Hastings

Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry (c.1070) commemorating the last successful invasion of England, by Guillaume le Bâtard (AKA William the Conqueror) in 1066. Halley’s Comet is shown and was claimed as an good omen (by both sides!).

Hastings is a small town on the South Coast of England where in 1066, as every British schoolboy knows, the English King Harold lost the eponymous battle and was killed, thereby allowing a successful Norman invasion.   Actually, of course, the battle took place some miles away, at what is now the town of Battle, but the name has stuck.

Hastings makes a good base for exploring southern Sussex.   It’s more manageable and intimate than its bigger and much brasher neighbour, Brighton, and more determinedly eccentric than nearby Eastbourne.  Rye is more ‘chocolate boxy’ picturesque but lacks facilities and transport links.  It would be hard to find a more authentic (but still pleasant) British experience than Hastings.

Hastings Old Town seen from East Hill

Evidence of human habitation in Hastings dates back to Neolithic times, and the town has been settled ever since, but it lacked a harbour, which restricted its importance. In the late 18th and 19th centuries Hastings became a fashionable resort, patronised by the great and the good, and was considered to have a particularly healthy climate for invalids, but the town’s popularity as a resort waned in the second half of the 20th century, although it remains a popular day-trip destination for working-class Londoners.

Hastings in a nutshell – net shops, fishing boats, cliffs and funicular and miniature railway (oh, and the best fish & chips at Maggies – above the fish market)

Lacking industry, and with a comparatively slow connection to London, Hastings went the way of many British seaside resorts, entering a marked economic decline, attracting only elderly retirees and the decanted urban underclass.

However, perhaps because of its ramshackle charm and cheap property prices, Hastings has long had a considerable reputation for bohemian and artistic types. Take a seat outside on the pedestrianised George St. and it won’t be long before you spot plenty of fine (if mostly elderly) examples of the English ‘eccentric.’ If, like me, you are tempted to believe they are more concerned with the appearance of non-conformity rather than with original iconoclastic rebellion, well, I’m reluctant to unweave the rainbow by questioning too deeply, or to cast the first stone.

Something of a white elephant, the Jerwood gallery sits uneasily amid the ramshackle fisherman’s beach and the amusement arcades

Lately, the disparity in property prices between London and Hastings has led to an influx of DfLs (Down From Londoners) and gentrification. Expensive seafood restaurants catering for the arty set, and the new Jerwood Gallery, sit uneasily alongside amusement arcades patronised by shirtless and tattooed men and their kids. It’s a great mix and always fascinating to watch!

Beach launched fishing fleet overlooked by the East Hill Funicular

Hastings nestles against the only hills that run down to the sea along this part of the coast, between Beachy Head which rises like the back of some great geological whale, and the White Cliffs of Dover.   The quaint Old Town is riddled with alleyways and passages, called twittens and cat-creeps, where houses were shoehorned into any space into which they could be fitted. Sometimes the twittens seem to run through people’s gardens and, in at least three places, they actually run through underneath houses.   As long as you can manage some steps, it’s a great place to explore.

One of the more colourful twittens. Note how it passes under a house

Quaint All Saints St.

The centre of the New Town is less attractive, but towards St Leonards, there are some fine developments by John and Decimus Burton from 1828 onwards. The rest of the town, including the pebble beach, is a great place for watching the British at play.

Hastings retains the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe, and a visit to Rock-a-Nore and the Fishermen’s Beach is a must, especially if you want fish straight off the boat,

So what is there for the Scientific Tourist? Apart from the battle, Hastings’s main claim to fame is technological.  Just before you crest the final hill on the road into Hastings, you pass a small sign welcoming you to the ‘Birthplace of Television’. Considering the almost inestimable power, influence and consequences of the medium, the discreet sign seems somehow inadequate to commemorate such a momentous legacy.

Does Hastings deserve the accolade?   In the technical sense, probably yes. Hedged with caveats and restrictions from the pedantic, but it was there, in 1924 that John Logie Baird cobbled together a Heath Robinson assembly of biscuit tins and string, and first demonstrated the principle of television by creating a very low resolution blurry moving image.   See The Birthplace of Television.   The main museum (Hastings Museum and Art Gallery) has an interesting exhibition on Baird.

