And here, methought, how sweet to stay
Remote from drug, exempt from pill,
To wile(sic) the heavy hours away,
Inhaling strength on Galley Hill
Supremely indolent, and yet –
A thought to disenchant and chill! –
How shall the convalescent get
His Times at ten, on Galley Hill
Abiding place it may not be!
With that I turned and gazed my fill
Of that fair span of land and sea
Within the ken of Galley Hill.
All rural sights and sounds, save one,
(The songster’s friend, the murmuring rill)
Up gathered, seemed an open boon
For eye and ear on Galley Hill
All peace, as on that day befel,
No moaning gust, no sea-bird shrill,
No hollow laugh of languid swell,
Broke the repose of Galley Hill.
Blithe exile from the gay parade,
Where Time oft seems so hard to kill,
I felt ‘twere shame to be afraid
To cope with on the Galley Hill
Last, marking, as the evening wore,
The eastward star-high Fairlight mill,
And the soft curve of lowly shore
The foam-girt foot of Galley Hill.
And round our homeward slow return
The hues of sunset deepened, till
Arrested Fancy might discern
A glory upon Galley Hill.
So back, ere yet, the splendour waned,
Not dreaming we of change or ill,
Alas! that very night it rained,
Like – midsummer on Galley Hill.
“St. Leonards, Sept. 21, 1860”
Falls of Cliff. (fatal or otherwise)
At a little after midnight of Tuesday, Jan. 24th, many tons of cliff fell from a height of about 100 feet upon a stable and coach-house at the back of the Fountain Inn, at West Marina, crushing in a portion of the building, and immediately killing a man named John Barker, a native of Bexhill, and one who had previously subsisted by collecting rags and bones, and doing odd jobs. He had been in the habit of sleeping in barns, stables, brick-kilns, or any other place where he could find refuge. A pony and two dogs were recovered unhurt. Damage to property about £70.
Another Landslip. The St. Leonards Gazette, of Dec. 29th, had the following:- “On Monday last, as a workman was excavating the cliff at the western part of St. Leonards for the purpose of getting sand, a portion of the superadjacent mass came down with a crash close to where he was standing; and , but for his dexterity in getting away, might have killed him on the spot. He escaped, however, as by a miracle, with only a few scratches. It was within a few feet of the spot where John Barker lost his life at the back of the Fountain. We have often dwelt on the dangerous nature of the cliff at that part of the town, and have wondered why steps were not taken to remove the overhanging and protruding of loose earth which threatened , sooner or later to precipitate themselves to the base. The Inn above named and adjoining houses appear specially liable to spoilation, and we would advise their owners either to remove the danger themselves or to apply to the authorities to get it removed ere it be too late.”
More Falls of Cliff. In the following week the same journal stated that “During the rapid thaw which set in on Sunday and Monday, and thus quickly after our note of warning, several tons of earth became detached from the cliff at the western part of St. Leonards, and fell -
