real estate or for the erection of some public building for the use of the Major, Jurats and Commonalty and their successors; and whereas the present Town Hall and Market are in a very ruinous state and not sufficiently commodious for the rapidly improving town and port, and is, moreover, an obstruction to the footpath by projecting beyond the line of houses, the said Mayor, Jurats and commonalty, consider that the money so raised cannot be expended in any manner more beneficial than in erecting a new Town Hall, with a convenient Market-house under the same, according to the plan and elevation proposed by John Goldsworthy Shorter, Esq., do hereby order that a new Town Hall be erected on the site of the present building, and that the sum of £1265 of so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be appropriated." etc.
In the same year the Corporation directed that notice be given to Thos. Justin to remove an encroachment on the sea-beach, so that a footpath might be formed while the Castle cliff was being taken down.
In 1824 the piece of land which in 1812 was leased to Francis Heubry was sold outright to Edward Milward by the Corporation for £50, clear of the yearly rent of 5/-. It was that on which Powell's Library (now the Belle Vue Hotel) partly stood, and this addition afforded a private entrance to the house thus:
Also in the same year a small piece of ground 19 by 16 1/2 ft. next to Powell's library in West street was sold to Mr. W. Shadwell for £20
Another small piece was leased by the Corporation for 99 years to the Misses Elizabeth and Honor Sargent, as what is now 7 East parade, at an annual rent of 10/-. It was for a bow window to their house, the projection being 2 ft at the sides and 4 feet in the centre. The joining of the brick work for this small addition is clearly traceable even now, 1898.
On May-day of 1824, an application of the Hastings Commissioners was granted by the Corporation to set back four feet, the lighthouse and three small shops (Jassell's, Phipp's and Heubry's) to improve the road, but with the understanding that the road was not to be dedicated to the public, as it was "likely to be obstructed at times by capstans, ropes, &c., as it had hitherto been immemorially by fishermen and others." By this admission, it would appear, after all, that the "fishermen and others" had some sort of claim to the use of the sea-beach waste. But that they, perhaps, exceeded that "immemorial" right is indicated by the following narrative. It was only ten days after the permission was given to the Commissioners to set back the lighthouse and shops that a violent scene took place in the Fishmarket in consequence of the fishermen placing two additional rope-shops on the beach claimed by the Corporation. The Town-clerk and four constables displaced them, but no sooner had they done so than the fishermen (one of them axe in hand) put them back. John Campbell, as one of the constables, took from "Old Tom" Tassell the said axe, whilst the old fisherman was secured by Campbell's father. Campbell had the axe in his possession many years after, when he was 83 years of age, as a souvenir of that event.
At the Michaelmas quarter sessions, the fishermen were adjudged guilty of a violent assault on the constables, and were ordered to enter into sureties to keep the peace in future. Thomas, William and John Tassell in bonds from Eighty to a hundred pounds each, and William Simmons, Edward Ridley and Richard Ball in bonds of £40 each. Judgment was only given after two adjournments, thus shewing the intricate nature of the case. Anyway, the sentences were lenient when compared with that of seven years transportation on an All Saints' labourer named Watson, for stealing two hats and some satin from -
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