Kelly's Directory of Sussex 1911

The below is a transcription of those portions of the 1911 Kelly's Director of Sussex that relate to Hastings and St. Leonards

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HASTINGS and ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEA

HASTINGS, the chief of the Cinque Ports, is a popular seaside resort, municipal, parliamentary and county borough, market and union town and head of a petty sessional division and county court district, with a railway station, and is near the eastern extremity of Sussex being the chief town of the county, in Hastings and St. Leonards rural deanery, Lewes archdeaconry and Chichester diocese, situated in 50^o 34' N. Lat. and 0^o37" E. long and distant from London about 63 miles by road and 74 by railway, through Lewes, by the London, Brighton and South Coast railway, but only 60 by the line through Sevenoaks by the South Eastern railway, both lines coming to the same station; and it is 24 miles east from Brighton, 17½ north-east from Eastbourne, 26½ east from Lewes, 28 south-east from Tunbridge Wells and 26½ south-west from Ashford. Of the authentic history of Hastings prior to the 11th century, little is known and this more or less conjecturally. The Roman remains on East Hill seem to indicate it as a probable site of a Roman station; and some authors contend that the castle was originally a Roman fortress repaired by the Conqueror; however that may be, it seems certain that Hastings can lay claim to a considerable antiquity, for in A.D. 792 Hastings and Pevensey, with their marshes, are named as having been given by Berodalbus, one of Offa's chieftains, to the monastery of St. Denis. In the reign of Athelstan, A.D. 924, the place possessed a mint, which it maintained until the time of William Rufus; in 1090 the bishops and nobles assembled at the castle by order of the King, who in 1094 collected here a large army, as did Henry I in 1101; in the reign of Richard II, the town was pillaged and burnt, and after its rebuilding was divided into two parishes.

Hastings, as one of the Cinque Ports, appears to have returned two members to Parliament, or at all events did so from 5 Richard II. (1381); but under the pro- visions of the "Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885" (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23), the number was reduced to one. The borough was incorporated by charter of Queen Elizabeth in 1588, and this charter was confirmed by Charles II.; under the "Municipal Corporations Act, 1832" (5 and 6 Wm. IV. c. 76): in 1897 the Borough was extended by Local Government Board's Provisional Order Confirmation (No. 17. Act, 1897), and now exceeds the parliamentary borough in extent, and is governed by a mayor, to aldermen, and 30 councillors, and for municipal pur- poses is divided into ten wards. The extensions to the borough consist of the remainder of the civil parish of Ore, the whole of the ecclesiastical parish of St. Matthew and a part of Hollington civil parish. The borough has a commission of the peace, a separate court of quarter sessions and a police force. Under the provisions of the "Local Government Act, 1888," it was declared a county borough for certain purposes.

This modern watering place consists of the towns of Hastings and St. Leonards-on-Sea, and comprises a frontage towards the sea of 3 miles: it is a great resort for invalids and is much frequented by visitors for ses bathing on account of its warm and sheltered aspect, ensuring it a milder climate in the winter than that of many other watering places: its exemption from damp and mist, its cooler atmosphere in summer and the smallness of its daily range of temperature compared with that of other places, besides the beauty of its surrounding scenery, add to its attractions. The old town is situated in a valley between two high hills, known as the east and west cliffs, and runs along the seashore, at the base of a range of steep cliffs, which protect it in a considerable degree from the north and north-east winds. The more modern portion commences about the middle of the sea front, and extends westward; all this portion is popularly known as St. Leonards, although St. Leonards proper is but a comparatively small district at the westernmost end.

The pier is an elegant structure of iron, erected by a company at a cost of £32,000; it is 920 feet in length and 40 feet in width, and at the south or seaward end is a pavilion 120 feet in length by 80 in breadth and holding 2,000 people; here an excellent band plays three times daily during August, September and October. under the direction of Dr. Abram; vocal and instrumental concerts, variety and dramatic entertainments are also given during the remaining nine months. The town is well drained, the sewage being discharged twice daily, both at the east and west end, and in such manner that the entire outflow is carried many miles away to sea by the action of the tide.

The Wealden district, of which Hastings sands form the lower half, offers a deeply interesting field of inves tigation to the geologist. On the beach are found stems of tropical palms (Endogenites Erosa) and other fossilized remains of submerged forests.

The strata in the Hastings district consist of the formations called (i) the "Wealden." a fresh-water deposit, about 2,000 feet thick, lying between the Chalk and the Oolite, forming the lowest or "Neocomian" division of the Cretaceous system, and divided into two groups, the Weald Clay and the Hastings Sands (the former of which does not occur in the district), and (ii) the "Purbecks," the upper or "Portlandian" division of the Jurassic System, a fresh-water and estuarian deposit which occurs only in the neighbourhood of Netherfield and Brightling.

The sub-divisions are as follows:-

				Feet Thick
Lower Cretacious	Wealden	Hastings Sands 600-700	Tunbridge Wells Sand	100 to 150
			Wadhurst Clay	70 to 100
			Ashdown Sand	250
			Fairlight Clays	300
		Portlandian Purbecks 230	Feet Thick
			Greys	175	Upper Jurassic
			Blues	35