Hastings

I imagine the first thing that you would spot as you came to the town of Hastings is the castle!, Built following the battle of Hastings in the year of 1066 by William the conqueror the castle replaced a Saxon wooden keep that was on the site that would have dated from about king Alfred's time ( 871 to 899 AD) , The castle was one of William's first stone castle's until a great storm in 1287 washed part of the west cliff away and with it most of the southern end of the castle , It is thought that the dungeon's in the castle date from an earlier time they are also known as the whispering caves because it was said that if you whispered from one end of the dungeon it could be heard at the other end !, It is also said that the dungeon's of Hastings castle are haunted by the ghost's of all the poor unfortunate soul's that were held in there ?. ( I don't know if this is true or not, As I have not spent the night in the dungeon but you are welcome to spent the night there to see if you can spot the odd ghost or ghost's of the dungeon !!).

It is said that the castle is haunted by the ghost of a nun the story goes that she was murdered for breaking her vows its also said that every time the ghost of the nun is seen she is digging ?, Could it be that she was killed while she was digging the hole ?, Another ghost that haunt's the castle is that of a woman holding a baby she is seen walking towards the edge of the cliff and then disappears, You have to remember that this woman with her baby was most presumably was alive before the storm of 1287 and at a guess is walking towards the kitchen ?, Or could it be she committed suicide and went over the edge ?, Anyway It was thought that the woman jumped to her death after she gave birth to an illegitimate child by a Hastings fisherman who then had rejected her.\par \par Not to far away from the castle is St clement's caves said to have been dug out by smugglers during the 17th and 18th century to store their contraband and to hind in, In times of danger and to get away from justice john's (custom's men), But I would think that the caves were made by natural formation with the smugglers some time later making them bigger !, It was said that a man digging his garden in 1825 to put a greenhouse up found the caves, But it is known that the caves were found long before the gentlemen started digging in his back garden !, Also did you know that St clement's caves were used during the second world war as air raid shelters, There is this poem written by Rudyard kipling about smuggling that befits hastings and St clement's caves it goes ?.

If you wake at midnight, And hear a horse's feet,

Don't go drawing back the blind,

Or looking in the street,

Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie,

Watch the wall my darling,

While gentlemen go by,

Five and twenty ponies trotting through the dark,

Brandy for the parson, Baccy for the clerk,

Laces for a lady, Letters for a spy,

And watch the wall my darling while gentlemen go by,

Its also said that St clement's caves are haunted by the ghosts of smugglers who came to an untimely end but I think the ghost story was put about by smugglers to keep people away !, Also inside St clement's caves there are many carved figures one of these figures is that of St clement's also there is a carved figure of king Harold just before the battle of Hastings in 1066.

A local legend said, That back in 1694 the people of Hastings were in such poverty and many of them were starving , The story goes that god sent them a shoal of fish (herring) enough to feed the people of the town for a week ! and then come the following week there was a shoal of cod for the people of Hastings ,It would be interesting to know what the people did when the fish ran out ?.

There is an interesting story back in 1830 about this woman who lived near rope walk who was said to have been a witch ?, Well the local's said that she was ! , Was it due to the fact that she went a round town almost bent double holding herself up with a crutch while wearing a red cloak ?, it was said that cowardly local's would get out of the old woman's way or even go the other way when they saw her coming !, There was this woman in one of the cottages where the old witch walked past was convinced that her daughters disablement was due to the old woman walking past ! , Also children thought that the old woman could turn herself into a black cat so that many a black cat in the old part of Hastings was hunted to death by boy's who thought that the old witch was a cat ?, There is another story from about the same time of a fisherman who was said to have sold himself to the devil, It was thought that the old fisherman could enter the cottages through the keyhole and even encouraged his daughter to become a witch ! whether she did or not I don't know ?, one of the other things that this fisherman could do was to sit on rows of sharp needle's without feeling any pain , So other fishermen would put the old boy to the test by placing a row of sharp pins in the cushion of his chair but when he sat down he never flinched so the story goes !, Like so many things is this story just local superstition or was it put about by fishermen or smuggler's to keep people away from that part of the old town ?.

If you walk along the high street known as market street that was until the 18th century to the corner of swan terrace just before you reach this spot you will see a plaque to the new swan inn that was destroyed during an air raid in 1943 which killed 16 people , The garden marks the spot where the inn was as well as in the garden there is a memorial to the people that died, If you look up from the corner of swan terrace you will see St clement's church the third ! built in 1386 to 1400 this church replaced the second one built in 1286 with money given by Alan the cheesemonger that was sacked and ravaged by the French in 1339 and then again in 1377, The first church was built in the 12th century and built nearer the sea but was destroyed by storms and high tides in the 13th century.

