Introduction
In 1978 Young, Coles & Langdon celebrated its 150th anniversary with a reception held at the Queens Hotel and attended by the Mayor, the late Councillor John Hodgson MBE, DL. While preparing for the anniversary, Michael Langdon, who was the Firm's senior partner between 1965 and 1985, wrote a brief history of the Firm. His sources were confined to some correspondence with the Law Society's Archivist and the Curator of the Hastings Borough Museum together with some anecdotal oral history and a ledger for 1844/1846. Within eight small pages he sketched a tantalising glimpse of past events.
In 1993 the Firm moved from Queensbury House at the top of Havelock Road to 5/6 Albert Road and 31 Russell Street. These premises are now called ‘Langham House’. Following the move, Christopher Langdon began to look for possible links between the new office premises and the Firm. Intrigued by the way in which the life of Young Coles & Langdon was linked to the social history of Hastings, he started to collect material and write notes from which a revised account could be written.
The First Edition was produced in 2003 to mark the Firm’s 175th anniversary. A Second Edition was privately published in 2006. It has now become necessary to produce a Third (and probably the last) Edition to replenish the dwindling stock, correct some errors and add some new material.
Chapter 1
The Town
Descending into central Hastings from Priory Road or from Castle Hill, it is still possible to imagine that, many centuries ago, the area between the West Hill and White Rock was a substantial river valley with a Roman harbour on the present site of the main shopping precinct. By the thirteenth century, the town of Hastings had migrated to the area between the West and the East Hills. The land between the West Hill and White Rock was still a river estuary, although the flow of water had much diminished and the area was largely marshland.
With the passing of time, the whole river valley silted up and, although prone to flooding, ceased to resemble an estuary. A small river, known as the Priory Stream, flowed down from Old Roar along the line of what is now Queen's Road but was formerly known as Meadow Road. Today it is piped through the town centre and on to the beach.