Reproduction of an early prototype television by Baird. Hastings Museum

Practically uncelebrated, apart from a small Blue Plaque, Michael Faraday was a frequent visitor to Hastings, escaping the pressures of London for quiet contemplation by the sea. Perhaps most portentously, in August 1831, when he was about to report his momentous discoveries in Electromagnetism. (see Faraday in Hastings)

Blue Plaque on retirement homes just by the public toilets commemorates Faraday’s great discovery

Alan Turing, mathematician and computer pioneer, boarded in St Leonards as a child and attended his first school there, where his mathematical abilities were recognised by his headmistress.  A Blue Plaque marks the house where he lived under the care of a retired Indian Army couple (his father was in the Indian Civil Service) but his school is unsigned.

House where Turing Boarded as a Child

Marianne North, a Scientific Tourist of some eminence, a friend of Darwin, and a noted botanical illustrator lived and began her career in Hastings.  The museum here was offered her important (and beautiful) collection of illustrations and the money to house it but inexplicably turned her down.  The collection is now housed in its own lovely pavilion at Kew.  Sad to say, but the current management and staff at Hastings Museum seem to be exactly the same species of small-minded, self-serving and incompetent idiots now as they were then.

Marianne North, c.1878 Sri Lanka. Photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron.

Hastings and the surrounding area are happy hunting grounds for anyone interested in steam power and railways. The town has 2 miniature (but still rideable) railways, as well as a pair of funiculars ascending the East and West Hills, and not far off are the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway as well as the Kent and East Sussex Steam Railway.  See A Bit of a Thing About Railways, The Whispering Giants of Brede and And Yet More Steam Engines.

Scraping the barrel a little, Hastings was home to the mother of Sir Cloudesley Shovell, whose infamous loss of  a British navel fleet through navigational error led to the establishment of the Longitude Prize and the subsequent invention of the marine chronometer, which revolutionised navigation and opened up the world for exploration and trade.  Shovell’s mother’s house is a quaint little cottage on the charming All Saints Street.  For much more about the story see, Review of ‘Longitude – The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time’ by Dava Sobel, and several other posts under the Greenwich category.

But, saving the best till last, the hills that give Hastings a good deal of its charm are an offshoot of the Wealden sandstones and clays, and the area has several sites of scientific, naturalist and geological interest.   The Weald itself, and the Chalk Downs that bookend it, form an anticline that was raised by the same tectonic collision that created the Alps and is even now closing the Mediterranean Sea. One of the best places to appreciate the landscape is the Country Park and Nature Reserve.   See Ferns, Fossils, Fauna and Inspiration – Hastings Country Park and Nature Reserve.

This area’s geology is well described in Professor Richard Fortey’s ‘The Hidden Landscape – A Journey into the Geological Past‘ (Bodley Head 2010) which really brings alive the influence of geology on the area.    It was in the Weald that the first dinosaur to be fully described (the iguanodon) was found and it’s footprints can still be found on the beach, as well as both living and fossilised horsetails, on which it probably fed.

A visit to the Hastings Country Park and Nature Reserve, especially if you can make it all the way to the rich fossil beds at Pett, is a very pleasant (but hilly) little jaunt through a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Conservation area, with fine views of the countryside and, on a clear day, even over to France.   A Visitor’s Centre displays a natural history of the park with exhibits from fossils to the current wildlife.  From the park you can clearly see the geology which has so shaped the whole area.   See Ferns, Fossils, Fauna and Inspiration – Hastings Country Park and Nature Reserve. Baird said that it was while walking along these cliffs that he first had his idea for ‘seeing by wireless’. See Baird and the Birthplace of Television.

A great source for current information on local wildlife in the Country Park is RXWildlife, with almost daily updates on what has been seen.

Slightly further afield, the old Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux Castle now houses a Science Education Centre alongside the domes and is well worth a visit.   The pumping station at Brede (see The Whispering Giants of Brede) amidst beautiful East Sussex countryside is a delight for steam enthusiasts, and incorporates a Nuclear Bunker, and is close to the Kent and East Sussex Steam Railway.

Further away, you can take a tour of the Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, which supplies part of the electricity that supplanted the Giants of Brede. Lonely out on its great shingle bank spit jutting out into the English Channel; it’s an almost surreal sight set in a fascinating, if bleak-looking, landscape. (See also Dungeness – A Surreal Landscape & Nuclear Power Plant)  Again, this is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with much rare flora and fauna.  The miniature Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway runs a regular scheduled service out to the plant.  The human inhabitants are equally unusual, living way out here in a scattered collection of eccentric chalets, and the film director Derek Jarman’s garden is worth looking out for and is not the strangest. You can also climb the old lighthouse.

