Once again courtesy of Derelict In The UK we bring you photographs of iconic and deserted buildings, this time St Leonards Parish Church. Standing grand on the St Leonards seafront, this beautiful building was completed in 1961 to replace its predecessor destroyed by a direct hit from V-1 ‘doodlebug’. It originally had structural building problems […]
Stuart Baillie finds out about the history of a building that has always intrigued him… I was standing on top of the East Hill at the weekend showing some friends who were visiting the town some of the landmarks of the area. They pointed west and asked, ‘what’s that?’ What they were asking about was of course Marine […]
Even today more than 30 years after it closed people still fondly remember ‘the old bathing pool’. It’s a place where memories were made. If this feature evokes some memories in you we’d love you to share them with us, or if you have old photographs we’d love to see them email us at tellmeyourstory@hastingsinfocus.co.uk […]
Spare a thought for Old Humphrey. In case you are wondering, Old Humphrey was one of the pen names used by George Mogridge, a very popular religious writer in the 19th century and who remains popular in some countries today. Alas, he is virtually forgotten in Hastings despite Old Humphrey Avenue just off All Saints Street […]
‘Can archdeacons go to heaven?’ was a question that exercised medieval minds because it was this rank of the clergy – between the parish clergy and the bishop – which dealt with financial matters. Today’s archdeacons remain concerned with matters of finance and buildings but I hope that the current Archdeacon of Hastings – whose […]
Those of you who are old enough to have been around may well remember the Memorial Clock writes Tom McCann. Commissioned after Prince Albert’s death from typhoid in 1861, the Albert Memorial clock tower was designed by Liverpudlian Edward Heffer. There had been a contest to find a designer and Heffer beat off competition from […]
Hastings and St Leonards are full of quirky statues and historical artefacts, Tom McCann has been looking in to the history of some of them Erected in 1902, a year after her death and unveiled by the Marquess of Abergavenny, the town mayor and other famous locals, the statue of Queen Victoria in Warrior Square […]
Old Town Week will soon be upon us and I’m looking forward to being involved as an honorary Old Towner for the first time. It should be a wonderful week of celebration as we emerge from Covid restrictions. We have lots of church-based events planned ranging from our special Old Town Service at St. Clement’s on […]
While councils across the south east have given the green light for Parkrun events to restart later this month once the current lockdown restrictions are lifted in Hastings the borough council is still refusing to give the go ahead and is asking organisers to meet impossible conditions. Parkrun enthusiast and ward councillor for West St […]
