These are just exerts from my latest video history film, about 18 minutes of the film which has a runtime of 70 minutes and using the photos of George Woods a noted local photographer from the 1890’s with a brief history of George Woods then a narration of Hastings history from the year dot when Hastings was not on any map through all the successive battles and invasions to almost the present day.
George Woods was born in St alurn in hartfordshire on the 15th of May 1852 his father was William wind at woods from Norfolk and he ran a successful drapery business in St Orbin and George and his elder brother William also entered the drapery trade in the 1870s they moved to woking in
Parkshire and his brother set up a business of William Woods Draper and grosser in 1878 George married a local girl Mary Butler whose family had a successful drapery business not far from the woods in 1879 their daughter Margaret was born in 1880 their father died leaving both boys some shares which was immensely
Helpful to George and Mary and he also had an income through dabbling on the stock exchange which helped George to pursue his hobby of Photography and with Mary’s poor health they decided to move to the coast so they pucked up their belongings and moved to Hastings as Mary’s brother
John had a grocery business there in George Street a rather aptly named road so around 1889 they settled in a house in Mount Pleasant Road then after a period of about 2 years they moved across the road to a more substantial property with a small garden where they lived for 10
Years in 1893 Mary was diagnosed with cancer and in 1896 a sad period in George’s life she died aged just 49 but George and Margaret continued to live in their Mount Pleasant Home In 1902 George married Ethel rant after their marriage they moved with Margaret to praie Avenue but in 1911
Tragedy struck again as Margaret was also diagnosed with a cancerous illness and in 1914 she died aged just 35 Georg and Ethel had a passion for cycling and spent many hours cycling all over the county Ethel was a deeply religious person George died in 1934 of cancer age
81 after a 4-year Illness but Ethel lived on up until 1962 age 90 here is a collection of George’s photos of Hastings and the fishing Community the beach parade and town put together with a narration of Hastings history from the Year Dot when Hastings was not on any
Map through all the successive batt attles and invasions up to the Victorian era and is I think a concise and very interesting history of the burough of Hastings and St Leonard’s oh and by the way the woman in George’s photos on the pier is thought
To be his first wife Mary and the young girl in many of George’s photographs his daughter Margaret Hastings from pre to modern history produced and narrated by Mike Wells the origin of Hastings is somewhat obscure however it is certain that prior to the Roman invasion of 55 5 BC it was inhabited by a race of early peoples from what is now Europe but it is probable that this race of people established their settlement here while
Britain was still part of Mainland Europe these people were of goth origin and unlike the ancient Britain of early history or prehistory they had developed certain cultures these Goths either discovered or already were skilled in producing iron from the Clays of East SU six they were skilled farmers and lived
In permanent settlements the ancient Britain of prehistory would appear to have been in contrast Savage hunting Nomads the actual fortification of Hastings was developed by arvus in ad. 50 the first Saxons under their leader aella defeated the early britans at the siege of andr sesta they named their area South Saxon
Which of course became Sussex at a later date in ad. 771 offer King of the merians subdued by Force of Arms the rape of hingi and a quote by G Taylor in his book words and places of Hastings in ad. 790 as the noblest race of Goths since the Roman
Conquest in the reign of Edward the Confessor by decree in 1050 the Zink ports were established comprising of Hastings do hie sandwich and Romney the function of the Zin ports was to provide a Navy defense of the channel coasts of Kent and East Sussex and to provide a
Navy capable of engaging enemy ships at even greater distance from our Shores eedward the Confessor died on January the 5th 1066 and King Harold was crowned one of his first acts was to dismantle Hasting gestra Hastings Castle which at the time was a wooden structure although it is not known his reason for
Dismantling the castle it can only be assumed that it was his intention to construct a more durable edifice on the site the first year of King Harold’s Reign which proved to be also his last was extremely troubled and he had to take his army to Yorkshire to subdue the
Claims of his brother to the crown at the Battle of Stanford Bridge King Steven stayed at Hastings Castle in 1148 and during his stay he abolished the Hastings mint within the castle in 1155 Thomas ackett was Dean of St Mary in the castle King Henry built a
Keep an extensions to Hastings Castle in 1172 and in 1175 the Prairie of the the Holy Trinity was founded on the West Bank of the Prairie Haven marshes by the austinian order of black monks in gratitude for the services of the zinc ports in 1265 four Barons from Hastings
Were summoned to attend the parliament of Simon De Monfort this was Hastings first representation in Parliament in 1274 King Edward I visited Hastings and issued an ordinance concerning the trail of pleas on ports and in 1278 King Edward I granted a charter to the zinc ports restoring their rights and privileges granted by
