Fairlight is a village in
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
, England within
Rother district
Rother is a local government district in East Sussex, England. Its council is based in Bexhill-on-Sea. The district is named after the River Rother which flows within its boundaries.
History
The District of Rother was formed on 1 April 1974, und ...
, three miles (5 km) to the east of
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
. Fairlight is also the name of the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
forming part of the Rother district which includes the villages of Fairlight and Fairlight Cove.
The village of Fairlight lies on a minor road between
Ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...
,
Pett
Pett is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the coast of Rye Bay.
The road through the villa ...
and
Winchelsea
Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. Th ...
.
St Andrew's Church (built 1845) has a tall tower and beacon turret, and can be seen for some distance around. The church is one of three in the United Benefice of Fairlight,
Guestling
Guestling is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the A259 road to Rye. Its parish church is dedicated to St Laurence.
History
Guestling, referred to in t ...
and
Pett
Pett is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the coast of Rye Bay.
The road through the villa ...
.
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte (; 3 May 1844 – 3 April 1901) was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also establi ...
, founder of the
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy Pala ...
,
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...
, and
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...
, which produced the
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
light operas, is buried in the churchyard. So also are
Thomas Attwood Walmisley
Thomas Attwood Walmisley (21 January 181417 January 1856) was an English composer and organist.
Life and career
He was born in London, the son of Thomas Forbes Gerrard Walmisley (1783–1866), a well-known organist and composer of church music a ...
, and Sir
James Roberts of
Saltaire and his wife.
''Fairlight Cove'', the neighbouring settlement and part of the parish, suffered from
coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...
and landslip at Rockmead Road and Sea Road. A number of houses there are very close to the sea edge, and properties on those roads suffered through demolition and abandonment of a number of properties. The Fairlight Preservation Trust - a registered charity was set up with a view to combating the loss by erosion and more generally to enhance and protect the village. Sea defences were built in the 90s at Sea Road and at Rockmead Road in 2007. The 2007 works are intended to be effective for 50 years from 2007, and are regularly monitored by Rother District Council and by the Trust.
Although the nearest railway station is
Three Oaks,
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
offers a much better service and can be reached by bus from Fairlight.
Rye station is also accessible by bus from Fairlight.
Landmarks
Hastings Country Park
Hastings Country Park was formed in 1974 and covers east of Hastings in England. Sandstone cliffs, glens covered with gorse and trees, footpaths, nature trails, picnic areas and ample car parking are some of the features at the country park. Set ...
stretches from Hastings to ''
Cliff End'', where it gives access to the beach. This is a favoured spot for
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
-hunters; the "
Hastings Beds
The Wealden Group, occasionally also referred to as the Wealden Supergroup, is a group (a sequence of rock strata) in the lithostratigraphy of southern England. The Wealden group consists of paralic to continental (freshwater) facies sedimen ...
" are part of the
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
Wealden Group, aged 140–136 million years.
[Hopson, P.M., Wilkinson, I.P. and Woods, M.A. (2010) ''A stratigraphical framework for the Lower Cretaceous of England''. Research Report RR/08/03. British Geological Survey, Keyworth.]
The park also gives access to the beach at
Fairlight Glen
Fairlight Glen lies about east of the fishing port of Hastings and west of the small village of Fairlight Cove on the East Sussex coast. It is a wooded area forming part of the Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve and leading down to Covehur ...
.
The highest point in Hastings, now named North's Seat, is at the top of Fairlight Down in Hastings Country Park. It is named after
Frederick North (MP)
Frederick North DL, JP (2 July 1800, Hastings – 29 October 1869), was a British Liberal politician.
Background and education
A member of the North family headed by the Earl of Guilford, Frederick North was the son of Francis Frederick Nort ...
who represented the town. There used to be a windmill at this location, near which General
William Roy
Major-General William Roy (4 May 17261 July 1790) was a Scottish military engineer, surveyor, and antiquarian. He was an innovator who applied new scientific discoveries and newly emerging technologies to the accurate geodetic mapping of Gr ...
erected a 32-foot temporary tower for vital cross-channel observations as part of the
Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790)
The Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) was the geodetic survey to measure the relative position of Royal Greenwich Observatory, Greenwich Observatory and the Paris Observatory via triangulation (surveying), triangulation. The English operations ...
, which used
trigonometric
Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. ...
measurements to link the
Royal Greenwich Observatory
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in G ...
with the
Paris Observatory
The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its histor ...
.
The country park is part of the larger
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
called
Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach
Hastings Country Park was formed in 1974 and covers east of Hastings in England. Sandstone cliffs, glens covered with gorse and trees, footpaths, nature trails, picnic areas and ample car parking are some of the features at the country park. Set ...
which extends into neighbouring parishes. The site is of both geological and biological interest.
References
External links
*
Fairlight Community Website
{{authority control
Villages in East Sussex
Civil parishes in East Sussex
Rother District
Populated coastal places in East Sussex
Beaches of East Sussex