Old Hastings Preservation Society was founded in 1952 to promote the permanent preservation of buildings of beauty/historic interest, especially in Hastings & St. Leonards and foster an appreciation of the history of Hastings. We encourage and record research which supports our objectives. Good architecture, design and town planning is encouraged. In 1956 we founded the Hastings Fishermen’s Museum open daily in Rock-a-Nore Road and more recently Hastings History House.
Friday, 26 June 2015
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Planning permission for Queensway Gateway withdrawn
Monday 22 June 2015
Council bosses have quashed permission for the £15m Queensway Gateway road to be built, it has been announced today (Monday, June 22).
A judicial review into the original permission, which was granted by the authority in February, was due to be heard on Thursday and Friday this week at the High Court in London.
Kevin Boorman, spokesman for Hastings Borough Council, said: “The High Court has already ruled that the majority of Mr Carlyle’s arguments are misconceived.
“However, we do accept that the report which went to our planning committee in respect of the Queensway Gateway road did not draw committee members’ attention to the policy regarding air quality. It should have done, and we apologise for this omission.
“We do not think that it is in the interests of local council taxpayers for us to continue lengthy and potentially costly legal debate and so we have agreed to reconsider the scheme again at a further planning committee meeting.
Friday, 19 June 2015
To celebrate the bi-centenary of the Battle of Waterloo ……
There is a display in the History House (21 Courthouse Street) with an accompanying slide show.
The Duke of Wellington was posted to Hastings in 1806 in order to take command of the brigade of infantry. His troop was based locally and he stayed at 54 High Street, using this as his headquarters.
The Swan Inn (situated opposite 54 High Street) was used for a public dinner in his honour in April 1806.
Wellesley then travelled back to his place of birth in Dublin and married Catherine Lady Pakenham, bringing her back to Hastings, where they lived at Hastings House, a beautiful Palladian Mansion at the North end of Tackleway. The plot where Hastings House and gardens once stood is now occupied by Old Humphrey Avenue.
Thursday, 18 June 2015
East Hill ‘Bunker Protest Picnic’.
There is to be another ‘Bunker Protest Picnic’. The event will be on Sunday 28 June, from 1p.m – 4pm on the East Hill, just to the west of the Bunker. (The site is a short walk from the top of the East Hill funicular railway in Rock-a-Nore, Hastings Old Town.)
The Picnic will be a fun occasion – open to all – to let HBC know how much those present (and those unable to make it) care about the desecration of Hastings Country Park and the threats it remains subject to, such as unauthorised treefelling and severe administrative carelessness.
Back in March, the Planning Committee of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) refused another retrospective application. The Vice-Chair of the Committee, Cllr Michael Wincott, said at that meeting:
“As some of you know, I proposed refusing the retrospective application in June of last year, and I’m very very pleased this has been recommended for refusal. It’s long overdue. Take it down.” [Applause]
Subsequently, an Enforcement Order was issued, ordering the owners (Rocklands Caravan Park) to demolish the building.
Game over? No — anything but.
Detailed discussion of the case includes the Bahcheli Report for HBC, and itsAddendum. Responses included the Save Ecclesbourne Glen critique and theDetailed Comments. The Landslip was discussed in the Coffey Report and itsAppendices. The geotechnical experts have done a sequel — as yet unpublished.
The Country Park remains at risk of permanent blight. For more information on the event, contact Save Ecclesbourne Glen (SEG).
From http://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/hottie/hot-topics/home-ground/country-park-bunker-protest-picnic
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Judicial review into Queensway Gateway road
A judicial review of the decision by Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee to grant permission for the £15 million Queensway Gateway road will be heard in the High Court on June 25 and 26.
The legal challenge claims that the authority should not have granted planning permission for the project as the road would breach national and EU laws on air pollution.
Developers were ordered to stop work on the Queensway Gateway road after the High Court agreed the judicial review could go ahead.
More at http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/local/judicial-review-into-queensway-gateway-road-1-6798541
Thursday, 11 June 2015
OHPS 2015 AGM
Friday 12th June 2015
7 PM for 7.30
21 Courthouse Street, Hastings
Refreshments will be available after the meeting
Followed by
OHPS Projects : Past & Future
by Anne Scott
Friday, 15 May 2015
HPC May Newsletter Link
Click Newsletter - May 2015
Copy available for reading in the History House
Foundations for the Visitors’ Centre
Friday, 17 April 2015
George MacDonald – official unveiling of new plaque
Wellington Square
Saturday 2nd May, 2.30 PM
Edward Preston will be conducting a walk at the end of the ceremony.
George MacDonald came to Hastings in 1857 for health reasons and lived at 27 Tackleway in the Old Town. Whilst there he wrote his first prose book entitled "Phantastes". This work was later to inspire the likes of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
George MacDonald and family left Hastings for London in 1858. They were to return some ten years later with a somewhat larger family, now including 11 children. The family lived at Holloway House off Old London Road. Whilst at Holloway House MacDonald completed his book "At the Back of the North Wind"
He took an active interest in local activities and was founder of the Hastings & St Leonards Philosophical Society which was started in 1858 and gave lectures at the Public Hall in Hastings and the Assembly Rooms in St Leonards.
