It is hard to envisage that for generations the size of Hastings was perhaps little more than that of present day Winchelsea. During the eighteenth century the population varied between two and three thousand, although by 1815 it had grown to about four thousand people.
The estates of a few wealthy families surrounded the Old Town. A large part of the present Borough to the east of Queen's Road was owned by John Collier and his descendants while the Cornwallis family, the Eversfield family and the Corporation (who were responsible for the then Charity lands) owned most of what is now central Hastings, Ore and Bohemia. The enthusiasm of those wealthy families to acquire land and their equal reluctance to part with any of it for development imposed an effective barrier against any urban expansion.
By 1815 the country had also been at war with France for twenty-six years - a war that had at times involved most of the countries of Europe. The Royal Military Canal, the Martello Towers and other evidence of military activity were in the vicinity. Just as in the late 1940's a young person would have had fresh memories of a war lasting many years - memories reinforced by many signs in and around Hastings - so too a young person in Hastings in the years immediately following the Napoleonic War would have experienced constant reminders of the past conflict.
The end of the war in 1815, coupled with significant national, social and economic pressures (including the death of John Collier without a male heir and the consequent fragmentation of his estate) and the growing attraction of Hastings as a residential and resort area led to enormous changes in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Between 1815 and 1819 the first houses were built to the east of Meadow Road and also on the east side of Wellington Square. A close look at the upper floors of some of the shops opposite the Town Hall will reveal the facades of the original houses which would have enjoyed a pleasant river frontage. When built, they had a view across the open fields with the Priory Farm standing near the site of what was Sainsbury's and is now ESK Warehouse. As with most of the houses in Queens Road, the shop fronts were added later. In 1817 developers built the elegant Castle Hotel where the Snooker Centre now stands, while the site of the cinema (formerly the Gaiety Theatre which was built in 1882 and where Oscar Wilde lectured in 1883) formed its associated stable mews. The hotel was demolished in the 1960's and at the time of its demolition the father of a present partner, Derek Millgate, purchased the bar for ten shillings. On the same day he sold the pumps for £25 but erected the bar in his home. It remains the hope of the partners that perhaps one day the bar will be reassembled in the reception office of Langham House.
To the west of the river, where the Priory Meadow shopping centre and Devonshire Road are located, were open fields belonging to the Cornwallis Family. To the south of these fields, at the mouth of the original estuary, the area between the Queen's Hotel and the White Rock was little more than a squatters' camp. It was known as the Priory or Government Ground - but more popularly as the America Ground. In 1828 the leading citizens of the town enlisted the aid of the Crown to reinforce its right to the land. Following an inquiry held at the George Inn at Battle, the Crown granted itself title to the land but allowed the existing occupiers short leases that all expired in 1836. In that year all were evicted and the ground was cleared. In 1849, after a fifteen-year delay, the Crown granted long leases of the reclaimed land. Patrick Robertson MP acquired a large part of it and developed the area around what is now Robertson Street.
Many of the former residents of the America Ground moved with their houses to Gensing Farm in St Leonards. Several of the houses in that area, chiefly in North Street, were originally from that location. The new beneficiaries of the Ground had a continuing sense of guilt towards the dispossessed who had moved to St Leonards. Lady St John, who had contributed to the cost of building the 'cathedral' of Holy Trinity in Robertson Street, was sufficiently burdened to build Christ Church in St Leonards and to encourage its powerful Anglo-Catholic outreach to the underprivileged.
The railway line reached St Leonards in 1846 and was finally extended to the centre of Hastings in 1851. The associated building works required the construction of a large earth bank for the track while the residue from the tunnel was deposited to form the surface of Havelock Road. All this work helped to mitigate against the attacks of the sea although the former estuary continued to flood until the completion of the new pumping arrangements.
