St Leonards-on-Sea (commonly known as St Leonards) is a town and
seaside resort
A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germ ...
in the Borough 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 ...
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. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The original part of the settlement was laid out in the early 19th century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off; it also included a central public garden, a hotel, an archery,
assembly rooms
In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th century Britain, 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done ...
and a church. Today's St Leonards has extended well beyond that original design, although the original town still exists within it.
History
The land that is now St Leonards was once owned by the
Levett
Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories.
Origins
This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...
family, an ancient Sussex gentry family of Norman origin who owned the adjacent manor of
Hollington, and subsequently by their descendants, the
Eversfields, who rose to prominence from their iron foundries and widespread property holdings during Tudor times. Eversfields served as sheriffs of Surrey and Sussex in the 16th and 17th centuries and were later baronets before the family became extinct.
James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...
, a successful London property developer who had developed large areas of
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
and the houses around
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
, purchased land from the Eversfield estate to put into being his concept of a seaside resort. The land was part of Gensing Farm, and included a small wooded valley leading down to the sea. Work on the plan started in early 1826. It included a house for himself (West Villa: now 57 Marina); service areas were provided, such as shops and laundering (''Mercatoria'' and ''Lavatoria''), as well as public buildings for entertainment and the picturesque siting of villas amongst the wooded slopes and water of the central gardens, to be paid for by subscription.
In addition he persuaded the
Turnpike Commissioners to have the road leading to St Leonards included in the scheme, and arranged for the road through Silverhill to be built so as to give access. Before he died in 1837 St Leonards (Royal Victoria) Hotel, the South Colonnade, an archway marking the town boundary with Hastings, and tall seafront houses (as far as 71 Marina) had also been completed. His grave is marked by a pyramid in the churchyard above
St Leonard's Church. In 1850 his son
Decimus (1800–1881) started the second phase of building, by acquiring more land and extending the development westward. He lived in the town for the remainder of his life.
Decimus Burton became a Commissioner of the new town in 1833. He leased a triangle of land bounded by Mercatoria, St John's Church, Maze Hill and Kenilworth Road. Here he built The Cottage (now St Leonards Lodge), Maze Hill House (demolished), The Mount (13 houses), The Uplands (6), The Lawn (10), and six semi-detached houses which later became a school (later part of the college but now closed for redevelopment). Later, in Upper Maze Hill he built
Baston Lodge
Baston Lodge is a residential villa in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, southern England.
The building was designed by Decimus Burton (1800–1881) as a seaside villa for John Ward, a friend, and completed in 1850. The architecture is ...
, Tower House and Clone House (now Healey House). He gave some land in Mercatoria for a National School, and completed his father's seafront terrace by building 72 to 82 Marina. Modern (2006) photographs give a flavour of this development.
St Leonards became a fashionable seaside destination.
Princess Sophia of Gloucester stayed at Gloucester Lodge on Quarry Hill in 1831. The building was formerly named the Castellated Villa but changed to Gloucester Lodge in honour of her.
Princess Victoria and her mother
the Duchess of Kent, stayed in the town for the winter of 1834–1835, occupying a residence since renamed Victoria House. In 1837
Queen Adelaide
, house = Saxe-Meiningen
, father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
, mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy  ...
passed the winter there.
![Warrior square station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Warrior_square_station.JPG)
The popularity of St Leonards, however, was not lost upon the town of Hastings. It had already begun to expand westwards, through Pelham Place and Wellington Square, and further building began. The Eversfield Estate, from whom the Burtons had bought land, saw the potential and it too began to sell off more space, having obtained an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
opening the way for speculative builders beyond the Burton boundaries. As a result, the area between the two towns began to fill with properties. In 1875, the two towns merged into the
County Borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
of Hastings, and by then the total seafront had reached some . Soon after that, the Warrior Square and Upper St Leonards areas were being developed.
By now the railways had arrived: the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
reached West Marina in 1845, although it was not until 1852 that the station later named
St Leonards Warrior Square was opened by the
South Eastern Railway.
Construction of the
pier
image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
began in March 1888, and it was opened by
Lord and Lady Brassey on 28 October 1891. Positioned almost opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel, the shore end had a pavilion constructed of intricate ironwork at the entrance so that visitors could drive straight to the door and avoid the seafront weather. There was also a tollhouse to the left of the entrance that was demolished by a storm on 12 February 1899. The far end of the pier had a building used for dancing, and later as a roller hockey rink. During the 1920s the pier was modernised and finally cut in half during the Second World War as protection against invasion. The remains were removed in 1951.