Inside St clement's church looking at the east window the work on this window was the work of Philip Cole who went to the Hastings school of art , The window that you can see today replaced the original window that was destroyed in an air raid in 1943 that also destroyed the new swan inn that dated from 1889, Part of the new window has a "little angel" that was picked up from the rubble of the new swan inn by Alice Hyde , On the left hand side of the church entrance is a framed picture and sonnet to the memory of the poet and artist Dante Gabriella rosetti who married Elizabeth siddell in the same church in 1860.\par \par If you head back to the high street you will come to the old town hall that was built in 1823 which now is the museum , It was here in 1836 that the Hastings constabulary had its first headquarters, This building as referred to earlier was the town hall until in 1881 when it moved to queens road , By the old town hall is Pelham house built in 1610 see the plaque that's above your head on the wall ! it was then rebuilt in the 19th century , A little bit further down the high street is number 90, It was here in this building during 1791 that the first bank for Hastings was formed , It would be ironic to say that some 66 years later in 1857 that this bank went bankrupt (or destitute) would you believe it ?.

The railings you can see in the high street were put up in 1940 at the time of the blackout so that people would not fall off the pavement !, Next along the high street is dickens cottage so called because the then owner was a friend of a friend of one of dickens sons ?, That was earlier this century. Number 5 on the other side of the road was the home of Dante gabriel Rossetti the poet and painter who lived there in 1854 , Next to St Mary star of the sea church is the stables theatre built in 1740 to 1745 as stables for the old Hastings house that's a bit further down the high street by the road crossing , It was here that during the 18th and 19th century that one of the most significant families in Hastings lived the collier and the milwards who virtually ruled the territory !, From 1914 to 1919 the house was a red cross hospital that treated wounded servicemen it then in 1946 became an old people's home , If you look at the top floor there are four dummy window's, On the left hand side of the house is an conservatory that was built during the 19th century.

If you now cross the road by the road crossing and walk towards all saint's street you will see on the side a hill (on the left hand side) all saint's church the second built in 1430 after the French destroyed the first one in the hundred years war, And like St clement's church the first all saint's church was built much nearer the sea the chequered flint that you can see on the wall's of the church are very scarce as the nearest source of the flint is about 15 miles away , During the civil war from 1640 to 1649 cromwell's troop's (parliamentarian) were stationed inside the church in 1643, All saint's church was than modified in 1870.\par \par Next a bit further down all saint's street is old humphrey avenue named after the writer George mogridge also it was here while on honeymoon that the duke of Wellington spent some time here (in old humphrey avenue), Proceed to walk down all saint's street once known as fish or fisher street like the high street all saint's street was the other main road of old Hastings prior to the 19th century.

Numbers 136 and 137 on the other side of the road were built in 1580, Now walk towards the Stag inn built in the 16th century this inn or pub was once used by smugglers that would take their contraband through the tunnel beneath the inn to east hill , Next you will come to number 127 this place was built around about 1540 then there's shovells that was one part of wealden house built in the 15th century shovell's was named after Admiral sir cloudesley shovell who while sailing past Hastings in the 1700's decided to visit his mother ( it was said that she lived there) , If you now walk towards woods passage if you look up here at the houses that are crammed into woods passage this is what the garden's at the back all saint's street would have looked like during the 19th century, At the highest point of woods passage is the tackleway it was here at number 27 that the poet George macdonald lived between 1857 to 1860 (see plaque).

Right now to continue down all saint's street to cinque port arms built in 1824 but it was then rebuilt after a fire destroyed the place in 1925 the cinque port arms stands on the site of what once was a Tudor inn, Next we come to numbers 58 to 60 that are fragments of an Gothic village hall this house was restored in 1928, If you now look at 10 starrs cottages known as the `piece of cheese` the house was built on a wedge shaped piece of land in 1871 some say it was a bet between one man and another to see if they could built a some what different house ?, As the person who built it won the bet !, If you now look above the piece of cheese you will see east hill house built in 1770 by the wenham family who were well-known for there smuggling exploits in the 18th century.

Number 93 on the other side of the road was built in 1885 by the Hastings cottage improvement society (H,C,I,S) see the initials that are on wall above the door, Next is the crown inn built in 1921 that replaced the original crown that burnt down before 1921 !, That dated from 1794 on the other side of the road to the crown inn is a complete Gothic hall house that was built in the 15th century.

At the end of all saint's street is a pulpitt gate (a gate that went from one side of the road to the other almost the same as a pulpit in a church) so called because on the small postern gate that was there when they built the town wall in 1953 they used old materials to build the town hall, On left hand side is east cliff house built in 1762 that's on the site of what was once old east fort, At the top of crown lane is a place known as the look-out so called because fisherman's wives would congregate here to see if their husband's boats were coming safely ashore , It is from here that you can get one of the finest views of the stade (Anglo Saxon word meaning shore) you will also spot on the beach the net shops (tall black sheds) where fishermen stored their nets that are particularly unique to Hastings.

If you head upto east hill and walk down many of the footpaths past fire hills so called because of the amount and colour of the gorse next you will come to the village of fairlight with its admirable views along the coast to winchelsea and onto rye.