Successive monarchs since Edward the Confessor but revoked by King John in 1286 Alan the cheesemonger and his wife Alice gave land to The Abbey of femp on which to rebuild St Clement’s church on the site where it stands today the original Church which was was much nearer to the shore had been destroyed
By sea erosion and in 1287 winchelsea which at the time was built on on the level ground below the hill was inundated by the Sea and completely destroyed in 1293 the ships of the zinc ports had sailed into action off the French Coast shattering the French Fleet
For this act of gallantry Hastings was granted its coat of arms in 1601 John Barley died it is not known who or what he was but his name is perpetuated in Barley’s Lane this lane or track probably dates from the time that fairlight place was built and it
Connects the town of old Hastings with the house in 1618 the thatching of roofs was forbidden by local order to restrict the risk of fire in Hastings in 16 1625 a plague of small pox caused many deaths in in the town Hastings was isolated and the movement of residents was rigidly restricted in
Order to confine the disease in 1627 a Dunkirk Privateer bombarded the town while the populists were at Sunday morning service a cannonball lodged in the tower of the Church of St Clement with great speed the Seaman of Hastings rushed from the church and gave Chase The Cannonball can
Be seen in the church Tower today has been joined by a second one implanted to balance the effect in 1643 while Sunday service was in progress at All Saints Church it was learned that a force of Cromwell soldiers were approaching from a the Vicor escaped but was later captured and
Taken to London he again escaped and regained his freedom the soldiers confiscated all arms in the town and soldiers were belled in the church this was the only incident during the Civil War affecting Hastings John Kia’s residence in Hastings was the Mansion later known as old Hastings house which occupied a site
In extensive grounds at the North End of High Street he lost his first wife by whom he SED several children but remarried and produced 18 more 13 of whom died during his lifetime including all of his sons the first Hastings cricet ground was opened at coler’s Road field in Prarie road in
1750 in 1751 Colonel pelum and Mr Stone were responsible for Paving the High Street at their own expense and at the commencement of this undertaking they used Stone from the castle which had fallen down the cliff face in 1753 on May the 22nd the first workhouse was opened in George
Street in 1815 James B Burton and his son desus first visited the Wild and beautiful Cliff area of what today is St Leonard’s and they realized the potential for development the cliffs in Hinterland were virtually uninhabited at the time and they set about the design of a complete Town structure before a stone
Was laid their original plans had to be altered and amended in detail as can Well Be Imagined for this was the first occasion at which a town structure had ever been Plan before development took place James and desus Burton were architects desus in fact was the
Designer of the great Arch at Hyde Park corner at the head of constitutional Hill in London during the early part of the 19th century the Hastings Corporation were greatly concerned by the effect of the America ground to their Progressive plans of further development it could not be purchased
Because it was no man’s land but a solution had to be found Hastings Corporation sought advice from the Crown Law Officers to resolve the problem after a considerable period of deliberation the crown agreed to take possession of the land in 1829 and Hastings had no claim to it and
An order of compulsory evacuation by or and Sundry and all of the structures to be demolished from the area those in possession were allowed a maximum of 7 years to complete Evac uation the Hastings Corporation thereupon undertook to lease the land from the crown Robertson street carile parade Harold Place Claremont and
Trinity Street are still today leased from the crown the Hastings embroidery was commissioned from the London School of needlework in 1966 as a successor to the Baya tapestry depicting nine centuries of English History in 19 1977 an appeal by the burrow of Hastings was made to the government for financial assistance to
Repair the disintegrating Harbor jetti it was feared that the sea erosion through the broken Harbor wall would destroy the stayen Cliffs of the East Hill at rockano in the summer of 1977 a legislation allowing the burough to promote lotteries Hastings promoted a bimonthly Lottery to help to finance Sports project at
Summerfields pre the petrol driven Omnibus and before the railways were constructed in 1846 Hastings was frequented by stage coaches in 1731 a coach known as the regulator operated once weekly from the swan in at Hastings to London this coach departed from Hastings at 4 a.m. on
Monday and took 3 days to complete the journey on Monday it reach robertsbridge where the passengers spent the night in a local Inn and on Tuesday night they again stayed overnight at 7 Oaks and arrived in London on Wednesday evening the return Journey departed from London on Thursday morning stopping overnight
At 7 Oaks and robertsbridge and arrived back in Hastings on Saturday evening another trade plied before and during this time was smuggling here are a few of the smuggers landing places in Hastings the old woman’s tap the site of the Royal Victoria Hotel stles at Bo Peep Jin’s stall at Galley Hill the
Slide rockan no the whippings ecklor Westcliffe Robin whiting’s Hall ecklor East Cliff broken shins and gringer between ecklor and curst Bay the GS curst Bay marabon Gap Fair light signal station between 1600 and 1820 smuggling was a major industry in Hastings n