poor of Guestling and Icklesham, and at present let to Sir Wm. Ashburnham at £17 per ann. The same Elizabeth Cheyey also gave two dwellings, situate at Shellhouse Green, Guestling (to be occupied by two poor persons), together with the rent of a field called Hilliards, consisting of 1 1/4 acres, and let to Mr. Hawkins at £2 2s per ann. Also an annuity of 10s each from the rents arising from Cork Fields, to be paid quarterly. The Rev. Robt. Bradshaw gave a farmer Sir W. Ashburnham's £50 in trust, the interest of which was to be paid to the occupiers of the above-named cottages. A balance of £6 10s of the interest of this £50 remained unappropriated. Mrs. Cheyney further gave half an acre of land, with two tenements thereon at Icklesham to be occupied by two poor unmarried men or women of Icklesham, with an annuity of 10s each, to be charged on Cork Fields. These tenements having been destroyed by fire many years ago, new ones were to be built as soon as possible, and the cost to be paid out of the £350 balance of unappropriated rents of Cork Fields.
Since the time of that enquiry matters have been entirely altered, and of course for the benefit of the parish. This charity, which has been in abeyance for many years, was taken in hand by Mr. John Smith, an energetic builder, who during the early years of the 19th century, migrated from Leeds to London, from London to Rye and from Rye to Hastings, at which last-named town he was employed in 1816 by Mr. Breeds to erect Nelson Buildings, and afterwards by the Earl of Chichester to cut down the Castle Cliff, and to build St. Mary's Chapel, Pelham Arcade, and houses in Pelham place, Pelham crescent, Breeds place, Bohemia House, &c &c. Mr. Smith was an ardent Liberal and a staunch Reformer. He was also a true friend to the poor, and having in some casual manner heard that there were benefactions of which it was believed the people of Guestling were being deprived he hired a house in Guestling to become a parishioner to investigate the case. This he did with uch perseverance, and then filed a bill in Chancery in which his success was attested by the establishment of an endowed school in the parish and a house for the master and mistress. Mr. Smith died suddenly of heart disease in 1857 at the age of 69 years, and after a residence in Hastings of over forty years. He was really one of the Hastings worthies, and as such a biographic (sic) sketch is reserved for the year in which he died.
(This, which has since been written, appears in "Historico-Biographies" Vol. III, pp 109 to 113.)
Some particulars of the proposed harbour at Hastings were given in the preceding chapter, to which the following may be added:- At the meeting of the Town Council on the 7th of March, it was "resolved that the survey of the harbour being now out of the hands of the Council their subscription to the fund [£30] be represented by the Mayor." At the same meeting, a borough rate at 4d in the £ was agreed upon - a rate which the inhabitants who are now quintupled in the rating, and with higher assessments, would probably like to see revived. But, as regards the harbour, a subscription list which lay at the Bank for two months, only obtained promises of about £20. That sum was raised to £200 by means of circulars and personal applications, and Mr. Cubit promised to get out a plan and estimate for £150. His attention was drawn to the Fishmarket as being probably a more eligible site. The plan and estimate, a copy of which is before me, was produced on the 24th of June, and embraced an area of 40 acres, extended from where is now the Queen's Hotel to the Cutter Inn. The cost was estimated at £150,000[a], the work to be completed within 7 years, and with a maintenance and management of £500 to £750 annual expense. It is needless to say that the scheme was never carried out.
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "Notes", but no corresponding <references group="Notes"/> tag was found
