HASTiNGS and ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEA
HASTINGS, the chief of the Cinque Ports, is a popular hills, 'known as the East and West cliffs, and runs along-
seaside resort, municipal, parliamentary and county the seashore, at the base of a range of steep cliffs, which
borough, marl;:et and union town and head of a petty protect it in a considerable degree from the north and
sessional division and county court district, with a rail- north-east winds. The more modern portion comn.:ences
way station, and is near the eastern extremity of about the middlt> of the sea front, and extends west-
Sussex, being the chief town of the county, in Hastings ward; all this portion is popularly lmown as St.
-and St. Leonards rural deanery, Hastings archdeaconry Leonards, although St. Leonards proper is but a rom-
-and Chichester diocese, situated in 50� 34' N. lat. and paratively small district at the westernmost end.
o 0 37' E. long. and distant from London about 63 miles The pier is an �elegant structure of iron, erected by a
by road and 74 lJy railway, through Lewes, by the company at a cost of �32,ooo; it is 920 fBet in length
London, Brighton and South Coast railway, but only 6o and 40 feet in width, and at the south or seaward end
by the line through Sevenoaks by the South Eastern is a pavilion r2o feet in length by 8o in breadth and
railway, both lines coming to the same station; and holding 2,ooo people; here an excellent band pla,�s three
is 24 m,i]es east from Brighton, r7! north-east from times daily during Aug-ust, Septemler and October,
Eastbourne, 26~ ea10t from Lewes, 28 south-east from under the direction of Dr. .Abram; vocal and instru-
Tunbridge Wells and 26~ south-west from Ashford. Of mental concerts, variety and dramatic entertainments
the authentic history of Hastings prior to the rrth are also given during the remaining nine months.
century little is known, and this more or less con- The town is well drained, the sewage being discharged
jecturally. The Roman remains on East Hill St'�em to twice daily, both at the east and west end, and in such
- indicate it as the probable site of a Roman station, a manner that the entire outflow is carried many n'iles
-and some authors contend that the castle was originally away to ~ea by the action of the tide.
-a Roman fortress, repaired by the Conqueror; howevl.'r The Wealden district, of which Hastings sands fmm tha_t may be, it _seems certai_n ~hat Hast~ngs can lay the lower half, offers a deeply interesting field of indam~ to a considt>rable . antiqu:Ity, for 111 .A.D. 792 vestigation to the geologist. On the beach are found Hastw~s and Pe':"ensey, w1th then marshes, are na~ed 1 stems of tropical palms (Endogenites Erosa) and othPr as_ havm,; been given by BerodaHus,_ one of Offa's _chief- ! fossilized remains of submerged fore-sts. tams, to the monastt>ry of St. Dems. In th~ reign. of I The- strata in the Hastings district consist of the
- ~thelstan: A.D. 9~4, the _place pos.se~sed a rnmt,_ whiCh formations called (i) the "Wealden," a fresh-water de-
It mm_ntamed until the time of W1lham Rufus; 111 1090 1 posit, about 2 , 000 feet thick, lying between the Chalk
the b1shops and nobles assembled at the castle by and the Oolite formino- the lowest or "Neocomian"
order of the King, who in 1094 collected here a large division of the 'cretaceo~s svstem and divided into two
-army, as did Henry_ I. in IIO'I; in the reign of R~chard groups, the Weald clay and the' Hastings Sands (the
II.. t~e town w~s. p1ll~ged and bur_nt, and after Its re- former of which does not occur in the district), and (ii)
tmldm_g was divided mto ~wo panshes.
the "Purbecks," the upper or "Portlandian " division
Hastmgs, as one of t'he Cmqu_e Ports, appears to have of the Jurassic System, a fresh-water and estuarian T~tnrned two me~bers to Parliament, or at all evl.'nts deposit which occurs only in tht> neighrourhood of
-drd so from 5 Rrchard IJ. (r38r); but under the pro�
visions -and 49
of the Vict.
" c.
R~e3d),isttrhieb
ution of number
Seats Act, r885" (48 was reduced to one.
"The borough was incorporated by charter of Queen
Elizabeth in r588, and this charter was confirmed by
Charles II. ; under the "Municipal Corporations Acts,"
it became a municipal borough: in 1897 the Borough was
extended tv. Local Government Board's Provisional Order Confirmation (No. 17) Act, r8g7, and now exceeds the
parliamentary borough in extent, and is governed by
�a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors, and for
municipal purposes 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 Rolling-ton 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,
r888," it was declared a county borough for certain
purposes.
This modern watering place consists of the towns of
�Hastings and St. Lt>onards-on-Sea, and comprises a
frontage towards the sea of 3 miles : it is a great resort
for invalids and is much frequented ty visitors for sea
bathing on account of its warm and sheltered aspect,
ensuring it a milder climate in the winter than that of
Netherfie]d and Brio-htling. "' The sub-divisions are as follows:-
gj
Feet thick.
~ g
Hastings Tunbridge Wells Sand .�. 100 to 150
~1o1:..~~.,
Sands ) Wadhurst ,Clay ........... . 70 to IOO 6oo-7oo ( Ashdown Sand ........�...
0
, Fairlight Clays .�.������.��
Portlandian Pur becks
Feet thick. Greys ... ...... ... ... 175 Blues �.�... .�. ...... 55
Upper Jurassic
Below these (which are the lowest beds exposed in
this part of England) the famous Sub-Wealden Boring,
near Netherfield (I872-IB76), discovered the following
strata:-
Feet.
Portlandian
I z4o
J K" I r lm
en.0
. gutn
{ Purbeck (with gypsum beds)... Portland.............................
180 } 6o
~ I 2:
Bolonian ...........�.�............... 66o I P
Viraulian and Pterocerian ������ -430
-~ gj
I I 120
I Astart�1an.................. .. ... . . .. .. 30 ..<.1.o>~ I o"-'
Oorallian f Supra Oorallian ...........���...... 390 ~ :�l ,_,
480
I Coral Rag and Coralline Oolite go ~ J
Oxfordian 6 5
{ 0 xf ord Cla'5. .� �.. . .��.. . ��� .� .�.��� �
6 5 J
many other watering places : its exemption from damp and mist, its cooler atmosphere in summer and thE>
Total.. .�.. r,gos feet
smallness of its daily rang-e of temperature compared Here the borin~ terminated, Ap~l 12th, r87_6, at a
with that of other pl:wes, besides the beauty of its sur- depth of r,go5 feet, unfortunately without thP discovery
�rounding scenery, add to its attractions.
of the FaJreozoic rocks, which are supposed to underlie
The old town is situated in a valley between two high j the South East of England.
�
