hastings all the prebends belonging to the chapel in the Castle.
6. John, Earl of Eu, by inheritance.
7. Henry, Earl of Eu, a minor. He gave the lordship of Worthe to Robertsbridge Abbey.
8. Alice, Countess of Eu, who married Ralph de Ysenden. She adhered to the French cause, 1221 .
9. William de Ysenden, by inheritance.
10. King Henry III., by escheat.
11. Prince Edward, by grant. King Henry III. , a second time, by the surrender of Prince Edward.
12. Peter of Savoy, Earl of Richmond and of Dreux : by grant, in exchange for the manor of Radenhall, Norfolk, 1262 .
13. John Rufus, second Duke of Brittany, by grant. He had the Honour and Rape, 1269, excepto castro de Hastings. Confirmed by Edward I., except the castle and advowson.
14. John, third Duke of Brittany, by inheritance. He married the sister of King Edward I. , 1277, ob. 1304.
15. Arthur, fourth Duke of Brittany, by inheritance.
16. John, his brother ; on creation as Earl of Richmond, the Castle and Honour of Hastings being at that time wrongly assumed to be part of the Earldom of Richmond, though only held by an exchange of Peter of Savoy.
17. John, Earl of Montford, son of Arthur, by the second marriage with the daughter of the fourth Earl of Dreux
18. John, son of John of Montford, by inheritance. He married Mary, daughter of King Edward III . [ 32 ]19. King Edward III.
20. John of Gaunt, as Earl of Richmond, by grant. King Edward III. , a second time, by reconcession from John of Gaunt, at the resignation of, but separate from, the Earldom of Richmond.
21. King Richard II., by inheritance.
22. King Henry IV. , by succession.
23. Sir John Pelham, ob. 7 Henry VI., by grant.
24. Johanna Pelham, by petition .
25. Sir Thomas Hoo, afterwards created Lord Hastings .
26. Sir William, afterwards Lord Hastings, by grant, Castle and Rape. The Honour here returned to the family of Eu, Sir William being the tenth descent from Henry, Earl of Eu, and Ida his wife, about 1140-50 .
27. Humphrey Stafford seized for a short time.
28. Sir Edward Hastings, Lord Hungerford, 1482 ; Lord Hastings, 1483, ob. 1507.
29. George, first Earl of Huntingdon, by inheritance.
30. Francis, second Earl of Huntingdon .
31. Henry, third Earl of Huntingdon.
32. Sir Thomas Pelham, by purchase. In which family the manor or honour has remained to the present day. The sum given by Sir Thomas was 2,500l. , and a reserved rent of 13l. 6s. 8d. per annum.

For more than a century, prior to the year 1824, the area within the walls had been occupied as a pasturage for sheep.

Grose thus describes its appearance in his time, about seventy years before the excavations :-

" The artificial parts of this fortress are in shape nearest two sides of an oblique spherical triangle, having the point of the angle rounded off. The base or south side

completing the triangle is formed bya perpendicular, craggy cliff, in length measuring about 400 feet, which seems to [ 33 ]have had no wall or other fortification.......Its east side, is made by a plain wall, without tower or other defence. This wall measures nearly 300 feet . Its adjoining side, which faces the north-west, is about the same length as the rock, namely, 400 feet......The area included is nearly an acre and a fifth. The walls, which are nowhere entire, are about eight feet thick. The gateway was on the north side, near the northernmost angle ; it is now demolished . Near it, to the westward , is the remains of a small tower, enclosing a circular flight of stairs ; and on the same side, farther on to the west, is a sally port and ruins of another tower. "

In 1824, the late Earl of Chichester caused extensive excavations to be made, under the direction of Mr. Kay, an architect. These were commenced at the steps in the west tower, and by digging downwards the important discovery of the floor and other remains of the church were made. This appeared to have been composed of a chancel, side chapel, nave, and aisle. The whole length of the building measured 110 feet. The walls and chancel arch were rebuilt out of the ruins. The bases, capitals, and other ornaments, were found amongst the fragments, and are of Transition Norman work. The bases of the shafts have leaves springing out of the mouldings lying on the angles of the plinth. Other bases, capitals, and mouldings, were also found amongst the ruins, and, at present, lie piled up in a heap on the turf. Some are also deposited in the gatekeeper's house. The ascent from the nave to the chancel was by several steps. At the upper end of the chancel was the high altar, and in the side wall are the remains of a sedilia. In the side chapel, also, are the traces of an altar. The remains of a font and piscina now stand in the nave. The latter is placed against the west wall, which is also the wall of the Castle. It has marks of a range of arches, which, however, are now nearly hidden by ivy. A door-way communicates with a flight of stone steps in the circular tower, which were discovered at the first commencement of the excavations. The stones [ 34 ]belonging to two stone coffins are in the side aisle, placed nearly as they were found. Two other coffins were also discovered, one containing the skeleton of a child, another of a man, with two skulls, and some bones placed at his feet. The skeletons were in a tolerable state of preservation, and, in the skull of each, the teeth were regular and sound. The coffins were of stone, composed of several pieces, and of the rudest form. They lay, as did the other coffins, about two feet below what was the flooring of the chapel, and were covered with plain slabs of stone.

Imperfect as are these ruins, they must ever be interesting, as marking the site of a church associated with the names of Thomas à Becket and William of Wykeham, and which once echoed to the voice of Anselm of Canterbury.

The spot where the entrance gate to the Castle now stands had always been supposed to be the site of the original gate, but, on proceeding with the excavation along the north side, a gateway was discovered, about eight or nine feet in width, and nineteen in depth. This is considered to have been the keep-gate . There is still remaining the groove for the portcullis, and the hooks on which the hinges of the gate were hung. Some fragments of an old chain, evidently used for fastening the gate, were found near the spot. By digging downwards on the outside of the wall, the semicircular towers, which defended it, came to light. These had been completely hidden under masses of earth and rubbish, which covered what is now a sort of level platform, with a dyke below, cut between the hill on which the Castle stands , and the opposite elevation. The wall is continued on the eastern side, till it reaches the edge of the cliff. It is supported by three semicircular towers.

On the western side the fortifications consist of a lofty wall, supported by towers, one circular, the other square. They are of considerable height. The circular tower, which contains the steps before alluded to, is on a line with the chancel arch, in the ruins of the chapel. In the [ 35 ]interior of this tower, and in other parts of the walls, are courses of herring-bone work. The square tower, further to the southward, has two openings deeply splayed from within. Here are, also, the remains of a sally-port. The walls are pierced with loopholes, through which the besieged might effectually annoy their assailants. The arch, on this side, is very steep.

A spur, ancient keys, half of a bridle-bit, a chain bridle, and a lamp-suspender, are amongst the relics dug up in the ruins, and kept at the lodge.

The area within the Castle walls is now laid out as a pleasure-ground, to which persons are admitted by payment of a small charge. [ 36 ]

THE TOWN.

From the time that Hastings ceased to be of importance as a port, to the time when it rises into notice as a watering-place, very little is known of its internal condition. By the charter quoted at p . 23, it is shown that the place had suffered much from the encroachments of the sea ; and these appear to have recurred at frequent intervals. In the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the pier (which was of wood, and projected from the centre of what is now the Marine Parade towards the south- east) was destroyed by a storm. In 1596, another pier, which was nearly finished, was similarly destroyed .

