Eastbourne Sussex Family History Guide

EASTBOURNE, a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred in Sussex. The town stands in a valley, at the eastern extremity of the Downs, and at the terminus of a branch of the South Coast railway, 1½ mile NW of the nearest part of the shore, 3 NNE of Beachy-Head, and 6 S of Hailsham. It possibly was the port of the ancient Anderida; and it was the place of Henry I.’s detention by a storm in the autumn of 1114. It figured for some time as a market-town, but went into decay; and it has recently revived, and come into much notice as a sea-bathing resort.

It recently consisted of four cross streets, and was reckoned to include three neighbouring hamlets, Sea-Houses, Southbourne, and Meads, lying within a range of 1¾ mile on or near the shore; but it nearly doubled its extent during the five years ending in 1860; and a survey was made in that year for a further extension of 600 houses. The town has a head post office, a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, five churches, five dissenting chapels, a ball-room, a public library, two national schools, a work-house, and charities £12: is a coast-guard station, and the place of a military depot; and publishes two weekly newspapers. A promenade pier was projected in 1866; and the drainage, at a cost of £25,000, was drawn 3 miles to the NE in 1867.

The parish church, or St. Mary’s, is chiefly early English; measures 124 feet by 50; and has a lofty nave and a tall tower. St. Saviour’s church was built in 1867; St. John’s in 1869. Trinity church and Christ church also are modern. An Independent chapel was built in 1863; a Wesleyan chapel, in 1864. A convalescent hospital, to accommodate 100 patients, was founded in 1867. Important Roman relics were found in 1717 and 1850. A camp of nine regiments was formed in the neighbourhood in 1804-6. A circular re-doubt is here, mounting ten Armstrong guns; and has quarters for 182 men.

The walks and the bathing facilities in the vicinity are such as to attract visitors. A chalybeate spring, similar to that of Clifton, is at Holywell. Mortimer, the painter, was a native of the town; Davies, the President of the Royal Society, had a residence in it; the Duke of Kent lived in 1780 in the Round House, now extinct; and the Duke of Sussex resided for some time in the adjacent mansion of Compton Place, now belonging to the Duke of Devonshire.

The parish is regarded as co-extensive with the town. Acres, 5,512; of which 680 are water. Real property, £24,445; of which 150 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 3,433; in 1861, 5,795. Houses, 1,005. The property is subdivided; but nearly all the new houses have been erected on the Duke of Devonshire’s estate. The parochial living is a vicarage, and the other livings are p. curacies, in the dio. of Chichester. Value of St. M., £424; of Chr., £100. Patron of St. M., the Treasurer of the Cathedral; of T. and Chr., the Vicar; of St. S., G. Whelpton, Esq.

The sub-d. contains also the parishes of Eastdean, Friston, Seaford, Westdean, Littlington, Lullington, and Alfriston. Acres, 19,145. Pop., 8, 127. Houses, 1,468. The district comprehends likewise the sub-district of Westham, containing the parishes of Westham, Pevensey, Willingdon, Jevington, Folkington, and Wilmington. Acres, 38,072. Poor-rates in 1862, £7,799. Pop. in 1851, 8,347; in 1861, 10,721. Houses, 2,022. Marriages in 1860, 69; births, 308, of which 15 were illegitimate; deaths, 168, of which 48 were at ages under 5 years, and 7 at ages above 85. Marriages during the ten years 1851-60, 553; births, 2,724; deaths, 1,588.

The places of worship in 1851 were 15 of the Church of England, with 4,240 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 218 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 80 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 300 s.; and 1 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 42 s. The schools were 12 public day schools, with 767 scholars; 30 private day schools, with 631 s.; 15 Sunday schools, with 1,005 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 26 s. The hundred is in the rape of Pevensey, and is conterminate with the parish.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].