the establishing of the Mechanic's Institute, the introduction of railways and the removal of newspaper restrictions caused a revolution in the purveyance of news, and thus obviated the necessity, or supposed necessity, for Sunday readings at taverns.
The reader Edward Tebay (afterwards the first master, while his wife was the first mistress of the National Schools) was he whose sister was a school mistress at Hastings, and whose father was permitted to issue money tokens. I have had shown me a Hastings halfpenny, which the possessor found under the floor of a house where he had been at work. It is in an excellent state of preservation, and bears the date 1793 (or 1796)[a]. It is "payable by James Tebay, Hastings," and has on the obverse and reverse, respectively, a vessel in full sail, and the arms of the Cinque Ports. These are ornamented with oak and laurel branches; and there appears also the motto "Success and Safety attend the endeavour". The following are rubbings of the same.
It was in 1831 that the buildings eastward of the Archway were commenced, and this district familiarly known as St. Leonards-without, grew almost as fast as St. Leonards within. Adelaide Place, which now forms 1 to 12 Grand parade, was the first range of houses erected, and then followed Market terrace and Market cottages in the rear. These latter were first called the "New Market" and in a similar way to that of the Old Church, alluded to by Mr. Hatchard, the original market place at the West Marina took, paradoxically, its new name of the "Old Market". The cliff hereabouts sloped downwards from "Goat's Point," near the site of the late Archway to near the site of Warrior square, and much of this cliff, I believe, was excavated by men in the employ of Mr. Putland, who was one of the early immigrants to St. Leonards, and who had also much to do with the road-formations in those early days. It was a novel sight to me, as a boy, born and reared in the old town of Hastings, to see the stone and rubble run down on tramways from the cliff to the beach, and even now I have a dim recollection of wondering how long or to what extent the sea would permit its natural domain to be encroached upon by walls and walks at the will of human usurpers. How strange it is to those who remember the land projections being washed by the sea, and the indentations and low grounds heaped up with beach to hear their younger brethren exclaiming "How the sea encroaches!" If such people only knew that many of the Marina and Eversfield houses have been built on portions of the old road and that the sea-way has been narrowed in some places by as much as from 80 to 90 feet, they would surely amend their statements. That the sea has been of late gradually taking shingle from its old depository at Bulverhithe must be admitted, but the cause of this has been shown in the GAZETTE, and is not due, as many people suppose, to a general encroachment of the sea. But I need not dwell on this matter. Suffice to say that one of the old projections whose base was sometimes washed by the sea was the hill which gradually ran outwards and upwards to a point southward of the Undercliff, a portion of which - long before I knew anything about it - must have been those rocks which in their reduced and mutilated condition still appear in front of the South Colonnade. But my business just now is with the somewhat less elevated portion of the cliff which was removed to make room for the first houses in Grand parade, which, as already stated, were originally named Adelaide place, and which name, to the puzzling of strangers, was until quite recently retained on the upper front of those houses. When the cliff was hewn down, many human bones and skulls together with a few stone coffins and some instruments of war, were discovered and collected. The bulk of these were claimed by Col. Jeffries, who had purchased the ground. Some of them were afterwards possessed by Dr. Harwood, and some were sent to the museum in Lewes Castle for preservation. It was the boast of one of the workmen that he imbedded a human skull in the masonry of one of the houses erected over the ground in which it was found, and where he believed it would have a resting-place freer from molestation than would many of its fellows which had been similarly unearthed. Even before this discovery of the relics of those who had lived in ages long before, the place seems to have been recognised as a burial place; for when I was a boy, it used to be said that some of William the Conqueror's army and followers were buried between Warrior Valley and the Old Woman's Tap. There was also another legend, namely that there was once a chapel near Goat's Point, contiguous to which was the "Chapel Field". But for the finding of war instruments with the human bones, one would suppose that an ordinary burial-ground had survived the ruins of the chapel, and the spot where the relics were found was the site of that ancient chapel and ground. Against this supposition, however, was the fact that joining the Chapel Field was also the Warrior Field, which probably obtained its name in connection with the battle of Hastings. The origin of both names is doubtless entirely lost in the vista of the past. In the construction of Adelaide place, Messrs. Towner, Jenner, and other builders were engaged, while Mr. Walter Inskipp was the architect. The last-named gentleman built one house (No. 10 or 11) for himself, whilst No. 12 was built by Mr. John Austin. Adjoining this is the Saxon Hotel, which was erected some time later by Mr. Smith for Mr. Mantel Eldridge, the proprietor being also its first occupant. Opposite to the east front of the Saxon Hotel is the west front of what is now known as 14 Grand parade, but which at the time of its erection was named Saxon House.
It was for a time occupied by its architect and proprietor, Mr. Walter Inskipp, but a portion of it was used as a booking office for the London and Brighton coaches. No railway innovation had yet reached St. Leonards, and the four-horse and six-horse stages were in the height of their efficiency. The Paragon, the Express, the Dispatch, and the Hero, with their prancing leaders and wheelers, their smartest of "whips" and their red-coated buglemen were all in their glory; and the names of such men as Charley Pawle, Edward Neale, Jonathan Mose, and a few other pet drivers were as familiar in our mouths as household words. Hiitherto the Hastings coaches, leaving the town by Old London road, had taken from nine to ten hours to traverse the 64 miles of road between Hastings and the Metropolis; and this was considered to be a good pace when allowance was made for the frequent change of horses and the occasional hindrance of turnpike gates. But by the construction, partly at Mr. Burton's own cost, of what was termed the Harrow road, the distance from St. Leonards was shortened about three miles, and the "Dispatch" coach, which was started in 1830, accomplished the journey in 7½ hours, and was thus beating its older rivals by at least two hours. Mr Burton's "new cut" connected Maze Hill with the old road between Hastings, Ore and Battle; and the now disused toll-gate house, built to resemble a ruined tower, and till lately standing at the junction of four roads about a quarter of a mile northward of the Gensing Pleasure Gardens, marked the position of Mr. Burton's road for a short distance, the remainder being now absorbed in some of the newer roads. This toll-gate used to be called the Tower Gate, and the present Tower road leading therefrom to Bohemia is thus named in consequence.
The Tower toll-gate - The Dabneys and their pedigree
That Mr. Burton had an eye to the picturesque even in minor matters was shown in the building intended to represent an old tower attached to the -
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