Reminiscence of the Old Priory Farm and its Surroundings
In one of the paragraphs touching the local charities, it has been intimated that the Charity Commissioners did not fail to keep themselves from absolute need of charity, and this was pretty well demonstrated by the official returns for the year 1846 now under consideration. They show that the expenses of the Commission during the 20 years of its existence had been £261,826. Thus, the average cost to the country was about £15,000. Some persons would be uncharitable enough to exclaim monstrous!
As an improved condition of certain roads by property-holders in the out-district of St. Leonards was a sine qua non for the dedication of such roads to the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, so, in the same year, a similar stipulation was insisted upon by the Hastings Commissioners in the case of Russell street and Bedford place. In the latter case, twelve years had elapsed since the Commissioners declined to accept the dedication of the road in question, and now again they very properly refused to take it under their management until the inhabitants or the parishoners(sic) generally had put it in better order. And while on the subject of roads it may be stated that the thoroughfare through the parish of Holy Trinity, where Robertson street now is; being unlighted during the spring and summer months, it became the source of no inconsiderable danger on dark nights, and accidents were sometimes caused thereby. On Saturday April 25th Mr. Smith, of Robertsbridge, while driving over the said road on his journey home from market, was thrown from his cart and considerably hurt, while his wife and sister, who were with him, escaped without any personal injury. On the same night Mr. Thomas, of Bexhill, was also thrown from his cart or gig, and sustained a fracture of his collar-bone.
The Bill of the South-Eastern company for a railway between Tunbridge Wells, Hastings and Rye passed its third reading on the 26th of March, 1846, and at a meeting of the Hastings Commissioners, in November, of the same year, a notice was received to the effect that the South-Eastern Company were desirous of purchasing the Ash-yard on the Priory Farm, for the construction of a terminus. The Commissioners lost no time in intimating their willingness to treat with the Railway Company for the removal of the premises and material, the cost of which was estimated at about £75.
What a vision does the bare mention of the “Ashyard on the Priory Farm“ recall to the mind that can realise its every outline and detail as it appeared from fifty to sixty to seventy years ago! On almost the exact spot of what is now the Central Wesleyan Chapel at the angle of Cambridge road and Cornwallis Gardens, were the footpath, the steps and the wicket which formed the approach to the Stepmeadow, through which and some contiguous fields was afforded a delightful walk in the direction of Bohemia, Just to the right on the meadow was a range of high trees, which added not a little to the picturesqueness of the landscape. Two or three of these in a memorable storm were partially destroyed by lightning, and at a more recent date others were removed in clearing for a site of the Holy Trinity Church, where it was first proposed the building should be erected. In its place there now commences, from Cambridge road, the lower range of houses in Cornwallis Gardens. A little lower down - say at the left-hand side of Cambridge Gardens as entered from Cambridge road — would be the site of the original Priory farm-house, as it still existed fifty years ago. It had a weather-boarded exterior, painted white, with roses and creepers trailed between the doors and windows, and flowerbeds in front, enclosed by white palings. It so exactly faced the east that at a period when it was not every man’s privilege to barter a five-pound note for a watch, the roof could be looked upon by workmen as a sort of sun-dial to denote the hour of noon. In shape and style, as well as in its relative position to the cardinal points, the farm-house at the Priory was a type of most of the farm-houses in the vicinity of Hastings. Such, or similar, were the farmhouses at Mount-pleasant, Blacklands, Bohemia, Filsham and Pebsham, as I knew them when severally occupied by Messrs. Tutt, Edwards, Vincent, Farncomb and Barton; all of them facing the east, and all having a picturesque appearance, with their white fronts ornamented with foliage and flowers. The Priory farm-house, as already stated, had its site on the left-hand side of Cambridge Gardens, just as the road leading to the houses of that name is entered from Cambridge road. My younger readers must not suppose, however, that it stood on ground so elevated as the roads just mentioned. Rather must they imagine the road leading up in that direction from the Albert Memorial non-existent, and the farm-house approached through a large gate or a smaller one by its side as from a road in the same direction and upon the same level as what are now, Trinity street and Claremont. Thus back in imagination to the more primitive condition of fifty years ago, we enter the farm premises by the road at the gates, and encounter flocks of geese, broods of chickens, herds of swine, a number of cows and horses, and all that pertains to the business of agriculture.
