Hastings which we entered by the London Road, descending into the town between two steep hills, and spreading before us was a view of the sea beyond the town itself, the foreground occupied by a picturesque group of trees, and the sides of the cliffs dotted with houses, till on reaching the Church of All Saints, the detached buildings assume the regularity of streets. The road to our inn led round by the Beach, from which you command a full view of the height of the East Cliff, by the side of which, we had continued to descend into the town, but which we now left behind, taking a westerly direction, along the Marine Parade, and Pelham Place and Crescent, immediately under the Castle Rock, to Wellington Square. A notion of the sheltered situation of the town, the climate of which is considered equal to that of the south of France, and Hastings has consequently become a favorite residence in the autumn and winter months of the year.
Hastings the chief of the Cinque Ports, yields to none in point of historical importance, and though, perhaps of more recent origin than others, who boast of Roman sponsors, its antiquity is beyond dispute; and of its consequence, during the sway of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty, some idea may be formed, by the establishment of a Royal Mint here, by King Athelstan, in the year 924. It is said, indeed, to have been fortified by Arviragus, who, on the departure of Claudius, assuming the sole authority, rebuilt many cities, and towns along the coast from Hamo’s port, Southampton, to Richborough. Camden makes a certain Danish pirate, Hasting, the founder, but this rests on slight authority, and the old chronicle of the monks of Dover has particular mention of Richburg, Walmere, Dovare, and Hasting, as among the number of towns then fortified. As early as the reign of Offa, king of Mercia, who invaded the kingdom of Kent in 792, the inhabitants appear to have enjoyed separate jurisdiction, and are mentioned as the Hestengi, over who Berthwald, the Mercian general, obtained a victory, and in consequence granted ” Hastingas et Pevensel, cum salinas et omni integritate sua,” to the Abbey of St. Dionysius. Hastings-ceaster, frequently mentioned in the Saxon Chronicle, shows this town early to have been fortified, for this term was only applied to walled places.
The landing of William, between Bulverhythe and Hastings, on the site of the new town of St. Leonard’s in the year 1066, is one of the most memorable events in our history. He came to claim his own, not to conquer, and, burning his ships, as no longer needed, he encamped, as if in his own country, on the heath between Hastings and Pevensey. His army consisted of 60,000 men of Bretagne, Boulogne, Flanders, Brabant, Poictou, Maine, Orleans, France, and Normandy, who had perfect reliance on his well-tried fortune, courage and military skill; to whom was opposed an army not less numerous, and a leader infinitely superior in animal courage, but less practised in the tactics of war. The result of the battle fought at a distance of a few miles from Hastings, at the little village of Epiton, placed the crown of England on William’s head, and, aware that neither claimant to the crown had a valid title, the Confessor having granted to the Norman Bastard what was not his to give, and Harold, the son of the ambitious Earl Godwin, and who had sworn to uphold that title, having assumed the crown, regardless of his oath, and contrary to his duty at Atherling, - William determined from that hour to look upon the land as a conquered province, and to rule it with a rod of iron.
All this is matter of history, and has been told a thousand times more forcibly than I can hope to do, and I shall therefore not attempt it. But hark! there is the sound of the Curfew bell, which tolls each night at Hastings, when the clock strikes eight. This wise provision of William has been sadly misinterpreted. The curfew may have received its present appellation, I grant you, from the Normans, but there is sufficient evidence, that at that period, throughout Europe, when most houses were built of wood, a similar utensil was employed for the purpose of securing the smouldering ashes on the hearth, and formed an article of furniture. Out Anglo-Saxon ancestors, like all Teutonic nations, drank deeply and potently, nd in warning them of the danger from fire, by the ordering all fires to be extinguished “at the eight o’clock curfew-bell,” William appears rather to have enforced an already existing law, then to have promulgated a new one. Besides, the hour of eight was not so unreasonable then, as it would at first appear.
The labours of the day began with the sun, both in the country and in towns, and the mid-day meal, the dinner, was consumed between the hours of ten and twelve. By the time the warning bell was heard, most men had toiled fifteen hours, and that toil was bodily not mental. Who has not heard, that has travelled in nothern Europe, a similar warning at ten o’clock from the spires of the churches, and the words, “hutet euch vor’m Feuer und Licht, damit dadurch kein schad’ geschicht,” a custom still preserved in all the forest districts of the country? This I know, you call stripping history of its romance, but had you seen the curfew, which was shewn melast year in Canterbury, richly decorated with arabesque borderings, and a veritable relic of Anglo-Saxon copper work, you would have felt that it was not considered by its original owner as a badge of servitude, but rather as an ornamental piece of furniture.
