LOCATION
The seaside resort of Hastings and neighbouring town of Battle offer everything from expansive beaches to ancient monuments – as well as some remarkably affordable housing options Hastings HOT spot
1 The beautiful local beaches 2 Historical buildings at Battle 3 The fascinating Old Town 4 Riding the funicular railway 5 The award-winning pier 5 REASONS WE LOVE… HASTINGS
UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
OUT AND ABOUT
It’s no wonder that this areas is popular with tourists – there is so much to see and do. First and foremost is Hastings beach, a wide expanse of sand and shingle with soaring cliffs to its back. A walk along the shore heading west will take you past the fishing quarter and the Old Town, the amusement arcades of Pelham Place, the renovated pier, the marina area of St Leonards, all the way to Bulverhythe Beach, part of the Combe Valley Countryside Park. Here you can see remnants of a submerged prehistoric forest at low tide, while at the very lowest of tides, a remarkably intact, 260-year-old Dutch East India Company cargo ship can be seen in its final muddy resting place. A few miles inland from Hastings lies Battle, where the Norman reign began in 1066. A visit to ruined Battle Abbey is a must – William the Conqueror commissioned the building with the high altar on the spot where King Harold is said to have died.There’s a well-preserved gatehouse and you can stroll across the grassy battlefield site with an audio guide to bring it to life. Back in
Today’s Hastings has a population of around 92,000 and a slightly older and less ethnically diverse demographic than in England as a whole. While road connections are somewhat slow, the borough is served by four different railway stations, West St Leonards, St Leonards Warrior Square, Hastings and Ore, offering services to Brighton, Ashford and London. Direct services from Hastings to London Bridge take around 1hr 38m. As you might imagine, properties in the quaint Old Town and those with sea views are always going to command a premium, but there is plenty of more affordable accommodation around, especially in the centre of Hastings, northern districts including Baldslow, Blacklands, Hollington and St Helen’s, and in nearby St Leonards. The miles of large terraced Victorian houses
Hastings, a seaside town and borough in East Sussex, has a long and colourful history – it was already a busy port when the Romans arrived in 55BC, and its iron-rich rocks led to the town having the third largest mine in the Roman Empire. It was here that the Norman Conquest began, with the Battle of Hastings taking place in October 1066, just up the road in what is now called Battle. King Harold ended up dead from an arrow in his eye, and William the Conqueror went on to build Battle Abbey as a penance for the bloodshed of the Norman victory. In the Middle Ages, Hastings grew in importance and became one of the Cinque Ports, alongside Sandwich, Dover, New Romney and Hythe. And while Battle’s in uence gradually waned after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, a few centuries later its fortunes improved when it became a centre for gunpowder production. At Hastings, while shing was the main industry, smuggling also became big business, with natural caves being dug out further to hidden illegally imported luxuries – you can visit some of the caves at Smugglers Adventure. In the end, it wasn’t the Revenue men who put a stop to smuggling, but the in ux of tourists to the bays and beaches once the railway arrived in Victorian times.
in Braybrooke and Bohemia also offer plenty of converted maisonettes and apartments, as well as substantial family homes. Some of the nearby villages, such as Fairlight, are popular with holidaymakers and second home owners, so tend to be more expensive.
Hastings, the picturesque Old Town is packed with narrow alleys and passages leading to
58 First Time Buyer August/September 2024
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