appear, will make a note of the fact, a missing link in the chain of evidence required, will be welcomed by all who are interested in this curious local tradition. Author.]
The names of both Cloudesley and Shovell are very uncommon (they are spelt in many different ways) and that they are mentioned in the Hastings Corporation Records would afford presumptive evidence for belief that the family of the great Admiral were connected with Hastings, or that he himself or his mother may have resided here. The following are extracts : "February 16th, 1590, The Mayor, juratts, and commonalty, of the town and port of Hasting, did grant unto John Golden, of the said town and port, all that messuage and garden thereunto adjoining and belonging, with all the appurtenances, situate, and being in the parish of St. Clement's, in Hasting aforesaid^ and now in the occupation of Robert Cloudesley." (Moss, p. 152.)
The Corporation Books show that a person named Cloudesley occupied a house in All Saints' Street, in 1590. William Durrant-Cooper and Thomas Ross Suss. Arch. Coll. Vol. 14, p. no.)
T. B. Brett extracted from the All Saints' Parish Register a marriage between Robert Cloudesley (Towne Gunner) and Jane White. (Date not mentioned.)
In the "Collier Letters" of April 26th, 1755, Mr. Edward Milward, writing to his father-in-law, Mr. John Collier "Last night's post brought me the melancholy news of the death of my cousin Molly Lintott, who died suddenly the 23rd instant. [The Editor of the "Collier Letters" adds the following note: "The lady, though referred to by her maiden name, had, in fact, then lately been married to a Mr. Cloudesley, as appears from subsequent letters of Mr. Cranston's."]
Mrs. Cloudesley was the daughter of Edward Lintott, who died December 1st, 1761. He resided at Bunger Hill House, near the present Ore Railway Station, and the house appears in the plan of the Collier Lands. (This points to the fact that the family of Cloudesley existed in Hastings long after the death of Mrs. Shovell, or rather, as she was at the time of her death Mrs. Flaxman.)
In the Chamberlains' Accounts passed 22nd June, 1657, the following place is mentioned, "A watering place at Shovell field." (As the word "watering" is commonly applied to a place where running water crosses a road, this may have been some part of the Bourne Stream, near the "Slough" at the bottom of Old London Road, or the Priory Stream, both being within the boundary of the Corporation Lands. I have not been able to identify the Shovell Field as being near "The Slough." The Torfield on the one side and the Pound Field on the opposite side of the Old London Road, were open spaces used when the Cattle Market was held at the top of High Street, and are both shown in the plan of the Collier Lands, -