![Marinecourtday](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Marinecourtday.jpg)
On the seafront stands an ocean liner shaped
art-deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United ...
building known as ''
Marine Court
Marine Court is a Grade II listed Streamline Moderne (Art Deco) apartment block on the seafront of St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the town and borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. The block was built between 1936 and 1938 and was modelled ...
'', which upon completion in 1937 was the tallest block of flats in the United Kingdom, comprising some 153 flats and 3 restaurants. Despite this claim to fame, entries to a competition to name the building show that it was not universally popular. Now a listed building, it has recently been bought by the residents after many years of neglect and is in the process of being fully restored.
St Leonards Golf Club, Hastings, (now defunct) was founded in 1902/3. The club closed in 1960.
Geography
The town of St Leonards today occupies, firstly, the fairly steeply climbing land immediately adjacent to the west of Hastings, leading up towards
Silverhill and
Hollington; and secondly, an area to the west where the land is lower lying. The latter part of the town – Bulverhythe – is thought to be the original site of the port of Hastings, since cut off by
longshore drift
Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction ...
of pebbles. Within the higher land there are some small valleys: that through which the Priory stream flows through Alexandra Park being the main one.
Demographics
Healthcare
Conquest Hospital
Conquest Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in St Leonards-on-Sea in Hastings in East Sussex, England. It is managed by the East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
History
The laying of the foundation stone for the hospital was commemorate ...
, managed by the
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is an NHS trust which runs Conquest Hospital in St Leonards-on-Sea, Eastbourne District General Hospital, and Bexhill Hospital, all in East Sussex, England.
History
The trust was established as East Sussex Ho ...
was opened in 1992. in 2021 a new medical centre which houses two GP surgeries and a pharmacy, located next to West St Leonards Community Centre, was opened. It is intended to act as a modern health hub for up to 20,000 patients.
Transport
The principal roads in St Leonards are the seafront (Grand Parade and Marina) part of the
A259 coastal route; and
London Road. Two of the three railway stations remain open:
St Leonards (West Marina) was closed in 1967. Today's bus and train services provide the public transport for the town.
Parks and gardens
Warrior Square Gardens – The site was opened as a subscription garden in 1852. The Council purchased a strip of land at the southernmost tip to erect a statue of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
which was unveiled on the 31st of December 1902.
[Historical Hastings Wiki]
Statue of Queen Victoria - Historical Hastings Wiki
, access-date: 28 January 2020 All but the uppermost rose garden was acquired by the Council in 1920 with the upper garden being donated to the Council in 1930. Recent improvements include major re-landscaping and wall restoration, completed in 2001. The lower section was completely re-laid following extensive excavation by
Southern Water
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately ...
.
St Leonards Gardens – Originally laid out as a private garden for the Burton family, St Leonards Gardens was bought by the town for £9,000 in 1879. The gardens had two ponds and a maze, which proved very popular and gave Maze Hill its name. Gothic-style buildings were built around the wooded valley. The gateway to St Leonards Gardens is an imposing Burton building. The garden was purchased by the Council in 1880 and opened to the public; it consists of trees, shrubs and grass areas with a central pond. The Council applied for a Heritage Lottery Grant for the restoration of this garden and work is now complete.
Gensing Gardens – The garden was purchased by the Council in 1872 and landscaped by the then Borough Surveyor, William Andrews. Little is recorded of the history of the site, although the name comes from the original farm. The garden has been subject to numerous improvements during the last 10 years and consists of shrub and flower beds, trees, grass areas, and an equipped playground suitable for children up to 14 years old. It is located within a priority ward and is a rare and valuable open space within its neighbourhood.
Markwick Gardens – The Gardens were formed in the 1860s primarily for the use and pleasure of the residents of Markwick Terrace, which was built in the 1830-40s. At that time, the land was owned by the Eversfield Trust, which no longer exists and the gardens are now owned, privately, by the Eversfield Estates. (Markwick was the surname of one branch of Eversfield family descendants.)
Since the war the gardens have been run by a Committee of local residents as the Estate now takes no part in the running. Access to the gardens is by membership of the Markwick Gardens Association.
Notable residents
![Thomas Carlyle (3574541456)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Thomas_Carlyle_%283574541456%29.jpg)
Queen
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
(1792–1849), consort of William IV, lived in St Leonards as a widow.
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
(1795–1881) lived at 117 Marina in the summer of 1864, in order to be near his ailing wife
Jane Carlyle
Jane Baillie Carlyle ( Welsh; 14 July 1801 – 21 April 1866) was a Scottish writer and the wife of Thomas Carlyle.
She did not publish any work in her lifetime, but she was widely seen as an extraordinary letter writer. Virginia Woolf ca ...
, who was in possession of caretakers.
