It was resolved at a meeting on the 13th of April that the surveyors were not to expend more than £30 during the following twelve months for watering the roads. At the end of that period there would be a greater amount of rateable property, including the twenty new houses between the Infirmary and the range of buildings then known as White Rock and Albert place, the said new buildings forming what are now Nos, 1 to 20 White-rock place. Old inhabitants will remember that before the steep road over the White Rock was cut down, some ten years prior to the year now under consideration, there was a spring of excellent water which issued from the cliff on the Hastings side of the hill, and from which many of the ”American Squatters.” before their exodus from the Holy Trinity parish, were supplied with water. Concerning this spring, Mr. Phillips (a solicitor) made a personal application at one of the meetings on behalf of the owners of the projected buildings to divert the water course by draining into the sea. On more matured consideration it was probably deemed to be a wiser plan to preserve the water for the use of the new houses when erected. The property owners securing to themselves an alternate course if it were afterwards found desirable. Thence, a letter was received at a subsequent meeting in which Mr. Phillips withdrew. his first application, but stated that he would require at a future time the consent of the surveyors to open the highway for draining the water, That spring at which I many times quenched my. thirst, - as though it were but yesterday, albeit 70 years ago — is still in the rear of White-rock place, and thus available for the supply of water to some of the central houses.
At the last vestry meeting for that year, which was on the 17th of December, and which was very numerously attended, it was resolved “That it is the opinion of this meeting that the roads east and west of Warrior square, the Norman roads (East and West), Gensing road, Shepherd street, North street, East street, and the Catholic road, should be put in proper repair and dedicated to the parish; and that application be made to the parties concerned for their sanction.“ A committee for that purpose was appointed, consisting of W. Noon, B. Tree, W. M. Eldridge, H. Knight, S. Putland, E. Mitchell and W. Waghorne. When one recollects how in those days almost every householder had to be his own path-maker and road-mender, and how much, even at its best, the work of his hands fell short of what the roads and paths are at the present time, one is apt to indulge in a feeling not far removed from contempt towards those who are continually complaining of their immensely improved condition as one now sees them. It is not to be supposed from this remark that the parochial officers were either indifferent to public requirements or parsimonious in the application of funds within reasonable limits, but it may be doubted whether the materials used were not of the worst description.
These in most cases were beach and sand, which not only made the roads loose and heavy, but from the little wear they would sustain, were comparatively expensive. The natural defences of the sea could be robbed of their beach, it is true, but the bare cartage of the same cost a lot of money. The St. Leonards parish itself paid Messrs. Farncomb, Deudney and Eldridge nearly £40 for such cartage in 1846, and that was a small amount compared with similar services for some other years.
One Railway Accident and nearly Another - Discovery of Iguanodon Skeletons
But, leaving for the present the further consideration of ordinary roads, I turn once more to report progress of the railways, which at that time was the more engrossing theme. On the 3rd of January — a Saturday, by-the-bye — upwards of a hundred men were set to work at the Bopeep end of the Brighton line, and a hope was expressed that the task of cutting down the cliff and levelling up the hollows would be completed by the first of May. As will be seen further on, this consummation was not attained to within the wished-for time, but the work was, nevertheless, pushed on with all convenient speed. It is almost inevitable in undertakings of that nature for some few accidents to occur, but the only one that I seem to have any note of was that which befell a little fellow of the name of Rock. The child was about 8 years of age, and while he, in the company of his grandfather, was looking at the operations at Bopeep, he was knocked down and run over by an empty truck, whereby one of his legs was broken below the knee and bruises were inflicted on other parts of his body. This occurred on the 23rd of May; and a month later, the line was completed as far as Bulverhithe, At this spot a temporary station was erected, and here it was that on the 20th of June about thirty of the railway officials and their friends alighted from a trip along the line previously to its being opened for public traffic. The journey had been satisfactorily performed, and the visitors, with some townsmen especially interested in the undertaking, dined together at the Swan Hotel. The first Station-master or Station-clerk at St. Leonards — was Mr. J. P. Knight, the late efficient and and highly respected General-manager of the Company.