Fantasy
- Phantastes: A Fairie Romance for Men and Women (1858)
- "Cross Purposes" (1862)
- Adela Cathcart (1864), containing "The Light Princess", "The Shadows", and other short stories
- The Portent: A Story of the Inner Vision of the Highlanders, Commonly Called "The Second Sight" (1864)
- Dealings with the Fairies (1867), containing "The Golden Key", "The Light Princess", "The Shadows", and other short stories
- At the Back of the North Wind (1871)
- Works of Fancy and Imagination (1871), including Within and Without, "Cross Purposes", "The Light Princess", "The Golden Key", and other works
- The Princess and the Goblin (1872)
- The Wise Woman: A Parable (1875)
- The Gifts of the Child Christ and Other Tales (1882; republished as Stephen Archer and Other Tales)
- The Day Boy and the Night Girl (1882)
- The Princess and Curdie (1883), a sequel to The Princess and the Goblin
- The Flight of the Shadow (1891)
- Lilith: A Romance (1895)
Realistic fiction
David Elginbrod (1863; republished as The Tutor's First Love), originally published in three volumes
- Alec Forbes of Howglen (1865; republished as The Maiden's Bequest)
- Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood (1867)
- Guild Court: A London Story (1868)
- Robert Falconer (1868; republished as The Musician's Quest)
- The Seaboard Parish (1869), a sequel to Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood
- Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood (1871)
- Wilfrid Cumbermede (1871–72)
- The Vicar's Daughter (1871–72), a sequel to Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood and The Seaboard Parish
- The History of Gutta Percha Willie, the Working Genius (1873), usually called simply Gutta Percha Willie
- Malcolm (1875)
- St. George and St. Michael (1876)
- Thomas Wingfold, Curate (1876; republished as The Curate's Awakening)
- The Marquis of Lossie (1877; republished as The Marquis' Secret), the second book of Malcolm
- Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879; republished as The Lady's Confession), a sequel to Thomas Wingfold, Curate
- Sir Gibbie (1879; republished as The Baronet's Song)
- Mary Marston (1881; republished as A Daughter's Devotion)
- Warlock o' Glenwarlock (1881; republished as Castle Warlock and The Laird's Inheritance)
- Weighed and Wanting (1882; republished as A Gentlewoman's Choice)
- Donal Grant (1883; republished as The Shepherd's Castle), a sequel to Sir Gibbie
- What's Mine's Mine (1886; republished as The Highlander's Last Song)
- Home Again: A Tale (1887; republished as The Poet's Homecoming)
- The Elect Lady (1888; republished as The Landlady's Master)
- A Rough Shaking (1891)
- There and Back (1891; republished as The Baron's Apprenticeship), a sequel to Thomas Wingfold, Curate and Paul Faber, Surgeon
- Heather and Snow (1893; republished as The Peasant Girl's Dream)
- Salted with Fire (1896; republished as The Minister's Restoration)
- Far Above Rubies (1898)
Poetry
- Twelve of the Spiritual Songs of Novalis (1851), privately printed translation of the poetry of Novalis
- Within and Without: A Dramatic Poem (1855)
- Poems (1857)
- "A Hidden Life" and Other Poems (1864)
- "The Disciple" and Other Poems (1867)
- Exotics: A Translation of the Spiritual Songs of Novalis, the Hymn-book of Luther, and Other Poems from the German and Italian (1876)
- Dramatic and Miscellaneous Poems (1876)
- A Book of Strife, in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul (1880), privately printed
- The Threefold Cord: Poems by Three Friends (1883), privately printed, with Greville Matheson and John Hill MacDonald
- Poems (1887)
- The Poetical Works of George MacDonald, 2 Volumes (1893)
- Scotch Songs and Ballads (1893)
- Rampolli: Growths from a Long-planted Root (1897)
Nonfiction
- Unspoken Sermons (1867)
- England's Antiphon (1868, 1874)
- The Miracles of Our Lord (1870)
- Cheerful Words from the Writing of George MacDonald (1880), compiled by E. E. Brown
- Orts: Chiefly Papers on the Imagination, and on Shakespeare (1882)
- "Preface" (1884) to Letters from Hell (1866) by Valdemar Adolph Thisted
- The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: A Study With the Test of the Folio of 1623 (1885)
- Unspoken Sermons, Second Series (1885)
- Unspoken Sermons, Third Series (1889)
- A Cabinet of Gems, Cut and Polished by Sir Philip Sidney; Now, for the More Radiance, Presented Without Their Setting by George MacDonald (1891)
- The Hope of the Gospel (1892)
- A Dish of Orts (1893)
- Beautiful Thoughts from George MacDonald (1894), compiled by Elizabeth Dougall
Thursday, 16 April 2015
Pier Opens 21st March 2016 – 950th Anniversary of Battle of Hastings
http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/local/hastings-pier-to-open-in-march-2016-1-6692437
Hastings Pier will not be opening this year as planned, it was announced this morning (Thursday).