Elizabeth Eiloart (1827–1898), novelist, retired to St Leonards, and ''King Solomon's Mines'' author
Henry Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...
came to live at North Lodge, Maze Hill, the house built across the road at the entrance to old St Leonards; this remained his home until 1923.
Robert Tressell
Robert Noonan (17 April 1870 – 3 February 1911), born Robert Croker and best known by the pen name Robert Tressell, was an Irish writer best known for his novel ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists''.
Tressell spent his entire early adult w ...
, author of ''
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'' (1914) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death f ...
'', lived at 241 London Road from 1907.
Summerfields School produced the alumnus
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco
Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest-ruling m ...
.
George Bristow was the taxidermist at the centre of the
Hastings Rarities
The Hastings Rarities affair is a case of statistically demonstrated ornithological fraud that misled the bird world for decades in the 20th century. The discovery of the long-running hoax shocked ornithologists.
The Hastings Rarities were a se ...
ornithological fraud; his business address was 15 Silchester Road. Fred Judge FRPS founded the local picture postcard manufacturer
Judges Postcards.
Sheila Kaye-Smith
Sheila Kaye-Smith (4 February 1887 – 14 January 1956) was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition. Her 1923 book ''The End of the House of Alard'' became a best- ...
was a prolific author whose novels are set in the Sussex countryside around
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 ...
and
Rye; she was born in St Leonards, the daughter of a local physician and lived in Dane Road until her marriage in 1924.
George Monger was awarded a VC during the
Siege of Lucknow
The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief att ...
in 1857, and after leaving the army, he lived in Tower Road, St Leonards where he died in 1887. Historian Prof
Roy Porter
Roy Sydney Porter, FBA (31 December 1946 – 3 March 2002) was a British historian known for his work on the history of medicine. He retired in 2001 from the director of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine at University College L ...
(1946–2002) retired to St Leonards. Dr
Thomas Duncan Greenlees
Thomas Duncan Greenlees FRSE (29 September 1858 – 22 January 1929) was a Scottish psychiatrist who had a strong association with South Africa. He headed the Medical Association of South Africa for many years and was Inspector of Asylums for the ...
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
retired here in 1922 and died here in 1929.
Archibald Belaney (b 1888 d 1938) "Grey Owl" achieved fame as a conservationist during his life, after his death the revelation of his non-Native origins and other autobiographical fabrications negatively affected his reputation. Born in England and migrating to Canada in the first decade of the 20th century, Belaney rose to prominence as a notable author, lecturer, and one of the "most effective apostles of the wilderness"
The Venerable
Luke Irvine-Capel
Luke Thomas Irvine-Capel SSC (né Capel; born 1975) is a British Anglican priest currently serving as Archdeacon of Chichester, a senior ecclesiastical role in the Church of England and the Diocese of Chichester.
Education and family
Luke Irvi ...
,
Archdeacon of Chichester
The post of Archdeacon of Chichester was created in the 12th century, although the Diocese of Sussex was founded by St Wilfrid, the exiled Bishop of York, in AD 681. The original location of the see was in Selsey. The see was
moved to Chichester, ...
was the Priest-in-Charge of Christ Church with St Mary Magdalene and St. Peter and St. Paul from 2013 to 2014, and thereafter served as
Rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
(merely a legal transition) from 2014 to 2019, before his appointment as
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
.
Poly Styrene
Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011), known by the stage name Poly Styrene, was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and frontwoman for the punk rock band X-Ray Spex.
Early life
Poly Styrene was born Marianne Joan Ell ...
of
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk rock band formed in 1976 in London.
During their first incarnation (1976–1979), X-Ray Spex released five singles and one album. Their 1977 single " Oh Bondage Up Yours!" and 1978 debut album '' Germfree Adol ...
lived in North Street, St Leonards-on-Sea.
The 2018 PDC World Darts Championship Winner and 2019 PDC World Matchplay Champion
Rob Cross hails from St Leonards-on-Sea.
Baston Lodge, Upper Maze Hill, was the childhood home of
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
.
Views around St Leonards
File:Horse and groom 1, St Leonards-on-Sea.jpg, Horse and Groom – St Leonards' oldest public house (1829)
File:Mews road.jpg, Mews Road with Marine Court in background
File:North Street, St Leonards-on-Sea.jpg, North Street with Kenilworth Road in background
File:St clements interior.jpg, St Clements – Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded restaurant
File:Steps to Kings Road, St Leonards-on-Sea.jpg, Steps down to Kings Road
File:Stanhope_place.jpg, Stanhope Place
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:St Leonards-On-Sea
Suburbs of Hastings
James Burton (property developer) buildings
Populated coastal places in East Sussex
Seaside resorts in England
Beaches of East Sussex