The trial trip was on Saturday, and on the following Saturday (June 27th), the first train from Brighton reached Bulverhithe for St, Leonards at 11.20 a.m. Guns were immediately fired and colors were run up at convenient places in both towns, while the bells of St. Clement’s church rang out joyous peals and 70 persons dined together at the Royal Oak to further celebrate the event. At night a display of fireworks was exhibited on the St. Leonards Green - or, as it was then termed, Gingerbread Green — and lighted tar-barrels were rolled down the hill to the beach. One of the coaches which ran to meet the South-Eastern trains at Staplehurst was taken off the same day, and the old Brighton coach, driven by the well-known Jonathan Mose, was also discontinued. The inhabitants generally were naturally delighted at the introduction of a railway to the borough, not only for the greater facilities thus afforded them for personal travel, but also for the prospect which it opened up of increased prosperity through the influx of strangers. Doubtless, however, there were still some whose penchant for the stage-coach had not entirely forsaken them, and who would have readily endorsed the metrical lament which about that time appeared in the Sussex Express, a portion of which, in a somewhat altered form, is here reproduced:-
THE BYGONE COACHES,
We ceaselessly groan o'er the days that are gone,
On railways cast bitter reproaches;
Lamenting our lot in a lachrymose tone
In losing our daily stage coaches.
When perched on the box with a qualified whip,
To roll on in dignified leisure,
And view the rich landscape the whole of the trip,
'Twas really the summit of pleasure.
Alas ! a sad change has come over our dream,
Our prospects have fled ”willy nilly,”
Our stages have bowed to the newcomer steam,
Our horses to proud “ Puffing Billy.”
A beautiful sight was a coach on the road—
Bewitching, exciting, beguiling—
Each house which it passed was a pleasant abode,
Where lasses were nodding and smiling.
A train in fierce motion we know is no joke—
All phases of danger assuming;
Enveloped in volumes of cinder and smoke,
And grunting, and groaning and fuming.
It pulleth not up at the gay roadside inn,
Which once was the pride of the nation;
But puts on the brake with a horrible din,
As if to affright at each station
Yet, great locomotive ! in this our farewell,
We own to your wonderful powers;
And humbly confess, as the truth we must tell,
Your metals have circumscribed ours.
Having described the opening of the Brighton and Hastings Railway as it was accomplished on the 27th of June, and the means employed to celebrate the same, it is now my less pleasing duty to chronicle a serious collision which happened on Monday, the 24th day of August. Between Lewes and Bulverhithe a single line of rails only was available for the traffic both ways, and on the day named, a train of trucks being on a siding near Pevensey, with the points of the metals not turned off, a passenger train unavoidably collided with the trucks, and a sad scene of confusion, attended by personal injury, ensued. The buffers of both engines gave way, and the tender of one of them was thrown off the line, The driver and stoker of the passenger train exerted themselves bravely to prevent the collision, but with a train speeding along at a rate of 40 miles an hour, and with so momentary a warning of the danger, the contact was unavoidable. These two men were among the forty persons who received injuries through the accident, but it was consoling to know that no death occurred, and that among the injuries sustained only one was of a serious nature. The latter case was that of the Rev. Mr. Brown, who had his left leg fractured, and who was conveyed to 42 Marina, where his family was residing.
The accident here described reminds one of the narrow escape from an accident on the same company’s line which the present writer experienced in the following year when returning with a party from the Swiss Gardens. The party in question was one of those summer outings which the then Dowager Lady Lubbock permitted and encouraged at her own expense; ana that the excursionists might be able to return by the last train from Brighton at night, it was arranged that a train from Chichester should be stopped by signal at Shoreham to take them on. By some mischance, the train was allowed to go by, and the only apparent remedy was for the station-master to attach a single carriage to an engine that was being employed to convey empty carriages from Brighton to Shoreham. to be afterwards filled by Brighton people whose custom it was to prolong their stay at the Gardens on special fete days, of which that occasion was one. To catch the Hastings train from Brighton, our single-carriage express travelled the short distance from Shoreham with great speed, but in consequence of some wrong action or want of action in the points, the engine, with its tender and carriage, dashed on to a siding and into a shed. Fortunately, the speed had been considerably slackened, with the object of curving steadily round to the station; and this reduced velocity, aided by a vigorous application of the brakes, enabled the party to come off with nothing worse than an actual attack of fear and trembling, as a memento of the event.
In addition to the Hastings Whit-Monday processions, described in chap. 36, was that of the St. Leonards "Adelaide Lodge of Oddfellows", so named in consequence of the Queen Dowager having resided at St. Leonards. It was the 7th anniversary of the society, and the dinner was served in the Lodge-room at the Warrior's Gate by Mr Burrell, who was then the innkeeper. Mr. Peter Pagden, of the White-rock Brewery, presided, Mr. John Austin occupied the vice-chair, and Mr. E. Elford was the pianist. Mr. T. B. Brett, as secretary, submitted a detailed statement - financial and otherwise — of the society, and was called upon to repeat an appropriate sentimental song, the first of a series which he composed and sang on such occasions for several years.