In the accompanying view only a small portion of the farm-house is shewn, the more prominent objects being an old barn, a cow-lodge and a waggon-load of hay. This portion of the farm was once the site of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, which was inundated and partly destroyed by the sea. Leaving the farm-house on the left hand and the lodges, barns, oasts and granaries on the right, while traveling(sic) over the semi-public and always open pathway of the farm, we should have come to where the road divided into two branches,
one curving round the base of Step-meadow on the left to the ash-yard whose purchase by the South-Eastern Railway Company has led to this digression, and the other leading diversely to the higher pasture-lands and corn-fields. The direction of the first would cut through the left or western side of what are now the houses in Cambridge Gardens, and round to the lower part of the present Cornwallis Gardens close to the road which runs under the railway; and the second would lead more directly to the site of the railway station, passing through the right or eastern side of Cambridge Gardens, with Priory Street still more to the right. Bisecting the former branch road was a small stream of clear water, to which, by the kindness of Mrs. Foster, certain inhabitants of the Priory had gratuitous access, together with the leaches(sic) which were frequently found in the dipping-place; whilst on the latter branch was another spring of water, which, by being pumped into budges, was supplied at a penny per load (two pailfuls) to the inhabitants of “squatter-land“ ere the said land was seized by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, to be afterwards leased for the erection of Robertson terrace, Robertson street and Carlisle parade. Immediately contiguous to the Priory Farm was the irregular delta or alluvium known as the Priory Brooks, many acres in extent, and at the present time covered by all that modern and valuable property which is circumscribed by Cambridge Road and Bank Buildings on the south, the Railway-station and Devonshire Road on the west, and Queen's Road on the north and east. Before the purchase of ground by the South-Eastern Railway Company in 1846 for their Hastings station — a purchase which has since led to the conversion of a swamp into a principal portion of the borough — the “sea and land forces“ frequently contended for possession of the soil, and as frequently held it, unitedly, for weeks or days together. At such times, if the floods were followed by severe frosts, a vast field of ice would be formed for the delectation of some hundreds of people ever ready to exhibit their skill and dexterity in skating and sliding. If congealation was absent, the overflow waters from storm and flood would still be a source of amusement to such as could command the service of a boat or a baulk of timber; whilst under more normal conditions the several streams which intersected the ground would yield to the efforts of the spearsman many a dish of eels — the fish with which they most abounded. The main stream ran from north to south, passing under a large bridge at what is now the site of the Albert Memorial and emptying itself close to where now stands the Queen’s Hotel. A parallel stream ran along from the Gas-works to a point that would now be marked by nearly the centre of the front houses in Devonshire Road, where it was diverted at right angles across the meadow now occupied by the Recreation Ground. The main channel at a point near to where stands the London and County Bank, was also fed by another stream which ran from the farm buildings in an easterly direction parallel to what is now the rear of Cambridge road. In very dry seasons some of the ground instead of being covered with verdure, exhibited a surface of sun-dried mud, with numerous cracks and fissures. This was particularly noticeable over the area nearest to the dike or stream last described — a stream which separated the Brooks proper from the Rock-fair ground, and one in which many a man was “ ducked ” till nearly drowned who was found cheating at the Rock-fair toss-ring. Cambridge road now covers the so-called Rock-fair ground, and, as an apropos incident in connection with the efforts made to abolish the said fair, it may be stated that in 1846 it was bruited that the fishermen’s wives seriously contemplated sending a deputation to Dr. MacCabe, urging him to name some other remarkable day in lieu of the Fair, whereby they might remember particular events, such as births, marriages, &c.