William greatly favoured Hastings, and it seems probable that Earl Godwin and his sons were no especial favourites with the inhabitants, which will count for the facility with which the Normans effected a landing. He added it to the Treports, as well as Romney, and which, from their number, were henceforward designated Cinque Ports. These Cinque Ports are Hastings, with Rye and Winchelsea, and the subordinates Seaford and Pevensey, Bulverhythe, and Petit Higham (both now mere names), with the Kentish dependencies of Beakesbourne, Hidney and the Grange; Sandwich, with Ramsgate, Deal, and Walmer; Dover with Margate, Birchington, and Folkestone; New Romney, with Lydd; and Hythe.
The first period of the enfranchisement of these ports was in the reign of his predecessor, the Confessor. William Rufus added fresh privileges, as did Henry 1., their great patron, awarded them privileges even beyond any enjoyed by the City of London itself, granting a free traffic in every species of merchandise, and exempting them not only from the payment of duties, but of brokerage also, which latter exemption was only reluctantly conceded to London a century later. For these great privileges they were bound to furnish a fleet of fifty-seven ships, fully equipped, at forty day’ notice, to serve the King for fifteen consecutive days, at their own cost, but if employed for a longer period, the extra disbursements were to be made by the crown. And it was with this fleet, that England was satisfied till the introduction of a more destructive power, than mere brute force, rendered vessels like the ” Henri Grace-a-Dieu,” the protoship of our proud navy, necessary to our Kings, and the Royal Dockyards were by Henry VIII., again raised high above the little towns, that had triumphed over them for more than four centuries, and placed under Royal control, as originally intended by the wisdom of the Great Alfred.
Besides the Harry Grace-a-Dieu, Portsmouth quickly supplied the fleet with many a huge leviathan, bristling with ordnance, of which the ” Mary Rose,” overpowered by the weight of its own ordnance, heeling over, was sunk off Spithead in 1545, and some of the timbers of which are still exhibited in Scotland Yard, and one of the guns, recovered recently from the deep, at Woolwich.
These privileges have long ceased in the Cinque Ports, which have, however, been allowed to retain a separate jurisdiction, like that of a County Palatine. Their Court of Shepway, held formerly at Shepway Cross near Hythe, is nothing in the present day, but the recognition of a new Lord Warden, who merely attends to take the usual oath of office. Their other courts are dwindling fast away, but what remains of them has been transferred to St. James Church at Dover, where the Lord Warden, by his own especial Bodar, may still imprison poor debtors and “free traders” to his hearts content. Still it is instructive to look back, and people these petty towns, whose march, with their exclusive privileges, has been so retrograde, with all the pomp and pride of civic splendour; and then to turn to our own day, and find the same farce of playing at kings, kept up in the great city itself, till in pity to poor human nature, we extenuate the arrogance of those, who lived in more feudal times, and willingly join in the cry of the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities ! all is vanity !”
The CASTLE was situated on the West Cliff, the area of the ruins of which still occupies about an acre and a quarter. The walls, which exist only in fragments, are, in some places, eight feet thick, and formed two sides of a triangle, the base at the south, 400 feet long, being without other protection than the nature of its position, placed on a perpendicular cliff facing the sea, and perfectly inaccessible. The wall on the east side measures 300 feet, without tower or other defence ; that on the north-west about 400 feet. On that side was the Gateway, and, near where it stood, are the ruins of a small tower. On the east side, at the distance of about 100 feet, ran a ditch 100 feet in breadth. On the north-west side was another ditch of similar breadth, leaving a level intermediate space, which, opposite the Sallyport, was 180 feet in breadth. The remains of the Keep, between the outer and inner courts, exhibit the lower portions of two semicircular towers by which it was flanked, sixteen feet in diameter. The flooring of the rooms above remains, and shews that this part of the castle was connected with the passages in the walls, one of which is tolerably perfect. The groove for the portcullis, and the hooks upon which the hinges swung, are still visible. There is but little historical interest attached to these ruins, which are supposed to be remains of the castle erected by William upon either Roman or Saxon foundations.
Hastings as a watering place has many attractive advantages. The visitor, from its singular position, may suit himself with almost any temperature in his dwelling, from that prevailing in the season to as many degrees of increased heat, as if he traveled to the south of France in search of it. The sea-bathing is highly commodious, and, in addition to the amusements of similar places of resort, its situation is replete with beauty. The rides are various and delightful, and full of historical association. The walks easy of access, shady and cool, or open, with extensive views on all sides. Battle-Abbey, Winchelsea, Rye; Pevensey, Hurst Monceaux, and Bodiam Castles; Fairlight, Bulverhythe and Crowhurst; and a whole host of others, are within the reach of the determined pedestrian, as well as the more opulent lover of the picturesque. The railroad between Brighton and Hastings renders it easy of access, and the new competing line from Ashford will keep the fares down to such a standard, as will render its pleasures attainable by every Londoner.
Andrew is the owner of http://www.england-villages.co.uk a community resource and information website covering many places in England and it’s rural countryside. A huge website it is growing to include every place name in England, eventually becoming a massive depository of information about this stunning and dramatic historical country of great significance.
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Posted on October 2nd, 2007 by John
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