Simon Opie, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Hastings Pier Charity, said the attraction will open for business on March 21, 2016.
“Almost all the work will be finished this year but not completed in time to open the pier during any of the traditional seaside trading months.”
The charity has ruled out opening the pier in the winter.
Completion is expected around October this year.
Sunday, 12 April 2015
Hastings Borough Cemetery Exhibition
History House
21 Courthouse Street
Come and be inspired by some of the people buried in our cemetery – you may have some surprises!
A small sample:
AH B23 Sir John Kincaid 1787-1862 Fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo with the Rifle Brigade; author, and the likely model for Bernard Cornwell’s character Richard Sharpe.
AH L02 George Elphinstone Dalrymple 1826-76 Explorer, settler of N. Queensland, where many places are named after him. Read his story & many others at www.friendsofhastingscemetery.org.uk
AI E26 Tilden Tolhurst sentenced to ten years transportation for stealing a sheep in 1839, he spent the time on a prison hulk Leviathan, at Portsea Town. He also ran a beer shop the ‘Prince of Wales’ in Waterloo Passage.
AJ K22 Mortimer Achill Graf von Schlippenbach was wounded in the Prussian wars 1870-71. He lived in West Hill Road. A most unusual memorial with a life extinguished represented by a downward pointing torch.
AK A24 Rev Charles Lutwidge & family An uncle, aunt & cousin of Lewis Carroll are buried here. Carroll frequently stayed in Hastings with his aunts
BE L02 George Devey 1820 - 1886 He took drawing classes under John Sell Cotman. An introduction to Lord de L'Isle started his career as a country house architect, he worked for the Rothschilds at Mentmore. He designed Fairlight Church. By 1881 he was living at 12 Pelham Crescent where he died.
BF A22 John Harper Narbeth, 1863-1944 Naval Architect Designer of the Dreadnought class battle ship among others. Buried at Cheltenham commemorated on his wife’s memorial here. They lived at 65 Sedlescombe Road South.
CC B1-5 Corry Family Edward and his wife Sarah came from Ireland. He was a ‘Russia’ merchant dealing in iron and copper. Their daughter Mayflower died at the Convent of Our Lady of the Missions in Old London Road Hastings in 1863. Sons - Alfred James was an engineer & Edward junior a barrister. Edward sen. died at 67 Marina, his daughter Sarah died at Fairfield, Boscobel Road. The Alfred Corry Museum, Southwold houses the lifeboat that Alfred endowed.
DB W34-5 Anna M. Whistler 1804-81 Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, married Major George Washington Whistler. In 1842 Tsar Nicholas I appointed him chief engineer for the St Petersburg to Moscow railway, the family moved to Russia where George died. Son James entered West Point while William studied medicine. James, dismissed from West Point in 1854, became an artist. 1862 Anna came to England as housekeeper and agent for him. William followed and sett up practice in London. Anna retired to St Mary’s Terrace, Hastings. William and his wife Helen Ionides are also buried in Hastings cemetery.
DE T39 William Montague Glenister 1828-1894 Chief Constable of Hastings for 37 years, with Tutt he founded the Volunteer Fire Brigade. He invented a first aid tricycle for firemen to use in rescues. A much respected man, his memorial, with Masonic symbolism, was paid for by fellow townsfolk.
DF A52 Charles Sheldon Pearce Woodruffe 1839-1906 Capt RN. Served in the Crimea and against pirates in the South China Sea. He was decorated for his work as a coastguard at Kessingland. He lived at Old Roar House and commanded the local coastguards.
EB G16 & 17 Fishermen’s Plot 1886 Purchased by the Fishermen's Widows and Orphans Fund following the loss of life when the RX 3 “James and Elizabeth” went down in a storm off Dungeness in 1886. Several other fishermen who died tragically are also remembered here.
See more at http://friendsofhastingscemetery.org.uk/
Friday, 10 April 2015
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
Muriel Matters at St Mary in the Castle
Thursday 16th April
6:00pm
Film Screening: 'Muriel Matters!'
Pay what you can!
Donations to help towards the upkeep of the St. Mary in the Castle are welcome.
Monday, 6 April 2015
Driven Dedication – new book for sale in the History House
by Mrs Gillian Mary Webb (Author), Mr Tom Newton Webb (Editor) - £5.00
Dorothy came from a long line of Blackmans, strong minded, indomitable Sussex men and women who once they set their mind to anything went on until they achieved it. Family always came first. She was a Vicar's wife, mother of three and grandmother of seven. Dorothy was a natural writer with a sharp, enquiring mind. With stubbornness and determination in equal quantities she could move mountains. She led an archaeological dig for over twenty years. She founded the Village Museum and the Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire. She was a truly inspirational person to all who met her.