" Behold, " says the record in the Corporation books, (see Horsfield , i . 449 , ) " when men were most secure, and thought the work to be perpetual, on All Saints' day, 1597, appeared the mighty force of God, Who, with the finger of his hand, at one great and exceeding high spring- tide, with a south-east wind, overthrew this huge work in less than an hour, to the great terror and amazement of all beholders. "

The disappearance of some of the parish churches, mentioned in old records , is probably due to the same causes.

The inhabitants , during the first half of the eighteenth century, appear to have depended chiefly on the fishery and boat-building. A trade in burning lime also existed ; and, up to 1816 , there were lime-kilns at the foot of the Castle-hill. To these lawful trades must be added the unlawful one of smuggling, which all the older inhabitants report to have been carried on here to a great extent. In 1731 , as appears from a letter of Dr. Frewin, of Lewes, to Dr. Jurin, F.R.S. , respecting the prevalence of small-pox here, the whole number of inhabitants was only 1636-782 males, 854 females. The small-pox had then been a year and a-half at Hastings, and had carried off ninety-seven persons ; 608 had it, but recovered.

In 1752, as appears by an entry in the parish register [ 37 ]of All Saints, cited by Moss, Samuel Munn, surgeon, of the parish of St. Clement, contracted to " look after and nourish all manner of diseases, sickness, and human infirmities (if it is in his power) of the poor belonging to this parish, for the sum of three guineas for the whole year."

Towards the end of the century, we find Hastings resorted to by visitors. A library was established at 29, High-street (the house now occupied by Mr. Foster, tailor), which was opened during the summer, and closed during the winter months, indicating that the place now had a summer season. Previous to this, a library was formed in what is now Coburg-place ; and, in 1791 , Mr. Barry opened the library which is now Diplock's, and published a " Guide, " the pages of which amply testify to the watering-place character Hastings had now begun to assume. At the first opening of Barry's Library, it was the practice to transfer the locality of the reading rooms, &c., to a more sheltered situation, during the winter months.

At this period, the town was almost entirely included in the valley between the East and West Hill. High-street and All Saints '- street were the principal thoroughfares , and in the upper stories of their houses were lodged the visitors, even those of distinguished rank.

In the summer of 1794 the Duke of Sussex, with Lady Augusta Murray and Colonel d'Este, then an infant of six months old, occupied East-hill House. Sir John Moore lodged over the shop now occupied by Mr. Amoore, High-street. The peculiarly sheltered situation and mild temperature of the old town, no doubt, contributed to earn for Hastings its reputation as a winter retreat for persons of delicate lungs. The areas between the principal [ 38 ]streets were then not so much built over, and many of the houses had gardens. The Bourne, an open stream, flowed through the town from the north-east to the sea, and supplied the inhabitants with water.

The old houses now or recently remaining, indicate what had been the prevalent style of architecture during the previous century. But few of these old houses now remain. There is one in George-street, by the side of the steps leading up to the Croft ; one in High-street, bearing date 1610 ; and others in All Saints, and the passage connecting it with High-street. The town-wall once extended from the Castle Cliff to the East Cliff, defending the valley towards the sea. It had three gates , one below the Swan Inn, one across the mouth of the Bourne, and one further to the east. A considerable part of this wall was remaining, according to Moss, about forty years prior to the date of his work (1824). There are still portions of it existing in Bourne-street and George-street. The workhouse at this time stood in George-street, which, however, does not seem to have been regularly built till later, as visitors remember the east end being nearly open towards the sea. Where the Comte de Vandes' house now stands, adjoining Diplock's Library, stood the pest-house for paupers. The library was the last house to the westward. The line of cliff, as it existed before Pelham-place was begun, towered grandly above the road. The site of Wellington square was a sloping hill. A bridge separated the Priory Meadow, which was then skirted by trees, from the road. Nearly opposite what is now the Brewery, a little to the south-west of the cliff on which the Priory Station stands, was the White Rock. The road which wound between this rock and the Priory Cliff was frequently covered by the sea and rendered impassable. A gun was planted on the White Rock, during the war.

In 1760, a battery was erected at the eastern extremity of that part of the beach which is now the Parade ; and, about the same time, ground was granted by the Corporation for the erection of the Government house, magazine, & c. [ 39 ]At the commencement of the present century, Hastings wore a military aspect. A body of 12,000 men were quartered in the neighbourhood, and of these the Duke of Wellington had the command in 1806. He resided at Hastings House, where he took up his abode with his bride on the very day of their marriage.

General Spencer occupied a house, on the site of which Nelson's-buildings (High-street) now stands.

Barracks were erected at Halton, for cavalry, infantry, and artillery. There were also camps at Battle, Bexhill , and Fairlight.

Notwithstanding threats of French invasion, and the consequent insecurity of the coast, these large camps had the effect of drawing numerous visitors to Hastings, chiefly indeed those connected with the military there.

In 1801 , the population only amounted to 3,175 .

New buildings, in this period, seem to have been erected chiefly on the declivities of the two ridges which inclose the valley. In 1805, the proprietor of the ground on which the Croft houses now stand , and which, as its name signifies, was then a meadow, very similar to the present Croft meadow, sold the land in building lots, reserving a piece at the south end, which he gave for the erection of the Croft Chapel. The houses built in this locality, of course took their rank as a superior class of residences. Gloucester-place was built in 1817.

The Marine Parade was at first commenced by Mr. Barry, who was desirous of providing a walk for the accommodation of the visitors to his library. An extension of his plan was proposed, subscriptions raised, and the [ 40 ]parade, to the length of 500 feet, completed in 1812. Its length is now 920 feet.

In 1811 , the population was 4,025.

The cessation of the war, and the habits of peace, soon produced an increase in the numbers of those whom health or pleasure brought to the sea-coast, and Hastings began to feel the need of expansion.

The demand for houses fronting the sea, and perhaps their own insecurity, led to the excavation and partial destruction of the front line of cliffs, and the erection of Pelham-place, the Crescent, Breeds-place, and Castle street. These buildings were undertaken and completed between the years 1820-25. St. Mary's Church, in the centre of the Crescent, was consecrated and opened in 1828.

The third edition of Powell's " Guide," the date of which seems by the contents, referrible to the year 1825, gives the names of the following streets, &c. , westward of Barry's (Diplock's) Library :

Pelham-place, 7 houses.
Castle-street, 14 houses.
York-buildings, 14 houses.
Opposite York-buildings, 2 houses.
At the back, 2 houses.
Meadow-cottages, 7 houses .
The Castle Hotel (finished and opened, 1818 ).
Wellington-place.
The east and north sides of Wellington-square, 31 houses.
Blucher-place, 47 houses (part of what is now Bedford place).
Castle-cottages, beneath the Castle-hill, 5 houses .
York-cottages, near the Priory-bridge, 4 houses.
Kentish-buildings, also near the Priory-bridge, 4 houses.

[ 41 ]

Beach-cottages, between the Priory-bridge and Marine Baths, 6 houses.
Caroline-place, 6 houses.
The Rope-walk is spoken of as having some neat cottages, and lodgings are also mentioned on the White Rock-road.

