Editing Hastings (section)

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Hastings- Boats making the Shore in a Breeze, by John James Chalon, 1819.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|''Hastings- Boats making the Shore in a Breeze,'' by [[John James Chalon]], 1819]]
The first mention of Hastings is from the late 8th century in the form ''Hastingas''. This is derived from the Old English tribal name ''[[Hæstingas]]'', meaning 'the constituency (followers) of Hæsta'. [[Symeon of Durham]] records the victory of [[Offa]] in 771 over the ''Hestingorum gens'', that is, "the people of the Hastings tribe." [[Hastingleigh]] in Kent was named after that tribe. The place name ''Hæstingaceaster'' is listed in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' entry for 1050,<ref>Eilert Ekwall, ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names'', Oxford University Press, 1936.</ref><ref>Mills, A. D. & [[Room, Adrian]] (2002) "A Dictionary of British Place-names", in: [[Patrick Hanks]] et al. ''The Oxford Names Companion'', [[Oxford University Press]], 2002. {{ISBN|0-19-860561-7}}, pp. 895–1264; p. 1061</ref> and may be an alternative name for Hastings. However, the absence of any archaeological remains of or documentary evidence for a Roman fort at Hastings suggest that ''Hæstingaceaster'' may refer to a different settlement, most likely that based on the Roman remains at [[Pevensey]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Pamela |last1=Combes |first2=Malcolm |last2=Lyne |title=Hastings, Haestingaceaster and Haestingaport: a question of identity |journal=Sussex Archaeological Collections |volume=133 |year=1995 |pages=213–24 |issn=0143-8204 |doi=10.5284/1086680 |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-285-1/dissemination/pdf/Vol_133_1995/SAC133_Combes_and_Lyne.pdf |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Evidence of prehistoric settlements is present at the town site: flint arrowheads and [[Bronze Age]] artefacts have been found. [[Iron Age]] forts were excavated on both the East and West Hills. This suggests that the inhabitants moved early to the safety of the valley in between the forts. The settlement was already based on the port when the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] arrived in Britain for the first time in 55&nbsp;BC. At this time, they began to [[Iron industry of Ashdown Forest|exploit the iron]] (Wealden rocks provide a plentiful supply of the ore), and shipped it out by boat. Iron was worked locally at [[Beauport Park]], to the north of the town. It employed up to one thousand men and is considered to have been the third-largest mine in the [[Roman Empire]].<ref name="OpenLearn">{{cite web|url=http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/beauport-park-east-sussex|title=Beauport Park, East Sussex|date=22 June 2006|work=[[OpenLearn]]|publisher=[[Open University]]|access-date=10 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006145624/http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/beauport-park-east-sussex|archive-date=6 October 2013}}</ref> There was also a possible iron-working site near Blacklands Church in the town – the old name of 'Ponbay Bridge' for a bridge that used to exist in the area is a corruption of 'Pond Bay' as suggested by Thomas Ross (Mayor of Hastings and author of an 1835 guide book).<ref name="historymap.info">Historical Hastings Wiki: [http://wiki.historymap.info/Iron_Working Iron Working – Historical Hastings Wiki], accessdate: 10 December 2019</ref>

With the departure of the Romans, the town suffered setbacks. The Beauport site was abandoned, and the town suffered from problems from nature and man-made attacks. The Sussex coast has always suffered from occasional violent storms; with the additional hazard of [[longshore drift]] (the eastward movement of shingle along the coast), the coastline has frequently changed. The original Roman port is probably now under the sea.<ref name="Hastings Past">{{Cite book|last=Marchant|first=Rex|title=Hastings Past|publisher=[[Phillimore & Co Ltd]]|location=Chichester|year=1997|isbn=1-86077-046-0}}</ref>

[[Bulverhythe]] was probably a harbour used by Danish invaders, which suggests that ''-hythe'' or ''hithe'' means a port or small haven.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Hithe |title=Hithe – the definition of Hithe |access-date=31 March 2008 |publisher=[[TheFreeDictionary.com]] |archive-date=23 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623103435/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Hithe |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Kingdom of Haestingas===
From the 6th century AD until 771, the people of the area around modern-day Hastings, identified the territory as that of the [[Haestingas]] tribe and a kingdom separate from the surrounding kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Sussex|Suth Saxe]] ("South Saxons", i.e. Sussex) and [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]]. It worked to retain its separate cultural identity until the 11th century.<ref name="historyfiles.co.uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/EnglandSussex.htm |title=Kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons – Sussex |publisher=Historyfiles.co.uk |date=18 September 2011 |access-date=26 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313235645/http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/EnglandSussex.htm |archive-date=13 March 2013 }}</ref> The kingdom was probably a sub-kingdom, the object of a disputed overlordship by the two powerful neighbouring kingdoms: when King [[Wihtred]] of Kent settled a dispute with King [[Ine of Wessex|Ine]] of Sussex & Wessex in 694, it is probable that he ceded the overlordship of Haestingas to Ine as part of the treaty.<ref name="historyfiles.co.uk"/><ref name=Kirby_124>Kirby, ''Earliest English Kings'', p.&nbsp;124.</ref>

