Hastings

:This is about Hastings in England. There are other uses of the name Hastings.

Buildings

The most important buildings from the late medieval period are the two churches in the Old Town, All Saints' and St Clement's.

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On the beach near the Old Town are the so-called "net shops", said to be unique to Hastings, but similar huts can be found in Whitby — these are wooden constructions, weatherboarded and tarred, of various shapes and sizes, used for storage. The buildings were built tall and narrow to avoid payment of ground tax. The huts were never used for net drying, this is a popular misconception, nets were dried on the beach or on the piece of land known as the Minnis.

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Not much remains of Hastings Castle apart from an arch of the chapel, some walls, and underground dungeons.

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In front of the castle is an elegant Georgian terrace, Pelham Crescent, at the centre of which is the classical church of St Mary in the Castle (its name recalling the old chapel in the castle above) now in use as an arts centre. The building of the crescent and the church necessitated further cutting away of the castle hill cliffs.

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For many years the traffic intersection at the town centre was marked by "The Memorial", a clock tower commemorating Albert the Prince Consort, subsequently demolished, following an arson atack in the 1970's.

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The bathing pool at St Leonards was regarded in its day as one of the best open-air swimming and diving complexes in Europe, but it closed some years ago, having become part of a holiday camp, the area is still known by locals as 'The Bathing Pool', which confuses some visitors as no pool exists.

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One of the most notable recent architectural changes has been the demolition of the 1930s railway station and its replacement by an anonymous glass and steel stucture, opened in 2004.

Related Topics:
Railway station - 2004

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