The population in 1821 had increased to 6,300 . The Rope-walk and White Rock-road occupied that site which is now covered with the buildings of Carlisle parade, Robertson-terrace, and Robertson-street. This was formerly a waste tract of land , which had been left by the recession of the sea, and being unclaimed, was covered by the habitations of a sort of squatters, who took possession at their will . It hence obtained the popular name of the American ground. But in 1823 the Crown claimed the land, granted short leases to the inhabitants, and at the expiration of these, cleared off the existing tenements.

A sea-wall was built, the ground enclosed, a foot-path being granted through it - by permission only. It now gained the appellatives of the Government Ground, the Permission Ground, or, more frequently, the Desert. The expulsion of its original settlers took place about the year 1836. The population of the parish of the Holy Trinity, in which this tract is situated, which in 1831 was 1,074, in 1841 sunk to 9.

In 1828, St. Leonards was begun, and though at first it bore the aspect of a distinct town, it required no great prescience to foresee that it would ultimately attract its older neighbour to join it.

In 1834-5 the cliffs near the White Rock were levelled, a new road made, and part of what is now White Rock-place begun. The buildings of the Roman Catholic Institution were erected between 1834 and 1840. The Infirmary was completed in the year 1841 .

But after the completion of the railroad, and the establishment of termini, first at Bo-peep, then at [ 42 ]St. Leonards, and lastly at Hastings, a still greater progress was made. Eversfield-place began to arise in 1850, and the whole line of road between Hastings and St. Leonards, once so wild and solitary, has since become a string of handsome houses on the one hand, and a regular esplanade, on the other. In 1850, also, Government having granted a lease of their piece of land, the once desert tract was laid out for building, and Robertson street, one of its fronts, is now one of the busiest parts of the town. The Hastings station, which is the terminus of three lines of railroad - the London, Brighton, and South-coast, the London and Southeastern, and the Hastings and Dovor(sic), - was opened early in 1851 .

For the present extent and street- nomenclature of the town we must refer to the annexed Plan, and content ourselves here with saying a few words on the origin and topography of

ST. LEONARDS .

The site now occupied by the pretty and flourishing town of St. Leonards had for many centuries but few habitations. It lies partly within the parish of St. Leonard, partly within that of St. Mary Magdalene, and belonged to a family of the name of Lewis, from whence it came to the Eversfields, and was purchased by Mr. Burton for the erection of a new town. It is situated partly in a valley, which opens very prettily at the back, and being wider and less precipitous than the valley in which Hastings nestles, the temperature is more airy, and not so warm.

The Archway is the eastern boundary of the township, but as, in the present postal arrangements, Eversfield-place, Warrior-square, and Grand-parade are included in the St. Leonards delivery, they are in common parlance called St. Leonards. [ 43 ]The Marina extends along the front of the town. At the back of the Marina is the Assembly Room. The Subscription Gardens and Archery Grounds are very prettily laid out on the side of the hill, and afford a grateful retreat from the glare of the sun . Here are several detached residences. Allegria, a villa belonging to James Coster, Esq., Gloucester Lodge, and several others, look into the gardens. The exit from the town on the north is through an archway.

On the West Hill is St. Leonards' Spa. There is a fine sea view from this elevation.

The church or chapel of St. Leonard was begun in 1831 , when the Princess Sophia of Gloucester laid the first stone. It was completed in 1833. It has no particular architectural features.

The Victoria Hotel, which fronts the sea, is a large and handsome building. The Bank, the Library, and the Baths are all comprised in one building, which is on the south side of the Marina.

The descriptions of Theodore Hook, and Dr. Granville, may suitably complete this brief sketch of St. Leonards.

"From the meditation in which he was absorbed, Jack was aroused upon his arrival at that splendid creation of modern art and industry, St. Leonards, which perhaps affords one of the most beautiful and wonderful proofs of individual taste, judgment, and perseverance, that our nation exhibits. Under the superintendence of Mr. Burton a desert has become a thickly-peopled town.
Buildings of an extensive nature and most elegant character rear their heads where but a few years since the barren cliffs presented their chalky (sandy) fronts to the storm and wave, and rippling streams and hanging groves [ 44 ]adorn the valley, which twenty years since, was a sterile and shrubless ravine."

Dr. Granville says, " We should look in vain on any other coast of England for such a range of buildings as those he " (Mr. Burton) " has raised below St. Leonards ' Cliff......None but the unrivalled crescents of Bath and Bristol is superior to the Marina of St. Leonards. " Of the higher sites near the north gate he says, " The whole of this varied region must be a little paradise to invalids ; and the houses, whether those detached as Italian or Lombard villas with gardens, or those placed in rows like a series of Gothic cottages, all equally desirable, are much sought after......The Victoria Hotel has the appearance of a nobleman's mansion. A wide street runs up on each side of it, leading to other and less regular series of buildings constituting the town of St. Leonards, and also to that paradise of detached villas to which I have already alluded. "

Warrior-square he describes, as an " excellent locality in summer as well as winter," because the houses will have varied aspects - be farther removed from the water - not hemmed in between the latter and a lofty cliff behind, neither so much exposed to the gales.

The rise of St. Leonards advanced the population of Hastings in 1831 to 10,231 . [ 45 ]

CHAPTER III .

PARISHES , CHURCHES, AND ANCIENT ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS. - DISSENTING CHAPELS. - RETURNS OF THE CENSUS OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.

THE history of the ancient parishes and churches of Hastings, and their connexion with the present ecclesiastical divisions, is involved in some obscurity.

Moss says (p . 97), that there is one church mentioned in " Domesday Book, " and that that most probably was All Saints.

In the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, made about 1291 , there is mention made of the churches of St. Margaret, St. Leonard, St. Michael and St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. Clement, and All Saints, and of the Priory of the Holy Trinity of Hastings.

In the Inquisitiones Nonarum, " 1340, the church of St. Leonard, Hastyng, is mentioned .

In the " Valor Ecclesiasticus, " a valuation made in the time of Henry VIII. , St. Clement's and All Saints' are mentioned as churches existing ; and among the places from which the income of the New Priory was derived, mention is made of the parish of St. Michael . [ 46 ]In the " Hastings Guide " (Barry's), 1794, there occurs the following notices of ruined churches :- "It appears there was formerly another church called St. Michael, and an Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, but no certain accounts are to be obtained respecting them ; and upon the Eastern Hill, in a small square field, stood a church called St. George's, the last remains of which, inconsiderable and of little account, were levelled by the late Rector some twenty-five years ago. There had likewise been a church or chapel on the hill just over the East Hill, human skeletons, bones, and fragments of buildings having been discovered at times on the falling away of the cliff. " - P. 45.

" Walk to Bexhill. Pass the bathing-room under the Castle cliff, and over the White Rock, a little beyond which are the remains of a ruin on the edge of the cliff, supposed to have been St. Leonard's Chapel. " (P. 71.)

" Bo-peep, a public-house by the road-side ......In a field behind the house are the ruins of an ancient church or chapel. " (P. 72. )

Of the church of St. Andrew, mentioned in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, the Rev. G. S. G. Stonestreet, in his communication given in Horsfield's Sussex, says :-

" The ruins of the church of St. Andrew stood, within fifteen years, a few yards from the north side of Wellington-square, and the site was sold and desecrated to building purposes, in violation of the dead and of the patronage of the rectory, although vested in the Corporation by Royal grant and confirmed by Act of Parliament."