In 771 King [[Offa]] of Mercia invaded Southern England, and over the next decade gradually seized control of Sussex and Kent. [[Symeon of Durham]] records a battle fought at an unidentified location near Hastings in 771, at which Offa defeated the Haestingas [[tribe]], effectively ending its existence as a separate kingdom. By 790, Offa controlled Hastings effectively enough to confirm grants of land in Hastings to the [[Abbey]] of St Denis, in Paris.<ref>{{cite web |title=S 133 |url=http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/133.html |publisher=The Electronic Sawyer |year=2014 |access-date=28 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203055228/http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/133.html |archive-date=3 February 2014 }}</ref> But, the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' for 1011 relates that Vikings overran "all Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Haestingas", indicating the town was still considered a separate 'county' or province to its neighbours 240 years after Offa's conquest.<ref>{{cite web|title=Key events 771 – 1699 |url=http://www.hastingschronicle.net/771-1699.html |publisher=The Hastings Chronicle |year=2012 |access-date=28 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017022917/http://www.hastingschronicle.net/771-1699.html |archive-date=17 October 2013 }}</ref>

During his reign, [[Athelstan]] established a royal [[mint (coin)|mint]] in Hastings in AD 928.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Challis |first=Christopher Edgar |author2=I Stewart |author3=NJ Mayhew |author4=GP Dyer |author5=PP Gaspar |title=A New History of the Royal Mint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zz89AAAAIAAJ |access-date=31 March 2008 |year=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24026-0 |chapter=The English and Norman Mints, c. 600–1158 |page=40 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102094326/http://books.google.com/books?id=Zz89AAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Medieval Hastings===
[[File:Manuscript of XIII BC Battle of Hastings.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|[[William the Conqueror|Duke William of Normandy]] (right) lances [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold II of England]] at the [[Battle of Hastings]]. 14th-century manuscript in the [[British Library]], London.]]
The start of the [[Norman Conquest]] was the [[Battle of Hastings]], fought on 14 October 1066, although the battle itself took place {{convert|6|mi|km|abbr=on}} to the northwest at Senlac Hill. William had landed on the coast between Hastings and Eastbourne at Pevensey. It is thought that the Norman encampment was on the town's outskirts, where there was open ground; a new town was already being built in the valley to the east. That "New Burgh" was founded in 1069 and is mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] as such. [[William the Conqueror|William]] defeated and killed [[Harold Godwinson]], the last Saxon King of England, and destroyed his army, opening England to the Norman conquest.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

William ordered a castle to be built at Hastings, probably using the earthworks of the existing Saxon castle.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Hastings was shown as a [[borough]] by the time of the [[Domesday Book]] (1086); it had also given its name to the [[Rape of Hastings]], one of the six administrative divisions of Sussex. As a borough, Hastings had a corporation consisting of a "bailiff, jurats, and commonalty". By a charter of [[Elizabeth I]] in 1589, the bailiff was replaced by a mayor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hastings {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/hastings |access-date=21 September 2023 |website=historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>

Muslim scholar [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]], writing c.1153, described Hastings as "a town of large extent and many inhabitants, flourishing and handsome, having markets, workpeople and rich merchants".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cartographyunchained.com/pdfs/cgid1_pdf.pdf |title=Al-Idrisi; The Book of Roger The description of L'Angleterre |access-date=19 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922081246/http://www.cartographyunchained.com/pdfs/cgid1_pdf.pdf |archive-date=22 September 2015 }}</ref>

===Hastings and the sea===
[[File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Fish Market at Hastings Beach - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Fish Market at Hastings Beach'', [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]] (1810)]]

By the end of the Saxon period, the port of Hastings had moved eastward near the present town centre in the Priory Stream valley, whose entrance was protected by the White Rock headland (since demolished). It was to be a short stay: Danish attacks and huge floods in 1011 and 1014 motivated the townspeople to relocate to the New Burgh.

In the Middle Ages Hastings became one of the [[Cinque Ports]]; [[Sandwich, Kent|Sandwich]], [[Dover]] and [[New Romney]] were the first, followed by Hastings and [[Hythe, Kent|Hythe]] then [[Rye, East Sussex|Rye]] and [[Winchelsea]]. At one point 42 towns were directly or indirectly affiliated with the group.

[[File:Hastings Castle 2012-07-28.jpg|thumb|[[Hastings Castle]], with the Pier and Town Centre in the background, and [[Eastbourne]] on the horizon]]

In the 13th century, much of the town and part of [[Hastings Castle]] was washed away in the [[South England flood of February 1287]]. During a [[English Channel naval campaign, 1338-1339|naval campaign of 1339]], and again in 1377, the town was raided and burnt by the French, and seems then to have gone into a decline. As a seaport, Hastings' days were finished.

[[File:Hastings town centre postcard.jpg|thumb|left|Hastings town centre and the Memorial from an old postcard]]
Hastings had suffered over the years from the lack of a natural harbour, and there have been attempts to create a sheltered harbour. Attempts were made to build a stone harbour during the reign of [[Elizabeth I]], but the sea destroyed the foundations in terrible storms. The fishing boats are still stored on and launched from the beach.

