St Leonards Incident, Police Update.

The incident concerning the 'Bomb Disposal Squad' at the seafront in the St Leonards area near West Marina Gardens (blog) continues into the weekend. The Police confirm a 28 year old man is in custody and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team are "conducting a thorough search of the property for any further hazardous material." Also, that "the chemicals are not part of any large scale drugs production and the incident is not believed to be terror-related." (Sussex Police) 73 temporarily displaced neighbours are being provided shelter at the Royal Victoria Hotel (blog), arranged by Hastings Borough Council, and Police are mindful of trying to sort this out before the Hastings Half Marathon tomorrow/Sunday (blog). The seafront and road remain blocked, consequently today's/Saturday's Park Run has been cancelled (website).

A 10 Mile Walk along the Seafront

Recently, and it was a beautiful day as you can see, I walked the approximately 10 miles round trip just beyond Bexhill and back to Hastings. Starting off at the town centre, and an early sight is the Victorian gothic Grade II listed Palace Court, (Historic England website), 'eponymous' star of the film Byzantium. 

Palace Court

Then I came to another beautiful art deco masterpiece at St Leonards, the tallest apartment block in Britain when it was built, and designed to replicate the Queen Mary ocean liner, also Grade II listed, Marine Court (Modernist Britain website).

Then underneath Marine Court, and just past the 1930s Azur Marina Pavilion (website), looking back at the storm encroaching pebbles from the beach on the lower promenade, and yet another 'star' of the film Byzantium, in which it 'played' an older person's residence.

Very soon I reached the Royal Victoria Hotel, originally called St Leonards Hotel, but its name was changed soon after Princess Victoria stayed here, shortly before she became Queen Victoria. I have written about the building in an older blog.

Walking on and one could almost be at the Cote d'Azur, almost... 😎 

As we know, along the beaches on the seafront between Hastings and Bexhill, old and new fishing boats are aplenty, eg here at Bulverhythe.

I walked on westwards to just below Collington at the end of the promenade. Then on my return just to the west of Bexhll town centre, is a Clock Tower originally built to commemorate the 1902 coronation of Queen Victoria's son Edward VII, although it was not finished until 1904 (Public Sculptures of Sussex website).

Carrying on with my return journey and what do we see, but the De La Warr Pavilion, which I have often mentioned in my previous reports, eg blog.

The De La Warr Pavilion is a magnificent structure, built when art deco met the modern architecturally, and now is a great music venue, restaurant, exhibition site, you name it, indeed it is well worth a visit (website).

One of the purposes of the walk was to visit the reasonably new micropub in Bexhill, which I hadn't visited before, Brickmaker's Alehouse at 27 Sea Road, just down from the railway station, and on the other side (east) of the road. I shall not write anymore here about this lovely wee hostelry, but feel free to read the report in Steve the Beermeister's blog, cheers!

After a few drinks I set off back to Hastings...

The view back westwards once back in Hastings

Great day, feel free to copy my adventures, certainly drink at the Brickmakers! 😉 

St Leonards Pier...

I have long been considering writing about the absent St Leonards Pier (1891-1951), thanks to regularly seeing the above when I walk along the promenade, and, I'd imagine, many people have been like me and stood below this plaque, realising you are standing under where the Pier used to be; though not so much when the beach huts are there... As the Pier was demolished in 1951, following bomb and fire damage during World War II, and storm damage earlier that year, I wasn't yet born, consequently I couldn't take any photographs of the pier, so the two below are borrowed, and suitably acknowledged, no plagiarism here!

Promenading along St Leonards Parade (image2)

The building of the 960 feet long (292.6 metres) St Leonards Pier was a response to the growing popularity of Hastings Pier, and no doubt rivalry with Hastings soon after the two had merged as a single entity in 1885. Work on building the pier began in 1888 virtually opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel, and the pier was opened by Lord and Lady Brassey on the 28th of October 1891 at a cost of £30,000. 

Looking down at St Leonards Pier (image3)

St Leonards Pier had a few owners before it was requisitioned under Defence Regulation 51 in June 1940 because of fears that a German invasion may mean enemy troops and supplies could be disembarked alongside all the piers in Sussex. They all had had demolition charges previously placed, removed and replaced in May, but now sections were cut out of the piers to hinder any German plans. St Leonards Pier had charges removed finally once an 18 foot gap had been cut using oxy-acetylene equipment between July and August 1940. Then, sadly, on the 4th of October 1940 three high explosive bombs were dropped on the beach end of the pier, 3 members of the Devonshire Regiment were wounded, and another, Private Stanley Beer, was killed.

The missing section of the pier, the bomb damage, a fire late in the war, and the previously mentioned storm damage in 1951 meant the pier never re-opened...

Acknowledgements: The first image is my own; image2 is circa 1905 and thanks to East Sussex Libraries; image3 is about 100 years old, I guess, looking at the military uniforms, and thanks to Jack Vanderwyck's website, though I have no idea who took the photograph; and information is from all over the place, many thanks to all!