Respecting St. Michael, Mr. Stonestreet says :-

" The road near what is called the 'White Rock' having been washed away early in this year (1834) , in cutting down the adjacent cliffs for materials of repair, the workmen came upon the remains of a church , probably St. Michael, upon what is now known as Cuckoo [ 47 ]Hill. This hill is traditionally a parish in itself. Some years since (it is stated by a respectable inhabitant, at one time tenant) a mill stood on the top. A man employed in it broke his thigh, and the miller was compelled to maintain him during his whole confinement at his own expense."

Respecting St. George's, Mr. Stonestreet goes on to say :-

" There is an old burial-ground, still partly enclosed, but used only as grazing ground, on the top of the East Hill, in All-Saints ' parish. It is called St. George's, for which I have had no satisfactory reason or authority given, and am further at a loss to assign a name to it, as the small decayed benefices already recited were all on the western side of the town."

St. Margaret's, Mr. Stonestreet thinks, was probably a very poor benefice, and therefore, like St. Peter's, soon fell into decay.

The parishes in the Hastings District, as given in the Population Returns for 1851 , are as follows :-

All-Saints ,
St. Clement,
St. Mary-in-the-Castle,
St. Andrew,
Holy Trinity, or Priory,
St. Michael-on-the- Rock,
St. Mary Magdalene,
St. Leonard-on-Sea,
St. Mary Bulverhythe.

All-Saints and St. Clements have ancient churches ; St. Mary-in-the- Castle, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Leonard-on- Sea, had no churches for an indefinite period prior to the present century. St. Andrew, St. Michael, Holy Trinity, and St. Mary Bulverhythe have none now.

Besides parish churches, there were anciently at Hastings three other ecclesiastical foundations, the names of which have descended to some of the present parishes. [ 48 ]

CHAPEL AND COLLEGE OF ST. MARY .

These were, the Royal Free Chapel of St. Mary within the Castle walls, the Priory, and the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene.

The Chapel of St. Mary, the ruins of which have been already described, though inclosed within the Castle. area, was independent of the owners of the Castle and also of the Bishop of Chichester. Mr. Stonestreet observes that its constitution was similar to that of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. By whom the Chapel and College were founded is uncertain, but it is said by Tanner to have been endowed by Henry of Eu.

The original establishment was for a dean and certain secular canons.

The College seal is extant, and represents a female figure holding in her hand a small church, which, it has been conjectured, may have figured the exterior appearance of the building. If so, it was surmounted by a small spire. The seal, which is of oval shape, has the date A. R. 22 Edward III. , - that is, A. D. 1349.

It was in this chapel, as has been mentioned in the extract from Eadmer, that, during the visit of William Rufus, the consecration of Robert Blovet, Bishop of Lincoln, by Anselm the Primate, took place in 1093.

Thomas ầ Becket was Dean of Hastings somewhere between 1157 and 1161. [ 49 ]

COLLEGE OF ST. MARY.

William of Wykeham also held a prebend in this same college.

The chronicle of Battel Abbey describes at length the contest between the Monastery and the See of Chichester, in respect to the right of the former to ecclesiastical independence. In the course of those proceedings mention is made of another person in the diocese who similarly resisted the Bishop's claim, and this was probably the Dean or Head of the Collegiate Chapel of St. Mary, Hastings. This contest was carried on at different periods during the reigns of Stephen and Henry II. At that time the " certain other person, " it appears, made submission and gave up his claim. Whether this were the Principal of St. Mary's or not, there are abundant records that about 120 years after the settling of that dispute, in the reign of Edward I., a contest was going on for the peculiar privileges of the chapel, and was maintained throughout that reign.

In the 7th of Edward I. ( 1279) , William de Lewis and Walter de Tothylle, Chaplains and Canons of the King's Free Chapel at Hastings, residing there, complained to the King that the Bishop of Chichester and his officials grievously and unjustly treated them, by citing them to their Synod, interdicting the church to the said Free Chapel, &c. The King granted a writ, ordering the Bishop to desist. Nevertheless, the Bishop asserted a right to present to, and admit to the prebends . The cause was referred to the Parliament. In the meantime the King issued a prohibition to the Archbishop of Canterbury to restrain him from visiting the chapel and the prebends belonging to it. Twenty-two years after, the Archbishop [ 50 ]

COLLEGE OF ST. MARY.

(Robert de Winchelsey) disregarding this prohibition, prepared to visit the church, when Edward issued a writ to Stephen Sprot, constable of his Castle of Hastings , to prevent him.

Whilst the suit between the Crown and the Bishop of Chichester was pending, the King presented John de Cadomo to one of the prebends, upon which the Archbishop cited the patentee to appear before him to answer for the intrusion, but received the King's prohibition to desist from interference.

In the thirty-third of Edward I. , A.D. 1305 , Archbishop Winchelsey, in his Metropolitan Visitation of the diocese of Chichester, having, against the King's prohibition, gone to the town of Hastings with the intent of visiting the King's Free Chapel there, and excommunicated the keeper of the Castle of Hastings, John de Wicheo, for refusing to admit him into the Castle to visit the chapel, and having afterwards sent commissioners, who, in the absence of the keepers, effected an entrance, visited the chapel, and placed a dean, William de Lewes, therein, the King issued a writ, April 20th, summoning the Archbishop to appear before him , on the morrow of the Feast of the Holy Trinity, to answer these high contempts against his crown and royal dignity ; and on November 9th he ordered Robert de Burghersh, Warden of the Cinque Ports, to go to Hastings, inquire into the truth of the matter, and remove the Dean who had been intruded.

In the reign of Henry VI. the chapel was finally put under the jurisdiction of the see of Chichester.

In the reign of Edward III. the Dean and Chapter, as before related, applied for permission to repair the Castle walls for the security of their church. They received permission to do this, and also to build houses and enjoy the benefit of pasture within the town of Hastings. [ 51 ]

PRIORY OF THE HOLY TRINITY.

Soon after the suppression of the College, it was granted, together with the Deanery, by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Browne, but what was the state of the church, or when it fell to ruins , does not appear.

The Priory of Hastings is supposed to have been situated near where the Priory farm-house now stands. A small fragment of wall in the farm-yard marks the site. At the bottom of a pond near this farm-yard was found, some thirty or forty years ago, a deep hole, with the remains of a sluice, deep gates, and other works, supposed to have been constructed by the inhabitants of the convent to keep off the encroachments of the sea.

The Priory was of the order of the Black Canons of St. Augustin, and was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It was founded by Sir Walter Bricet, in the reign of Richard I. , as is supposed, but little is known of its history. The gradual encroachments of the sea seem to have endangered it, and the church and house having been overflowed, Sir John Pelham, A.D. 1413, gave them lands at Warbleton to erect a new church and monastery . The letters patent made on this grant are quoted by Moss (p. 80), from Dugdale's Monasticon, vol . ii. , and recite as follows :

" Whereas the church of the Holy Trinity of Hastyng and the dwelling of our beloved in Christ, the Prior and Convent of the aforesaid church at Hastyng, have been inundated and laid waste by the sea, so that they could no longer dwell there, as the said Prior and Convent have given us to understand, for which reason our beloved and faithful knight, Sir John Pelham, by our licence hath given and granted to the same Prior and Convent certain lands and tenements in Warbilton, on which lands a new church and dwelling in honour of the Holy Trinity hath been begun, as it is said, " &c., &c.

