Query. Another of “E. M’s” questions was “Are there any plans known to be in existence of the earth-works and the fortifications which were made on the Salts between Hastings and Bexhill, during the last war, and of which the remains are still apparent? Is there also any print of the barracks at Halton?
Reply. “It is hardly likely that the military authorities would allow of any plans to be published of the said earthworks at Bopeep and Bulverhithe. The Martello Towers were probably the main or only defence for the artillery arm, whilst the earth mounds thrown up in making the trenches - all of them landward of the haven, and between that and the wooden barracks – were for the use of the military. The same question might have been asked respecting the ridges and shallow trenches still to be seen on the high ground at Fairlight, which were formed when the camp there existed. As to the barracks at Halton (commenced in 1803 and sold in 1823), I believe some of the officers made sketches (not for publication) of a few of the buildings, such as the canteen, the hospital and the cemetery. T. B. B.”
Query. “In The Lost Brooch, Vol 1, p. 118, London, 1841, a story is related to Hastings Castle and Priory. At the time when Hastings Castle began to fall into ruins, one Simon Sykes is said to have employed his nephew Albert, first in taking down part of the Castle by night, then when this failed to cause his death, in the building of a house, in which occupation he perished during a storm. He was found with a large stone clasped in his arms, which Sykes fastened to his body, and deposited with it in the large piece of water which remained a few years ago in the Priory Farm. Afterwards, the house on which he was employed was said to be haunted; no one would live in it, and the Lord Simon was left the sole inhabitant. He was haunted through every apartment, till at last he was left without a shelter, and what became of him was never known. When the water was drawn off, some small and delicate vases were found. The book then goes on – “Whether this is mere report or not, I cannot say; but what follows is certain – viz. the discovery of a large deep hole, with the remains of a sluice. I would ask whether this is derived from any local tradition, as would seem possible, from the way in which it is inserted, but which I have never met with elsewhere? or whether it is due to the fertile brain of the writer? E. M.” [The query in connection with this story in The Lost Brooch, was, of course that of Sykes and his nephew, the other part, the finding of the remains of -
