majore parte, devastatur."[1] This the King is stated to have granted , giving them liberty to inclose the Castle with walls. He permitted them also to build houses ; they would appear to have taken advantage of this permission , and to have abandoned their old chapel, and in its place to have enlarged, or rather to have almost rebuilt, the old Castle Chapel, which thenceforth became known as St. Mary's in the Castle . In 1236 , St. Clements was in like manner destroyed by the sea, and rebuilt elsewhere. Both these ecclesiastical buildings were situated on the verge of the West Hill -- one to the west, and the other to the east -- which accounts for their falling into decay about the
same time.
The old town did such good service under De Montfort's banner against Henry III., in defence of the liberties of the kingdom , that its barons, after the disastrous defeat of Leicester at Evesham , found it necessary to excuse them selves in the following quaint terms." [2] " Take notice, that we have up to this time guarded your town of Hastings for your use, and that of your heirs, and at your good pleasure shall guard it for ever , although anything to the contrary may have been suggested to your pious ears by our enemies against us." The Barons of Hastings had also a little private war, on their own account, with Yarmouth , in 1264; and very reluctantly concluded a truce for half a year at the bidding of the King's Council.