Of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen very little is known. It was an almshouse for decayed brothers and sisters, but its site has not been discovered. In the reign of Edward I., Petronella de Cham, of Hastings, gave five [ 52 ]acres to William de Waldern, the Bailiff of Hastings, and the brothers and sisters of the hospital.

There were also two chantries at Hastings, one of them described in the " Valor Ecclesiasticus " as within the Church of St. Clement.

We now come to a more particular description of the existing parishes and churches of Hastings :-

THE PARISH OF ALL SAINTS

Contains 461 acres, having, at the last Census, 562 inhabited houses, 13 uninhabited, and 3 building, with a population of 3,410 persons, viz., 1,633 males, 1,777 females.

Mr. Sharpe, in his lecture on the Architecture of the Sussex Churches ( Sussex Arch. Coll., vol . vii. , p. 13 of the Proceedings at Meeting of the Archaeological Institute), says, " Hastings has two large plain churches, neither of which possess much interest.

The Church of All Saints, which stands at the northern end of All Saints'-street, just at the foot of the East Hill, is by far the most picturesque and venerable object which meets the eye, on entering the town by the old London road.

It appears to have been erected early in the fifteenth century. It consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and a south porch. At the west end stands an embattled tower, supported by three massive graduated buttresses. Above the west doorway are twelve quatrefoils, under which, on each side, is a shield, now blank, [ 53 ]projecting from a quatrefoil. In the upper story is a small window, with a round-headed arch, the outer moulding of which is pointed, and supported by grotesque heads. The walls on the north are supported by seven, and on the south side by six, buttresses. The porch is entered by a round arch, above which are a cross and two niches, possibly of the twelfth century.

Within the porch, against the east wall, are the remains of a curious stoup, raised on a pannelled shaft and base. It had been built over, and was discovered about ten years ago.

In the south wall of the chancel are three sedilia. The aisles are separated from the nave by pointed arches. A window at the east end of the north aisle, which is said by Moss to be the only one retaining its original form, has some remains of painted glass.

The font is octangular, and ornamented alternately with quatrefoils, inclosing blank shields, and pointed arches with trefoil tracery. It stands upon an octangular shaft, with pointed arches and brackets for figures.

Rickman, in his Gothic Architecture, (4th ed., 8vo., London, 1835,) says of the old churches of Hastings :-

"The Churches of All Saints and St. Clement's, at Hastings, have both been handsome edifices, partly of flint and stone, and mostly of perpendicular character ; but they have been much altered and mutilated ." (p. 247. )

On a black marble stone, at the east end of the north aisle, are the figures of a man and woman with clasped hands. The date of this stone, now obliterated, is given as 1458, in the " Copies of Monumental Inscriptions," by Dr. Rich. Rawlinson (Rawl. MSS . C. , 253), in the Bodleian Library. The female figure is veiled. On removing the floor of the old Corporation pews in 1844, a monumental brass was discovered, with the effigies of a man and woman in the attitude of prayer, and this inscription :-

" Here, under this stone, lyeth the bodies of Thomas Goodenough, sometime burges of this town, and Mar[ 54 ]garet, his wyf, for whose soules, of your charite, say a Paternoster and an Ave."

The most remarkable modern tablets are those to the memory of Mlle. de Ruffo, eldest daughter of Prince Castelcicala ; and one to the memory of Mrs. Beazley, a disciple of Swedenborg.

Amongst other curious entries in the parish books is one of a sum paid to the ringers for ringing on the day of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1578 ; also a list of contributions towards the redemption of Christian slaves in Turkey, the principal contributor giving only one shilling.

When Dr. Waddington, Bishop of Chichester in 1724, made inquiries into the state of the diocese, the progress of dissent had reduced the number of communicants at All Saints ' Church, Hastings, from 247 in 1603 , to about forty in 1724.

The Churches of All Saints and St. Clement, with great part of the town of Hastings, and other places in the neighbourhood, anciently belonged to the Abbey of Fểcamp, in Normandy. The Abbot continued to hold them till the dissolution of the alien priories. The manor was then granted to the Monastery of Syon, and at its dissolution to Sir Anthony Browne ; but the Crown seems to have had the ecclesiastical patronage, as, in 1461 , it was granted, with the Rape of Hastings, to William , Lord Hastings.

In 1586, Henry Elks, Clerk and Bachelor of Arts, was executed at Tyburn for counterfeiting the Queen's sign-manual to procure his presentation to the parsonage of All Saints. The forged instrument was directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishopric of Chichester being void at the time of the transaction.

On the 4th of May, 1636, Christopher Dowe was presented by the King to the Church of All Saints. [ 55 ]The advowson afterwards came into the Webster family. The present patron of both livings is the Rev. J. G. Foyster.

A list of the Rectors of All Saints is here given from Moss (p. 108), with the names of Dowe and Cranston, omitted by him, supplied.

1573.	Robert Holland .
1621.	Alexander Chaderton.
1636.	Christopher Dowe.	Patron,	The King.
1660.	Samuel Otes.	-	John Injanes.
1683.	William Simonds.	-	Richard Barker.
1690.	James Cranston.
1726.	Richard Nairn.
1729.	Thomas Broadway.
1740.	Thomas Jenkins.	Sir Thomas Webster, Bart.
1763.	William Whitear.	Sir Whistler Webster.

In 1770, the smallness of the benefices led to their being united, by consent of the Corporation, and Mr. Whitear held both. (See p. 59.)

Within the last few years they have again been divided, and the present Incumbent of All Saints is the Rev. H. S. Foyster.

ST. CLEMENT'S.

The parish of St. Clement contains 124 acres , 632 inhabited houses, 16 uninhabited, 7 building, with a population of 4,166 persons - 1,971 males, 2,195 females. This includes the district of Halton.

The Church of St. Clement stands on elevated ground to the west of High-street.

In the fourteenth of Edward I. , 1286 , the Abbot of Fềcamp had the King's consent for appropriating a piece of land in Hastings for the foundation of the Church of St. Clement there. Mr. Sharpe cites both the churches [ 56 ]of Hastings, viz. , All Saints' and St. Clement's, as examples of the Rectilinear Period, A.D. 1360 to 1550.

The church consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, an embattled tower at the west end, and north and south porches. The tower is strengthened by graduated buttresses, and has a small octagonal tower at the southwest angle. The original west window in the tower had long disappeared, and the space was partially bricked up, but this has now been opened, and a handsome window put in, corresponding in style to the architecture of the church. A smaller window, in the south side of the tower, was inserted a few years ago. Beneath the west window is an arched doorway, slightly recessed, and having slender shafts , with moulded capitals. The arch is inclosed in a square moulding, the corners being filled with shields . This doorway has just been restored, and in removing the stonework on the south side a niche, which had been built up, was discovered and opened . The roof of the south aisle is embattled . A new porch was erected on this side a few years ago.