Behind Dungeness lies the Romney Marshes, another special wetland habitat, famous for its sheep, the extensive marshes embody a fascinating story of a landscape reshaped by the efforts of humans and the sea. (See )

Dungeness seen from Country Park

And for the plain, non-scientific tourist?  My personal recommendations are available in more detail at The Hastings Blog, but for the short version;

• • Come in Spring or Autumn to avoid the summer crowds.   If you’re lucky and get a fine sunny day, even winter can be good, but short, dark and wet days might be difficult to fill.   If you want something more lively, then the week around May Bank Holiday has both the Jack in the Green festival and thousands of bikers on their May Day Run.   A summer weekend is a perfect opportunity for observing an authentic example of the British working class at play.
  • If the weather is awful, and even if it isn’t, the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has exhibitions on Baird, local fauna, fossils and a couple of fine examples of Hastings eccentrics; Lady Annie Brassey and Grey Owl.  The former travelled the world in her private steam yacht collecting all sorts of what we would call anthropological and ethnographic artefacts and donated them, along with the magnificent Durbar Hall, now recreated in the museum.   Grey Owl was a local man who moved to Canada and lived with the Indians, being ‘adopted’ by them and calling himself an Indian.  Way back at the start of the 20th century, the former Archibald Stansfeld Belaney became an ardent conservationist and activist for the preservation of the environment and native peoples.  Thanks to these two, the museum has some remarkable collections and is worth an hour or two at least of anyone’s time; that is, if the ‘woke’ staff haven’t replaced all the actual exhibits with dreary self-indulgent twaddle from self-proclaimed (and self-satisfied) ‘activists’.
    

    Detail of Durbar Hall Hastings Museum

  • Wandering through the Old Town.   The High St. is quaint, but with crowds, narrow pavements and traffic it can get a little too busy for comfortable ambling.   The small museum has now closed.  Head uphill by any of the many twittens to escape the crowd.  Cross The Bourne (it’s a road) to All Saints Street for a quieter and less commercial (but still quaint) stroll.   After your walk, a seat outside the pubs and cafes along George St. is good for people watching and spotting Hastings’s many ‘eccentrics.’
  • Head along Rock-a-Nore (it’s another road) under the cliffs to see the fishermen’s beach.   The old Net Shops (tall clapboarded huts) and the working beach with its shanty town of sheds, nestle under the cliffs are an authentic experience.   Come and watch the boats launch and return, then buy the day’s catch directly from the boats at little shops in huts on the beach.  There’s a small aquarium with some interesting exhibits, the Fishermen’s Museum and the Shipwreck Museum,which interestingly displays many artefacts from the many local (and not so local) wrecks, and has some fascinating exhibits, even though the ‘shipwreck’ itself out back is disappointing.
    

    Net Sheds on Rock-a-Nore. Fishermen used the huts to dry their nets

  • Eating fish and chips is an essential part of the British seaside experience.   By far (IMHO) the best place to do it is at Maggies, along the fisherman’s beach, where you can eat overlooking the sea.   The miniature railway runs underneath the cafe.   Portions are generous, the fish and chips are very good, and it’s very good value, as testified by the number of perms and blue-rinses eating there. Be warned however, that Maggies has very restricted opening hours and it’s a really good idea to book.  If you can’t get into Maggies, then The Life Boat and The Mermaid are also recommended.

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    Hastings Beach Maggies

Around Hastings.

• Sussex abounds with pretty villages, but few are as well cared-for and preserved as Winchelsea, even if it is more of a residential fantasy for the well-off than an authentic village.   Don’t expect to find tourist shops and facilities beyond a couple of shops and a pub.   Perched on a hill, it was once part of the Cinque Ports, but the retreat of the sea has left it far inland.  Winchelsea and Rye get special mentions in Richard Fortey’s ‘The Hidden Landscape – A Journey into the Geological Past.’ You can take tours of the cellars mentioned in the book from Winchelsea Corporation.
  Bus from Hastings, but make sure you don’t go to Winchelsea Beach instead of Winchelsea, unless you’re prepared for a walk.
  