On December 2nd, some 40 or 50 tradesmen and other persons inaugurated the opening of the Coach-and-Horses, in Mews road, St. Leonards, by dining together in a new assembly room which had been attached to the original house. The new landlord was Mr. Edwin Hooper, a man of considerable energy and of a genial disposition. He had been coachman to Mr. Fuller, of whose generosity and eccentricity much could be told. Mr. James Rock, jun., was chairman at this dinner, and performed the duties in an admirable manner, as those who know how well that gentleman afterwards discharged the more onerous duties of Alderman and Mayor, will readily believe.
It may be mentioned, as a reminder of an energetic man who no longer lives, of house not now in existence, and of a practice now discontinued, that on the 17th of November Mr. W. M. Eldridge presided at a Hop Sweepstakes dinner at the Tivoli Tavern, a house to which were attached some pretty public tea-gardens, where quadrilles, picnics and pyrotechnics used to be indulged in, and where a fair was annually held in celebration of ”The Glorious First of June.” That spot was afterwards occupied by a mansion known as "Silverlands", and has more recently been made available for the erection of nearly 70 houses of the name of Silverlands road. It was in digging a basement for Silverlands mansion that the workers discovered the skeleton of a gigantic iguanodon, and one also of a younger one.
The last event of a festive character which it suits me to mention is one which took place at Vinehall and is here only entitled to notice from its local associations. It was a grand ball and supper given by Mr. Tilden Smith, a relation of the late Mr. Francis Smith, a well-known Hastings banker, and among the invited guests were many ladies and gentlemen from Hastings and St. Leonards. Mr. Elford, of the latter town, supplied an efficient band on that occasion, and introduced Acraman’s “ Battle Polka.“
That History often repeats itself in “one phase or another has been abundantly shown in the many coincidences which I have had occasion to bring under notice. It has often happened that at the moment of writing some event has transpired of a similar character to that which it came in my way to describe as having occurred many years before; and now just as I am about to relate a contention which took place in 1846 under the divergent influences of Romanism and Protestantism, it comes to my hearing that the activity of Romanism is again locally asserting itself against its rival in Theology. As the story of the latter is the shortest I will give it the first place. Nearly forty years ago — it might have been the very year to which my “History ” has advanced — an Italian lady named Mariette Berrurier joined the family of Mr. G. H. M. Wagner at Hurstmonceux as French and Italian governess, with whom she remained until the family went abroad. On their return from the Continent, and taking up their abode at St. Leonards, the said had accepted the offer of a similar engagement at the Misses Edgar’s seminary, and for many years they continued to take an interest in her, their protege in the mean time becoming naturalised and embracing — or it might be, confirming herself in — the Protestant faith. The story of her earlier life, as frequently told by herself, was that she had been placed by her parents in a convent, where she remained for several years, but from which she succeeded ultimately in effecting an escape. For nearly forty years this lady continued to make St. Leonards her home, and well known in genteel circles under the familiar appellation of Signora. She was usually of a chatty, lively disposition, and resided successively at London road, East ascent, Stanhope place and Gensing road; at which last-named place she died on the 25th of June, 1884 after a not very protracted illness. She was then in her 82nd year, having reached her 81st birthday anniversary on the 15th of January. She was buried three days later in the Catholic portion of the borough cemetery, her remains (contained in an Egyptian coffin, covered with blue cloth and white furniture) being conveyed to their resting place in a funeral car, drawn by white horses. The novelty of the arrangement attracted a large crowd of sight-seers, many among whom having known Signora’s long attachment to the Protestant faith and her attendance as a communicant at St. Leonards church, expressed surprise at seeing the obsequies conducted in Roman fashion. It seemed to be understood that during the illness of the deceased lady the ministrations of the Protestant clergymen were supplanted by those of a Catholic priest through the instrumentality of interested friends of the same persuasion.
Generous Gifts by A. and D. Burton - Mail & Postal Service
The population of St. Leonards had so greatly increased that in 1846 the National Schools at the top of East Ascent were found to be altogether inadequate to meet the requirements, and a public meeting was therefore held in the Assembly Rooms, to consider what was best to be done in the matter. It was shown that the building then in use was open to serious objections - firstly, on account of its situation in a crowded part of the town, without a playground and the usual conveniences; secondly, in the want of space and proper ventilation; and, thirdly, from the dilapidated state of the walls, which would cause the necessary enlargement and improvement to be very expensive, and still of doubtful efficiency. After full discussion it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Alfred Burton, “that a committee be appointed to assist the officiating clergyman with advice and co-operation in temporal matters affecting the schools; also that a new site be purchased and subscriptions collected for the building of schools on a scale commensurate with the increasing wants of this important district.” For carrying out these objects a committee was then and there formed, composed of the Rev. A. Pettigrew, the Rev. H. C. Smith, the Rev. C. Oak, Capt. Davis, Capt. Hull, Major Jeffries, Alfred Burton, G. F. Jarman Esq., Mr. Murton (per-