More beach huts!

More beach huts east of the Pier?!? I've not seen anyone occupy those at St Leonards, west of the Azur Pavilion, opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel, yet, this year!

St Leonards Gardens

We are, indeed, very lucky in Hastings, with beautiful countryside within easy walking distance, the seafront, and 2 excellently designed gardens; Alexandra Park (see previous blogs) and St Leonards Gardens. Pictured here is the South Lodge, Grade II listed, and divided by the doric arch with its fluted doric columns, half private residence, half home to the Burton St Leonards Society, and open to the public at these times:

Wednesdays, 11-2pm;

Saturdays, 11-4pm;

Sundays, 1-3pm.

Situated behind what was James Burton's St Leonards Hotel in 1828, but renamed the Royal Victoria Hotel following the young princess's visit. Burton bought part of Gensing Farm for his dream of a seaside resort for wealthy visitors, and so, Burton St Leonards was created. Burton was strongly influenced by John Nash for his design of the gardens, which were designed for those inhabiting, or visiting, the nearby villas or hotel that he built, consequently, the gardens were not free for public access, but could only be enjoyed by subscription payers, as they were the property of the Burton family!

They remained 'subscription' gardens until Hastings Corporation bought them in 1880, opening them up to the public, and renaming them St Leonards Gardens. Happily for me, and yourselves, they remain owned by Hastings Borough Council, were more recently renovated with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, and are a pleasure to walk through, and spend time contemplating, whilst sitting on one of the many benches.

Whilst sitting by the pond, chatting with the gardener, Denis, who was busy planting young shrubs and herbaceous plants, I spotted 2 moorhens and their 6 chicks walking across the lily pads, though they shot off every time I approached to try and take a photograph! The pond has a very interesting wildlife, and Dennis said they get a monthly visit from a heron, and every now and then a cormorant may enjoy a visit too...

So, I wandered uphill, after thanking Denis for the information he had shared, and promising to pass on a message to a friend we have in common. When I looked back southwards towards the sea, I had to take another photograph, though the sea view is blocked by the South Lodge and Royal Victoria Hotel, whatever, such a beautiful day!

Still lovely walking uphill, so, another wee stop to enjoy the peaceful environment...

St Leonards Gardens has an interesting wildlife presence, and within the exquisitely designed beds is a mixture of exotic, and more local, trees and shrubs, herbaceous plants and flowers, indeed, you can enjoy a mixture of colours all the year round.

On leaving the gardens onto Maze Hill you come to the North Lodge, just below St Michael's Hospice. This is another building with an interesting history and list of visitors, notably with a blue plaque celebrating Sir Henry Rider Haggard, who authored King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and She: A History of Adventure, amongst others, and who lived here from 1918 to 1923.

If you want some peace, give St Leonards Gardens a visit!

For more information about the gardens and St Leonards try this website.

A wee walk to Cooden Beach...

Yesterday, my brother and I had a wee stroll to Cooden Beach and back, remarkably warmer than we thought it should have been walking there, less so coming back! We went onto Hastings Pier and enjoyed a coffee, and shared a Topic bar, sitting right at the end of the Pier, watching a few sea anglers fishing off the west side; more of the fishing in another blog soon, and some exciting catches having been made! However, also on our way, we noticed the peripatetic beach huts had left their summer site in front of the Royal Victoria Hotel, and again found them, here, at their winter resting place!

And, a big cheers to the skills of the cellar manager at the Cooden Tavern, part of the 1931 built Cooden Beach Hotel, built for the same gentleman, Earl De La Warr, who sponsored the construction of the rather splendid De la Warr Pavilion in nearby Bexhill, whilst he was mayor of Bexhill in 1935 (website). More about the ale itself, brewed by East Sussex brewer, Long Man, can be read at the Beermeister blog.

Then we walked back home...

The Conqueror's Stone, a Myth, a Hotel, and a Pier!

Tradition has it that William the Bastard first dined in England upon this stone, soon after landing in 1066, hence it being called "The Conqueror's Stone", but aka "Old Woman's Tap" aka "Tapshaw" aka "Tapshore" (because it used to be situated at the bottom of Maze Hill, and a stream flowed over/by it). Of course, there is no provenance for this piece of mythology, and some believe the story was started by James Burton when he wanted to shift the stone, as it was in the way of his development of St Leonards! Anyway, it has moved a few times over the years, and is currently opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel... 

... in St Leonards, which was designed by Burton in the 1820s and 1830s, and the Royal Victoria Hotel, originally called St Leonards Hotel, was built in 1828 as its focal point. St Leonards Pier was later built virtually opposite the hotel, a little to the west, in 1888-1891, sadly hit by a bomb in WW2 and damaged by fire, and later suffered serious damage during a gale in 1851, and was demolished later that year, well outlived by the first Hastings Pier which, thankfully, is re-opening next month!