This modern watering place consists of the towns of Hastings and St. Leonards-on-sea and comprises a frontage towards the sea of 3 miles: it is a great resort. for invalids and is much frequented by visitors for sea bathing on account of its warm and sheltered aspect, ensuring it a milder climate in the winter than that of many other watering places; its exemption from damp and mist, its cooler atmosphere in summer and the smallness of its daily range of temperature compared with that of other places, besides the beauty of its surrounding scenery, add to its attractions.
The old town is situated in a valley between two high hills, known as the East and West cliffs, and runs along the seashore, at the base of a range of steep cliffs, which protect it in a considerable degree from the north and north-east winds; The more modern portion commences about the middle of the sea front, and from westward; all this portion is popularly known as St. Leonards, although St. Leonards proper is but a comparatively small district at the westernmost end.
The pier is an elegant structure of iron, erected by a company at a cost of £32,000; it is 920 feet in length and 40 feet in width, and at the south or seaward end is a pavilion 120 feet in length by 80 in breadth and holding 2,000 people; here an excellent band, numbering 16 performers, plays three times daily during August,September and October, under the direction of Dr. Abram, vocal and instrumental concerts, variety and dramatic entertainments are also given during the remaining nine months.
The town is well drained ; the sewage being discharged twice daily, both at the east and west end, and in such a manner that the entire outflow is carried many miles away to sea by the action of the tide.
The Wealden district, of which Hastings sands form the lower half, offers a deeply interesting field of investigation to the geologist. On the beach are found stems of tropical palms (Endogenites Erosa.) and other fossilized remains of submerged forests.
The strata in the Hastings district consist of the formations called (i) the "Wealden," a fresh-water deposit, about 2,ooo feet thick, lying between the Chalk and the Oolite, forming the lowest or "Neocomian" division of the Cretaceous system, and divided into two groups, the Weald Clay and the Hastings Sands (the former of which does not occur in the district), and (ii) the "Purbecks," the upper or "Portlandian" division of the Jurassic System, a fresh-water and estuarian deposit which occurs only in the neighbourhood of Netherfield and Brightling.
College, Dublin.
The sub-divisions are as follows:-
Below these (which are the lowest beds exposed in this part of England) the famous Sub-Wealden Boring, near Netherfield (1872-1876), discovered the following strata:-
Here the boring terminated, April Illth, 1876, at a Emmanuel is an ecclesiastical parish formed Feb.
depth of x,go5 feet, unfortunately without the discovery 1875; the church, built in 1874 at a cost of �4>500.
of the Palreozoic rocks, which are supposed to underlie is of brick and stone, in the Early English style, and has 1
the South East of England.
tower containing a clock and 3 bells : the church was en-
Hastings, St. Loonard's and suburbs are supplied with larged in r8g2, at a cost of � 1,7oo, and affords 450 sit-
gas by a. private company whq_s_!l offices and works are tings, one half being free. The register dates fr001 the
in Queen's road.
year 1875. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value
The town is aLso partly li'li with the electric light supplied �350, in the gift of Hyndman's trustees, and held since
by the Hastings and St. Leon!l4"d's Electric Light Co. 1887 by the Rev. Sholto John Henry Newman B.A. of
Limited; 30 miles of underground cable have been laid Queen's College, Cambridge.
and the whole of the sea. front from the Fish Market to Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish, formed March
end ()f West Marina, a distance of 3 miles, as well as Ist, 1882, and comprises th~ small civil parish of St.
the Hastings pier, is now lighted with arc lamps.
Michael : the church, in Robertson street, erected durin.g
Water is supplied from works, the property of tlie Cor- 1851-g, nt a cost of �8,ooo, is of stone, in the French
poratjon.
Gothic style, and has goo sitting!. The regist~r (bap-