The belfry is separated from the rest of the church by two arches (now closed up), one looking east, the other north. The arches rest on circular shafts, separated by hollows. The capitals are plainly moulded, but have foliage between them in the hollows. The eastern arch has, on one side, an animal resembling a dragon, instead of foliage. The roof of the belfry is groined , with carved bosses at the intersections of the ribs. In the south- west corner of the belfry is a small arched doorway, leading to the tower stairs . The whole of the belfry work has been recently cleaned and restored. The windows in the south aisle have also been restored . [ 57 ]The interior of the church consists of a nave, chancel, and two aisles. The aisles are separated from the nave by pointed arches, supported by octangular columns, with small circular columns at the four points ; these are not on a level, some of them projecting more than others, and differing in height and width. On the west side of two of the columns opposite to each other, about the centre of the church, are little niches hollowed out as for figures of saints. These niches have been uncovered within the last few years, when the church was cleaned and repaired , and the whitewash scraped off. It is probable that the chancel once extended as far as these niches, and that the inequality of the arches is due to this cause. The chancel is elevated three steps above the body of the church. The east end was painted by Roger Mortimer, in the year 1721. The ceiling of the chancel is also painted.

The font is of perpendicular work. It is an octagon in shape, and on the sides are carved, in relief, the instruments of Christ's Passion, the nails, scourge, whip, ladder, cross, cock, spear, &c.

Some of the pews are of oak and carved. There are two monumental brasses, the inscription on the one in the aisle is as follows, in old English letters :" Here lyeth the body of Thomas Wekes, late Jurat of Hasting, and Margery his Wyf, which Thomas dyed the Xth day of November in the year of our Lord and God , 1563 , they had issue of hyr body on Daughter named Elizabeth. "

On the other brass is inscribed as follows, in Roman capitals :- "Here under lyeth buried the bones of John Barley late of this town and port of Hasting mercer ; and of Thomas Barley his sonne, and Alyce his daughter, by Mary his wife, daughter of Robert Harley, which John died the last day of March, 1601 , being of the age of 41 years, and the said Thomas died the first of April 1600 , being 19 yeres of age, and the said Alice dyed the 15th day of June, 1592, being of the age of 7 years, to whom God grant a joyful resurrection. "

On the pavement, amongst many other inscriptions, is this :-"HERE LYEth THE BODY OF MT THOMAS FALKNER [ 58 ]CHIRVRGION WHO WAS BVRIED FEBRVARY THE 22nd ANN DOM 1674 .

In the cross aisle the following inscription on brass, the figure having been removed : 66 HERE LYETH BVRIED THE BODIE of THOMAS PIERSE ESQVIRE WHO LIVED HERE " LXXIIIJ YEARES AND DECEASED THE XIIJ DAY OF JVNE IN THE YEARE OF OVR LORD GOD 1606. "

Also the following grave-stone : -" Here lyeth interred the body of Thomas BROMFIELD Esq late of VDMER, in this county who was born on the 2nd of July MDCX and departed this life September the 12th MDCXC ."

In the chancel are monuments to the memory of Edward Milward, Esq., of this town and port, who died the 25th day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1811 , in the 88th year of his age ; also, to the memory of Mary, his wife, daughter of the late John Collier, Esquire, who died the 21st day of June, 1783, aged 58 years.

The monument of Mr. Collier is on the south side of the chancel. It is of marble and porphyry, in the style of the period. The date is 1760.

In the south aisle is also a tablet to the memory of Capt. Thomas Delves, who was one of the barons who bore the canopy over King Charles the Second, at his coronation. Date 1669 .

On the south wall of the chancel is a marble tablet, inscribed to

Edward Milward, Esq.,
Who, during a period of 40 years,
Zealously and impartially discharged
The various duties of a magistrate
For the county of Sussex,
And the Town and Port of Hastings.
He was distinguished in private life,
By the liberal exercise
Of the most generous and disinterested.
Acts of friendship and benevolence,
And died, deeply regretted, On the 10th of May, 1833,
In the 68th year of his age.

There are other inscriptions of interest, which space forbids us to mention. That to John Thomas Justice, [ 59 ]Esq,, was written by himself, and found in his pocket after his death .

The gallery at the west end of the church was built by subscription in 1781 , that on the north side in 1817.

The east end of the north aisle is partitioned off for a vestry room .

The seat at the east end of the south aisle, with a desk affixed to it, is used at the Visitations of the Deanery of Hastings .

The two cannon balls, which are now embedded in the tower, on the south side, were fired on the town by the French and Dutch, in 1720, and are said to have struck the church about that part.

The Rectors of St. Clement's up to 1770 :-

	William Carr	(not mentioned by Moss).
1664.	Samuel Creed.	Patron, Joes. Dunke.
1681.	Philip Searle.
1682.	Joseph Turton.	Patron, Richard Styles.
1731.	Edrus Hill.	Patron, the King.
1742.	William Williams.	Patron, Sir Thos . Webster, Bart.
1763.	William Williams.	Patron, Sir Whistler Webster, Bart.
The Rectors, from the union ( 1770) of the two parishes, to their separation in 1849 ::- -
1773.	William Whitear.	Patron, Sir Whistler Webster, Bart.
1779.	Thomas Fullar.	Idem.
1796.	William Coppard.	Patron, Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart.
1803.	Webster Whistler.	Sir Godfrey Vassall Webster, Bart.

[ 60 ]1832. John Goodge Foyster, the present Rector of St. Clement's.

ST. CLEMENT'S CHAPEL, HALTON.

This |church was erected in 1838. The ground, and the stone of which the building is composed, were given, and an endowment of 1,000l. added, by the present Countess Waldegrave.

The cost of erection was defrayed partly by general subscriptions, and partly by grants from the Incorporated Society for Building Churches and Chapels, and the Diocesan Association. There are 542 sittings, 362 of which are free, and unappropriated for ever.

The parsonage-house, which is in an appropriate style of architecture, adjoins the church. A school-room and comfortable house, for the mistress, are also neat. They were all erected nearly at the expense of the Countess Waldegrave. The patronage is in the gift of the Lord Bishop of Chichester.

ST. MARY- IN-THE-CASTLE.

The parish of St. Mary-in-the-Castle is not mentioned in the " Taxation of Pope Nicholas, " the " Inquisitiones Nonarum," or the " Valor Ecclesiasticus." It was returned, in 1851 , as having an area of 281 acres, 634 inhabited houses, 14 uninhabited, 11 building, and a population of 4,424 persons, 1,805 males, 2,619 females .

No church existed in the parish subsequent to the decay of the chapel in the Castle, till 1825 , when, the population having greatly increased, the need of a church became pressing. The difficulties that arose from the conflicting claims of the parishes of St. Andrew and St. Mary, and the uncertainty which beset the whole subject, may be seen in Horsfield's Sussex, vol. i . p. 457. [ 61 ]The Earl of Chichester, who claimed the advowson, as possessor of the Castle and Manor, obtained an Act of Parliament, and erected the present church of St. Mary at his own expense. The first stone was laid by the Countess of Chichester in 1825, and it was consecrated by Dr. Carr, Bishop of Chichester, in 1828.

It is situated in the centre of Pelham-crescent, and is raised considerably above the road. It is in the semicircular form, having the rock at its back. The portico is recessed, and has a double row of pillars . The following words are inscribed above the portico :" ǼDES SANCTE MARIǼ IN CASTELLO EXSTRUCTA. A.D. MDCCCXXVIII."

The income of the chapel is derived from pew-rents, out of which the Earl of Chichester pays the necessary expenses of public worship, repairs of the building, &c., and also a fixed stipend to the Minister.