Hastings was then just a small fishing settlement, but it was soon discovered that the new taxes on luxury goods could be avoided by smuggling; the town was ideally located for that purpose.<ref name="Smuggling on the Sussex Coast">{{cite web|url=http://www.hmag.org.uk/LocalHistory/ |title=Hastings Museum |publisher=Smuggling on the Sussex Coast |access-date=10 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318003820/http://www.hmag.org.uk/LocalHistory/ |archive-date=18 March 2009 }}</ref> Near the castle ruins, on the West Hill, are "[[St Clement's Caves]]", partly natural but mainly excavated by hand by smugglers from the soft sandstone. Their trade was to come to an end with the period following the [[Napoleonic Wars]], for the town became one of the most fashionable resorts in Britain, brought about by the assumed health-giving properties of seawater, as well as the local springs and Roman baths. Once this came about, the town expanded, westwards only as there was little space left in the valley.

[[File:Bottle Alley Hastings.jpg|thumb|right|The double decker promenade that runs from Hastings Pier beyond Marine Court (seen in the distance), with a break at Warrior Square, was built in the 1930s by the borough engineer [[Sidney Little]]]]
It was at this time that the elegant Pelham Crescent and Wellington Square were built; other building followed. In the Crescent (designed by architect [[Joseph Kay (architect)|Joseph Kay]]) is the classical style church of St Mary in the Castle (its name recalling the old chapel in the castle above) now in use as an arts centre. Building the crescent and church necessitated further cutting away of the castle hill cliffs. Once that move away from the Old Town had begun, it led to the further expansion along the coast, eventually linking up with the new settlement of [[St Leonards-on-Sea|St Leonards]].

Such extensive development needed a large transient workforce. Many of the people coming into Hastings at this time settled on some waste-ground to the west of the main town called the [[America Ground]]. This land, originally a shingle spit created by the great storm of 1287, was declared to be Crown Property after an inquiry held at [[Battle, East Sussex|Battle]] during 1827 and the land was cleared in preparation for the development of this area of land by [[Patrick Francis Robertson]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://wiki.historymap.info/Category:America_Ground |title=Hastings local history Wiki |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-date=31 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031233119/http://wiki.historymap.info/Category:America_Ground |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{main|Hastings Old Town}}

[[File:Historische Altstadt-Hastings.JPG|thumb|left|George Street, Old town]]
Like many coastal towns, the population of Hastings grew significantly as a result of the construction of railway links and the fashionable growth of seaside holidays during the [[Victorian era]]. In 1801, its population was a mere 3,175; by 1831, it had reached over ten thousand; by 1891, it was almost sixty thousand.

{{anchor|Hastings Harbour Act 1890}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Hastings Harbour Act 1890
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act for the incorporation of Commissioners and for the construction of Harbour Piers and other Works at Hastings in the County of Sussex and for other purposes.
| year                  = 1890
| citation              = [[53 & 54 Vict.]] c. cxliii
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 4 August 1890
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Vict/53-54/143/pdfs/ukla_18900143_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
The last harbour project began in 1896, but this also failed when structural problems and rising costs exhausted all the available funds. Today a fractured seawall is all that remains of what might have become a magnificent harbour. In 1897, the foundation stone was laid on a large concrete structure, but there was insufficient money to complete the work and the "Harbour Arm" remains uncompleted. In fact, during World War II, it was partly blown up to discourage possible use by German invasion forces.

Between 1903 and 1919 Fred Judge FRPS photographed many of the town's events and disasters. These included storms, the first tram, visit of the Lord Mayor of London, Hastings Marathon Race and the pier fire of 1917. Many of these images were produced as picture postcards by the British Postcard manufacturer he founded now known as [[Judges Postcards]].

The [[Imperial German Navy|German]] [[submarine]] [[SM U-118|U-118]] was towed loose in a storm in the early morning of 15 April 1919 and ran aground on the beach at Hastings in Sussex at approximately 00:45, directly in front of the Queens Hotel. The wreck was an attraction until it was dismantled in 1921.<ref name="wreck">{{cite web|url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?138132|title=U-118|access-date=24 January 2010}}{{User-generated source|date=November 2024}}</ref>

In the 1930s, the town underwent some rejuvenation. Seaside resorts were starting to go out of fashion, Hastings perhaps more than most. The town council set about a huge rebuilding project, among which the promenade was rebuilt, and an Olympic-size bathing pool was erected. The latter, regarded in its day as one of the best open-air swimming and diving complexes in Europe, later became a holiday camp before closing in 1986. It was demolished, but the area is still known by locals as "the Old Bathing Pool".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seasidehistory.co.uk/hastings_lido.html|title=The Bathing Pool at Hastings and St Leonards|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517053426/http://seasidehistory.co.uk/hastings_lido.html|archive-date=17 May 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Hastings Old Town July 1965.jpg|thumb|Hastings Old Town July 1965.]]
The 2021 census reported 91,497 inhabitants.