the Mayor's seal, which is as old as Elizabeth's reign , and therefore may be safely dated at 1588, we see a whole lion in the centre of the shield ; and this peculiarity has been observed by Mr. Ross in the seal of the Bailiffs of Hastings affixed to a document of the time of Henry VI. 1456.[1]
This distinction then is at least 400 years old , and may be as old as the original grant of the demi-lions, about 200 years before. Whenever granted, it is a fair presumption, that it was intended to mark the precedency of this over the other ports. In 1595 the pier was begun to be rebuilt, but destroyed in the winter ; in 1597, it was commenced again , and again swept away by a storm , thus graphically described in the Corporation records: -- " Behold when men were most secure, and thought the work to be perpetual, on All Saints' day, 1597, appeared the mighty force of God, who with the finger of His hand, at one great and exceeding high spring-tide, with a S. E . wind overthrew this large work in less than an hour to the great terror and amazement of all beholders."
In 1635 , it was proposed to restore the ancient harbour in the Priory --but the civil wars caused the design to be abandoned. The town was still defended by its wall toward the sea, as the wall was repaired as late as 1667. The remains of the intended pier may be still seen. Long rows of piles shew the direction it ran in . On one occasion , when a succession of south-easterly gales (rather unusual -
- ↑ Suss. Arch . xvii. 64.