The Incumbents of St. Mary's have been as follows :-

Rev. W. Wallinger, 1828 .
Rev. W. T. Marychurch, 1834.
Rev. J. S. Jenkinson, 1835.
Rev. Thos. Vores, M.A., the present minister, who was appointed in 1841 .

Applications for pews and sittings are made at the Pelham Baths.

The chapel is computed to hold 1,200 . There are 500 free sittings, but, these being insufficient, an evening service has been superadded, at which all the seats are considered to be free.

There are vaults beneath the chapel, but burial in them is not now permitted to take place. Amongst the remains already deposited there are those of Dr. Ryder, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, who died at Hastings, in 1836.

THE PARISH OF ST. ANDREW

consists of 19 acres (situated near St. Andrew's-terrace) , and returned, in 1851 , 2 inhabited houses, and a [ 62 ]population of 8 persons, 4 males and 4 females. The site of the ancient church of St. Andrew has been noticed at p. 46. No presentation took place to the living after the reign of Elizabeth. The advowson was the property of the Corporation.

THE PARISH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, OR PRIORY,

returned, in 1851 , 191 acres, 18 inhabited houses, and 12 building. Population, 124 persons, 58 males, 66 females. This parish, in 1831 , had a population of 1,074 persons, there being, at that time, a number of huts, or cottages, inhabited by poor persons, on a piece of ground, which was claimed by the Crown, and the dwellings removed, about the year 1836. In consequence of this, the population, in 1841 , had diminished to 9. The building of Robertson-street and Carlisle-parade had not proceeded far enough, in 1851 , to raise the population to a large number. There is no church at present, but it is decided that one shall be built.

ST. MICHAEL-ON-THE- ROCK

returned, in 1851 , 5 acres, 31 inhabited houses. Population, 269 persons ; 127 males, 142 females. This parish is included in the district of St. Mary Magdalene.

ST. MARY MAGDALENE

returned, in 1851 , 395 acres, 507 inhabited houses, 17 uninhabited, 22 building. Population, 3,803 persons : 1,660 males, 2,143 females.

The great increase of population in that part of Hastings, which lies westward of the Priory, within the last ten or fifteen years, rendered it imperative to erect another church, to take the place of those ancient churches (St. Michael, St. Peter, St. Margaret, &c.), believed to have been washed away by the sea, and which the then decayed state of the place probably made it needless or impracticable to rebuild. An appeal was therefore put forth to the public, setting forth especially, the claims of the poor, who, though now become numerous, had no [ 63 ]other church accommodation than the 200 seats at St. Leonard's church. The Bishop of Chichester gave 3007. towards the church , 2007. to the endowment fund . Charles G. Eversfield, Esq . , of Denne Park, the Lord of the Manor, gave a suitable site, and the rest of the funds were subscribed in smaller sums. The first stone of the building (which stands at the back of Eversfield-place) was laid , June 20th, 1851 , by Countess Waldegrave. It was consecrated by Dr. Gilbert, Bishop of Chichester, and opened for Divine service Sept. 13th, 1852. The Bishop preached in the morning, the late Archdeacon Hare in the evening.

The architecture of the church is chaste and beautiful, and is principally of the Decorated character. The corbel heads, which adorn the nave, are taken from the figures of the Apostles, in Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. The west window and some of the smaller ones have painted glass . The architect of the church was F. Marrable, Esq.

The number of sittings is 850 , of these 250 are free, and intended solely for the poor.

The patronage is in the disposal of the Bishop of the Diocese.

The present Incumbent is the Rev. William Wheler Hume, M.A.

There is a small endowment, which, with the reserved sittings, constitutes the income of the minister.

A handsome parsonage house has been erected by subscription. It adjoins the church.

THE PARISH OF ST. LEONARD

is partly within the county jurisdiction, partly within the jurisdiction of the Town and Port of Hastings. The Town of St. Leonards is partly within the parish of St. Leonard, partly within that of St. Mary Magdalene, or more properly, St. Margaret. The returns for the whole parish in 1851 give 994 [ 64 ]acres ; 187 inhabited houses, 11 uninhabited, and 2 building. Population, 1,340 persons ; 622 males, 718 females .

The church of St. Leonard was erected at private expense in 1831 , by Act of Parliament. The Princess Sophia of Gloucester laid the first stone of the building, which was completed in 1833. The Rev. J. Alton Hatchard, M.A. , is the present Incumbent, and succeeded the Rev. G. D. St. Quintin in 1853.

The arms on four of the windows are those of the King, the Bishop of Chichester, the Eversfields, and the Burtons . There is a tablet to the memory of James Burton, Esq., the founder of St. Leonards, in the south aisle. He died March 31st, 1837 , and is buried in the cemetery. The church has 840 sittings, exclusive of a gallery erected for the National and Sunday scholars . Of these sittings 160 are allotted by the Act for the support of the minister, 480 are the sole private property of the patron, and 200 are free and unappropriated for the benefit of the poor. The Rev. C. Leslie is the patron.

Of St. Mary Bulverhythe little need be said here. Whether the ruin in a field, visible from the road, is the remains of the ancient church is not known.

In the Census of Religious Worship taken in 1851 , the number of churches and other places of worship connected with the Established Church in the Hastings district are eleven. This includes-besides the five churches then existing in Hastings and St. Leonards, viz. , All Saints, St. Clement's, Halton, St. Mary-in-the-Castle, and St. Leonard's, 0 a room in which service was conducted prior to the completion of St. Mary Magdalene, the churches of Pett, Guestling, Fairlight, and Ore, and a room used for public worship in the village of Ore.

In these eleven buildings the number of sittings was reported as 6,376, of which 2,933 were free, 2,323 appropriated.

The attendance on March 30 , 1851 , was (including Sunday scholars)-Morning, 3,938 ; afternoon, 2,007 ; evening, 2,177. [ 65 ]

DISSENTING CHAPELS,

In the year 1854 a church, erected chiefly at the expense of the Rev. J. G. Foyster and the Rev. H. S. Foyster, and designed for the especial benefit of the fishermen and their families, was opened for Divine worship. It is situated on the beach near the East Well, and is capable of seating 280 persons. The Rev. J. E. Tanner is the minister.

In the Census of Religious Worship the following return is made of places of religious worship belonging to Protestant Dissenting congregations in the Hastings district :- Independents, 2 ; Baptists, 2 ; Wesleyan Methodists, 4 ; Bible Christians, 2 ; undefined , 2.

Number of sittings : Independents, 610 ; 320 free, 290 appropriated.

Baptists, 980 ; 135 free, 845 appropriated.

Wesleyans, 1,027 ; 440 free, 587 appropriated.

Undefined, 310 ; 45 free, 265 appropriated.

Bible Christians , 106 ; 53 free, 53 appropriated.

The Dissenting chapels within the town, returned in the Census report, are the following :-

Croft Chapel, Independent. It is capable of seating 500 persons.

Wesleyan Chapel in Bourne-street. This building was formerly the theatre. Another Wesleyan Chapel in Bohemia-terrace.

Baptist Chapel, Wellington-square, erected 1838. There are sittings for 600 persons.

Ebenezer Chapel, East Hill. Baptist (Calvinistic).

Providence Chapel, Bourne-road, returned as " Independent ;" (but not connected with the Congregational body).

