of a superior construction in the villa style it was believed would be erected thereon at no very remote period. These roads are now known as St. Johns and Chapel Park roads.
Destruction of a Martello Tower.
The Armstrong-gun practice upon a doomed tower near Eastbourne on Tuesday the 7th of August was a source of attraction, not only to the Hastings and St. Leonards volunteers, but also to a vast concourse of lookers-on from these and other towns.The precision with which some forty rounds of 40lb., 80lb., and 100lb. shot and shell were delivered upon this small roundabout piece of fortification was the theme of admiration of all who witnessed it. Nor was there less surprise at the extraordinary and unlooked for resistance offered by the work of a past generation to the terrific powers of modern engines of destruction thus brought to bear upon it. Two days later, the operations were resumed, the object being to demolish the sea-face of the tower, said to be ten feet thick. The penetrating power of the huge bullets and the blasting effect of the shells soon began to tell visibly upon the already weakened tower; yet it was atonishing(sic) to see with what tenacity the old walls held together. At length, however, after volley-firing had been resorted to, the remainder of the centre pillar was destroyed and the sea face was rent in several places. As one who rambled among the ruins at the close of the operations, was the present writer, who brought away as a souvenir an eighty-pound conical shot, carrying it several miles across the marsh to meet the train at Pevensey. See pages 155 to 157 for bombardment of Tower near Bexhill.
“A Souvenir of Galley Hill.”
The word souvenir used above reminds one of the same word employed, a few weeks after by “B. T.” in the St. Leonards Gazette, at the head of the following lines.
A pleasant goal for ride or walk
We found it; and I find it still
A pleasant theme for after talk,
The tow’r crowned headland, Galley Hill.
For those fast friends in time of need,
Kind sympathy and prompt Good Will,
Best solace for the invalid,
Escorted me to Galley Hill.
The west wind breathed a welcome bland,
As led by Hatch’s noted skill,
My pony (from the Holy Land)
Toiled patiently up Galley Hill.
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