Talk:Hastings Wall

The date of 1950/60s construction is approximate - normally when I can pin a date down more accurately, I tend to be more specific in the dating. An emailed query has, however, prompted me to do a bit more research on the flats.

Although indistinct, I have come across an aerial photograph dating to 1945 which appears to show the flats at https://maps.nls.uk/view/238925530 suggesting that the flats were constructed pre-WW2 - the area being generally under military control during the war and thus unlikely to have residential development during that period.

There was a large-scale clearance of The Bourne area in the 1930s which did prompt construction of alternative housing around the town (predominantly on the West Hill/Halton area) for the evicted residents and the flats on reflection have a similar architecture to those built during the 1930s.

The schedule of clearances which I have researched on my page at https://historymap.info/1930_Slum_Clearance#Clearance_Areas informs me that East Street was largely cleared by 1934 - this does give us a window of construction of the flats between 1934 and 1939.

An article in the Hastings & St Leonards Observer dated 31st March 1934 suggests that planning for the Hastings Wall flats was well advanced - the council having some debate about the flats detracting from the appearance of the seafront in that area, although a target completion date for the flats was suggested as being 2 1/2 years later so possibly 1936/1937.