Zoar Chapel, Bourne-street (" Protestant Calvinists " ), with the chapel at St. Leonards, now closed, were the two " Undefined."

The total number of sittings returned for all religious bodies in the Hastings district , exclusive of the Roman [ 66 ]Catholics, who made no return, was 9,424 ; 3,931 free, 4,363 appropriated.

A chapel for the Calvinistic Baptists in Bohemia-road, near Linton-terrace, was erected in 1854. It is neatly finished, and is capable of seating 300 persons.

ALL SOULS.

The Roman Catholic Institution was commenced about 1834, under the auspices of the Rev. J. Jones and the Rev. W. Wilds.

In a circular put forth by them at the time, the design was thus characterized : -" Our object is to inform you, that a commodious piece of freehold land has been purchased at St. Leonards, or Hastings New Town, on the coast of Sussex, for the erection of a Church, and a suitable residence for a Priest. For the better advancement of this purpose, we further design, with God's blessing, and the assistance of a generous public, when the church and house are completed, to associate in the holy work, a community denominated by the Apostolic See, 'THE PIOUS CONGREGATION OF THE RELIGIOUS SISTERS OF CHARITY,' who, to their ordinary occupation of gratuitously serving the poor, but especially the sick poor, will gladly unite the office of training poor females between thirteen and seventeen years of age to all the duties of good and useful household servants, " &c., &c.

The church is not as yet completed, but service is performed in a temporary chapel.

There are Sisters residing in the Institution, with a school under their care.

The buildings are on a hill north- east of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. The Rev. John Jones died in 1850, and was buried at All Souls.

References & Notes

Rhymes for the Times. By Mercury. p. 20

Hist. and Antiquities of the Town and Port of Hastings. Lond. 1824, p. 175, note.

The Hastings Guide, &c. By an Inhabitant

The writer has been informed that the late Dr. Matthew Baillie was the first London physician, who, towards the close of the last century, recommended patients to resort to Hastings.

" On the return of the expedition from Hanover, Major General Wellesley was appointed to command the troops stationed at Hastings, in Sussex." - Maxwell's Life of Wellington, p. 215.

The Duke of York came down, in 1805, to review the troops in Crowhurst, but the death of the Duke of Gloucester prevented the review from taking place.

The Brighton coach very narrowly escaped being crushed by the fall of a mass of rock. It had but just passed, and the fall overwhelmed it with dust.

Verulam-place was built before St. Leonards.

Eversfield Park, a site between the South Saxon road and London road, is laid out for fifty-six villa residences, to have from two to three acres each. The surveyor to the estates, Mr. W. Gant, 42, George-street, can give information on all particulars.

Hook's Jack Brag, p. 240, Bentley's Ed.

Spas of England, vol. iii., p. 594-5, Ed. 1841.

The statements of population in this chapter give the numbers in the two Sub-districts of All-Saints and St. Mary-in-the Castle.

The friend to whom I am indebted for much of the information in this chapter can find no church at Hastings mentioned in Domesday Book. See also Hussey's Notices of Churches in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, p . 177.

The Free Chapel of St. Leonard juxta Hastyngs is mentioned in the time of Richard II.- Dugdale's, Mon. Angl., vi., 1470.

Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliǽ et Wallia Authoritate Papa Nichola IV., fol. , Lond. 1802, p. 136.

P. 352, col. 1, fol., Lond. 1807.

Vol. i., fol., Lond.

Moss gives a similar account , p. 122.

Vol. i., p. 453.

Moss, p. 86.

See plate in Moss's work.

P. 20, note.

Thierry says that Henry II. (who had already made Becket Chancellor) confided to him the education of his eldest son, and attached to these offices large revenues, which, by a singular chance, were derived from places of fatal memory to the English ; from the Prebend of Hastings, the custody of the Castle of Berkhampstead, and the governorship of the Tower of London . (Vol. ii., p. 55.)
This statement is slightly at variance, as regards the patron of Becket, with other authorities. In his Life, by Fitz-Stephen, (p. 14, fol., Lond., 1723, at the end of Sparke's Collection of Eng. Historians,) it is related that he held first a prebend given him by the Earl of Eu. And in Lord Lyttelton's History of Henry II. (vol. ii. , p. 309, 8vo., Lond., 1769,) it is stated that the Archbishop of Canterbury, on his return from Rome, made him Dean of Hastings, and subsequently (just before the death of King Stephen) Archdeacon of Canterbury.

" William of Wykeham.- The King gave him moreover a prebend in the Collegiate Church of Hastings, Chichester Diocese, Feb. 17, 1362." (Lowth's Life of Wykeham, p . 25, 8vo., Oxford, 1777.)

Chronicle, p. 104.

The Castle seems at this time to have been in the hands of the Crown. One of the Dukes of Brittany held the Honour and Rape.

Horsfield, i., 452

It is to be observed that in all cases the numbers are taken from the Census returns of 1851.

In an old deed, in the possession of John Phillips, Esq., of Hastings, being the probate of the will of Rd. Mechynge, dated 24th Nov., 1436, occur the following words :-
"Corpus quoque meum sepeliendum in nova ecclesia Omnium Sanctorum de Hastynges."

Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. iv., p. 266.

MS. belonging to the Earl of Chichester, cited in Cooper's Hist. of Winchelsea, p. 141, note.

Stow's Annals, p. 1203, cited by Horsfield, vol. i., p. 453.

Rymer, cited in Sussex Arch. Coll., xi., 167, note.

Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. ii., p. 166, note. Dowe must have been the Incumbent at the time when Mr. Hinson was expelled, as related in an earlier chapter.

The father of Titus Oates, who himself once officiated as minister, as appears by an entry in the church books.

See Cooper's Winchelsea, note, p. 12. Moss gives no date for St. Clement's. Horsfield gives the end of Edward I.'s reign as probable, and cites the record in which , in 1286, Alanus de Chesmongre, and Alicia, his wife, proposed to give a rood of land to the Abbot of Fểchamp, to construct the Church of St. Clement de novo, it having been overthrown by the inundations of the sea.

The improvements in the church are effected partly at the expense of the parish, and partly at that of the Rector, the Rev. J. G. Foyster.

" On the 4th of Oct. , 1638, Francis Viscount Montague and others, leased to William Carr, of Mountfield, clerk, the rectory, advowson, and church impropriate of St. Mary's of the Castle of Hastings, with the vicarage of the same," &c., &c., " so long as Carr should remain parson of St. Clement's, Hastings." Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. ii., p. 167, note. Mr. Carr is mentioned p. 24 of this work.

The parish of St. Mary extends beyond the liberties of the town and port, and is partly in the hundred of Baldslow.

Barry's Guide (p. 23) states that after the burning of the town, about the year 1379, and its subsequent rebuilding, it was divided into three parishes, St. Clement, All Saints, and St. Mary-in-the-Castle, but gives no authority for this.

There is a cemetery and mortuary chapel for St. Mary's parish, north of Wellington-square, but it is now closed.

The county portion contains 750 acres of land, and consists of Filsham Farm and parts of the farms of Yielding, Gensing, and the Grove, in the hundred of Baldslow.

The total cost of the building and fitting was 600l.

St. Vincent de Paul and the Sisters of Charity, with Some Particulars of the Establishment to be erected at St. Leonards, Hastings. London. 1836. p. 63.