the Crown, the occupiers receiving seven years ' notice to quit, liberty being given them to pull down and take away their buildings.
The Priory Bridge, No. 2 , as we call it, was a brick built structure, erected on the site of the old wooden bridge just mentioned . A little beyond it to the west was the Priory farm-house, and near thereto were the farm-buildings and a deep muddy pond, called the Black-pond. The site at present occupied by the Railway Station, mainly consisted of a boggy reed-bed. At times, in violent rains, the Priory meadows (the present cricket and recreation ground) were frequently under water. Improved drainage has remedied that. On the bridge were two lamps, marking the extent of the jurisdiction of the Hastings Improvement Commissioners. This bridge was pulled down about the year 1835. On the site of the two Priory bridges stands the present " Albert Memorial." This was built in 1863 , from designs furnished in a competition by Mr. E. A. Heffer, architect, of Liverpool. I need say nothing of the beauty of this structure ; it speaks for itself ; every one I think will admit that it forms a striking contrast to the bridges formerly occupying the site ; the rattletrap, tumble-down No. 1 , and the unpretending No. 2, like which there is nothing that I know of excepting perhaps " Sheepwash Bridge" spanning the Aston river on Bulverhithe Salts.