  Winchelsea Gate. Painting by E W Haslehust c 1918

• Rye is pretty and historic and caters for the visitor with shops, cafes and restaurants.   It has long been a favourite for writers and artists.  There is an important nature reserve with bird-watching hides (you might well spot Spoonbills!) at nearby Rye Harbour.   Again, a great source on what’s happening is RXWildlife.   Rye, Camber Sands and Winchelsea are on the way to Dungeness and the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&D).  Bus or train from Hastings.
• Dungeness is a great shingle promontory jutting out into the English Channel, featuring the vast grey bulk of the nuclear power station at its end, which is also a terminus for the RH&D Railway.  A well-deserved Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its almost desert-like habitat, Dungeness is almost as fascinating for its lonely human environment as it is for its wide skies and unique ecosystem.  The estate has largely resisted any form of large-scale development, resulting in a uniquely weird and wonderful collection of isolated habitations that mostly seem to be impermanent structures adapted from railway carriages and old boats.  A great day out for anyone who appreciates the unusual!
• Nearby, the Brede Valley not only has the Whispering Giants (see above) but some fine countryside and pretty villages thereabouts.
• Out behind the surreal landscape of Dungeness lie the Romney Marshes, where a large area was reclaimed from the sea over the last 2,000 years. Here is land flat enough to cycle through a distinctive open habitat. Famous for sheep, smuggling, and the lovely, lonely medieval churches (12th century) which dot the landscape.
• Further afield, the old town of Lewes, tucked into a fold in the South Downs, is bigger, but even more quaint and full of history.   Avoid the Bonfire Night celebrations in November when the town is sealed-off, unless you have a taste for crushing crowds and frankly dangerous mischief.  Hastings has its own Bonfire Night in October with torch-lit processions, burning effigies, a bonfire on the beach, and fireworks, and is much safer and far more comfortable.   Go early to find a spot on the raised pavement on All Saints Street for the best view of the parade.
• I promised you beaches, so here are a couple.   The beach at Hastings is pebbles and, frankly, unattractive, but a sandy beach along this coast is at Camber, and it’s a good one.   Five kilometres of shallow beach are backed by dunes and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.   Popular with wind and kite surfers as well as families, but there’s room for everyone.   Be aware though that tides and rips rush through the channels on the extensive littoral, and several people have drowned in recent years – improved lifeguard coverage should help, so check with them before venturing out.
  Buses from Rye or Hastings.   Parking is tricky and expensive on popular summer days.  Eat at Rye, or bring a picnic, although there are encouraging signs of new purveyors of sustenance offering something more enticing than candyfloss and chips.  Do a web search before you go.  At the bottom of Fairlight Glen in the Country Park, a steep path takes you down beside the stream to a secluded beach (see The Country Park – Ferns, Fossils, Fauna and Inspiration) which is otherwise only accessible at low tide (beware!)  You have to climb (or duck) a small fence (easy) and you are warned against proceeding, but that’s just a formality.  The path is steep, but usually well maintained by the ‘outlaw’ locals. This is the locals’ ‘secret’ beach, and access and the ‘bonsai geography’ is maintained by locals, apparently against the wishes of the over-officious Country Park staff.   The beach is steep and narrow at high tide, and there are plenty of rocks, but the land behind, beneath the cliffs, has a maze of gorse and artificial pools, as well as Covehurst Wood.   It’s an unofficial naturist beach and a fine sun trap on a good day.   Don’t miss the ‘bonsai geography’, where small streams have been channelled, and little ‘paddy fields’ created.  Throughout the summer these reed-filled pools are full of newts and aquatic arthropods and constantly buzzed by several species of dragonfly.   Bring a picnic and make a day of it.
• Not too far from Hastings (≈15 miles) lies the High Weald, the geological feature which defines the region, and an officially designated area of outstanding natural beauty (the UK government having decided to name in law if not necessarily to protect, the nation’s heritage) makes a pleasant excursion for those with their own transport.  A visit to Brightling, home to a true English eccentric, John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller (1757 – 1834), who was a friend and patron of Faraday and the Royal Institution when he wasn’t building follies and lighthouses provides spectacular views with chocolate-box pretty English countryside.  Burwash (home to Rudyard Kipling) is nearby.  Try to visit in Spring when the lanes are full of primroses and other wildflowers.

Practical

Hastings is most easily reached by train (Charing Cross or Victoria from London, 1.25 to 1.45 hrs) and is directly linked to Gatwick by Southern Railways.  Trains also run from Ashford for the Channel Tunnel and Eurostar. Avoid the A21 road on summer mornings as it is very congested, especially on weekends and Bank Holidays.

In and around town, daily and weekly ‘Rover’ tickets give unlimited travel on buses.  Beware, while the bus services are pretty reliable while they are running, evenings and weekends see severely reduced timetables, so do check in advance.

Hastings has plenty of hotels, guest houses and B&Bs, most of which are overpriced, so it’s worth asking for discounts.  Hastings has plenty of restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets, and of course, fish and chip shops.