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From Historical Hastings
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of Newcastle, although the writer has discovered no mention of this in the " Collier Letters." The reader must remember that until well into the 19th Century, before the Bohemia Road and London Road, St. Leonards, were opened, the Old London Road was the only one out of Hastings. The Sussex roads were for centuries execrable for travelling, and in the "Collier Letters," there are accounts of the equipages of the rich requiring six horses, attended by outriders,

 
Entrance of their
R.H.H. The Duchess of Kent & The Princess Victoria
Into Hastings 4th Nov. 1834
Published by G. Wooll, Printseller, 43, High Street, Hastings


being necessary to assist in pulling the carriages out of the mud and quagmires into which they frequently got, on their way to and from London, and sometimes a more circuitous route from Hastings through Maidstone was preferred, as the Kentish roads were kept in a better condition. The accompanying views of the North entrance to the old town will give an idea of its former beauty.