razed for rebuilding) a writ of enquiry was examined by the Mayor, and damages assessed by the jury at £15 10s., with 20/- costs. Such feuds - especially those between Messrs. Thomas and James Breeds, the principal possessors - having at last become known in high quarters, a Government enquiry was set on foot to ascertain the legitimacy or otherwise of the assumed claims.
On Thursday, the 4th December, 1827, a meeting was held at the George Inn, Battle, agreeably in instructions of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, when a jury was empanelled to try the case between the occupiers and the Crown. Those of the former who attended were unable to prove their claim, and the verdict was given in favour of the latter. But the case was allowed to remain open for a short time, to afford an opportunity to the Lord of the Manor (the Marquis of Cornwallis, proprietor of the Priory Farm,) the Earl of Chichester, Sir Godfrey Webster, the Corporation of Hastings, or any other persons, to show a just plea, by documents, title-deeds, conveyance, or legal privilege, whereon to substantiate their claim. The question, however, was regarded as good and settled, and the meeting, consisting of about thirty persons, wound up the day's proceedings with a dinner and an evening's conviviality.
At the end of six months, or in the first week of June, 1828 - three months after the commencement of St. Leonards - notices were served by the Crown solicitor upon the property-holders to attend at the King's Bench, there to substantiate their right to the property in their possession. Being unable to do this, the Government seizure was made good, and a seven years' lease was granted to the occupiers, to expire at Midsummer 1835. A hope was indulged in that the lease would be renewed, but in the second week of November, 1834, Mr. Driver gave official notice that the buildings on the Priory ground were to be removed before Michaelmas, of the following year.
Those inhabitants who complied with the order were to be given their rent for the intervening period, whilst the property of those who neglected to comply was to be taken down and sold. The ground-rent paid to the Crown at that time amounted to about £1,400; but by the eviction of the tenants, and the ground afterwards remaining a desert for fourteen or fifteen years, a sum of £20,000 was lost to the Government. None but the well-salaried officials of the Crown, I suppose, would be willing to make such a sweeping sacrifice.A similar sacrifice - not to call it mismanagement - was made at another place in Sussex, and at a later period, when the Selsea estate was allowed to remain unused for a number of years. It was, however, sold at last, and realised a sum of over £12,000. From this and other revenues of the Crown Lands it appears that a sum of over "10,000 was paid into the Exchequer for the financial year 1877-8 - the largest income hitherto derived by the Office of Woods and Forests. From this amount was deducted the respectable sum of £23,009 for the salaries and expenses of such office.
If those who were ejected from the Hastings "America" were at all cognizant of how the money comes and goes by Government hands, they might well have felt sad - as some of them did - that they had invested their savings, as they thought at the time not improperly, in the erection of cottages or workshops, from which they were afterwards to be driven, to seek a home and a living elsewhere. But, as it's an ill wind that blows no one good, so there came a time, tardy as it was, when instead of the ill-assorted and irregular lines of the Priory property there stood in their place the handsome houses and shops now existing, probably to the benefit, and certainly to the improvement of the whole borough.
I had intended to mention one or two incidents of 1835, to show the deep sympathy which was felt and expressed at St. Leonards for the oppressed and unfortunate Poles in their struggles against the despotism of Russia, but as my narrative in its chronological form is proceeding at a slow rate in consequence of the many associations which are continually cropping out, I will pass this by.
Among the persons and families who removed from the Priory Ground to St. Leonards at the general clearance of the former in 1835, or within a short period thereto, were the following:- Valentine Levett Stephen Milstead, Joseph Naylor, William Strickland, Jas. Hyland, Richard Starnes, Wm. Russell, Chas. Neve, Stanton Noakes, Wm. Kirby, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Samuel Chester, - Morris, Thos. Beaney, Sam. Sinden, Geo. Savage, Jno. Prendegast, Thomas Thorne, Hy. Sinden, Thos. Barden, James, Murdoch, Wm. Shaw, Robt. Shepherd, J. Pulford, Chas. Chapman, Edmund Chapman, Geo. Lee, &c. Many of these located themselves in Shepherd street, Norman road, London Road, and North street: and, as a consequence, an additional impetus was given to the building operations which had already been begun in those districts. New roads were also being opened out, and the one up from the Saxon Hotel, now known as London road, was commenced, under the survey of Mr. Walter Inskipp, of St. Leonards, and the contract of Messrs. Tester and Marchant, of Tunbridge Wells.
Like many other parts of the parish, the locality was redundant in beds of sandstone, and much of this was employed for building purposes immediately contiguous to the spot from which it was quarried. Fortunately for those of limited means, materials and labour were comparatively inexpensive at that time, and the dwellings and workshops were run up with but little cost and as little architectural finish. Some few of these remain in almost their primitive simplicity, but the greater number have lately undergone considerable alterations, additions and improvements, whilst their rateable and commercial value has been greatly augmented.
In alluding to the formation of the London road, St. Leonardensis is reminded of an incident in his own career which, as a race a la Gilpin, may be worthy of a passing notice. His employer had recently purchased a horse, described as a three-part thorough-bred hunter, whose vices and virtues there had barely been time to put to a practical test. The new owner of the said hunter desired his assistant to fetch his horse from the Swan Mews, and in the execution of this mission, the assistant - who was never a valiant among horses - got astride of the animal, when the latter, as though sensible of having an awkward rider upon his back, gave him no time to put his feet in the stirrups, but bolted off with him at full speed. To where should St. Leonardensis be conveyed but to St. Leonards? It was away, then, in that direction that the horse galloped, regardless of the shouts from a score of voices, "Stop him!" "Pull him up" "Reign him in!" etc. Away he scampered through George street and Castle street, over the Priory ground, along the new road between the White-rock and St. Leonards, and up the new road by the Saxon Hotel. This might have been fine fun for the horse, but his rider did not share the fun in an equal degree. Albeit, with uncertain proportions of fright and muscular exertion, he retained his hold of the mane and bridle; and although his seat was a moveable one which oscillated between the saddle and the shoulder, he stuck to it like a Briton and had the satisfaction to find that the ascent of the new and rugged road leading to the Harrow had sufficiently tamed the runaway to make him amenable to his rider's will. Many had started in pursuit of the fugitive horse, and with a fear that he had thrown his inexperienced rider, but they were all out-distanced in the race; and, as luck would have it, the biped and the quadruped both found themselves at home via a circuitous route, not much the worse for their venture. This was the manner in which, perforce, St. Leonardensis first travelled over the new road out of St. Leonards.
