Silverhill is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

and local government ward of

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England. It has a central location within the town, where the A21 meets the B2159 road and Sedlescombe Road South.

Toponymy

The origin of the name Silverhill is unknown: the first documentary record of the name is on Yeakell and Gardner's map of 1783, where it appears as "Salver Hill". Local folk-lore has it that the name derives from the spillage of Roman coins on their journey to the Iron working just north of Hastings. In the early 18th century this was the location of High Ridge Farm, but by 1815 its name was known as Silver Hill Farm to avoid confusion with farms of a similar name on the ridge near Ore. The tenant farmer was John Standen, and the farm remained with his family until 1842, when it was bought by Francis Smith.

Demography

Economy

The Silverhill pottery opened in 1838 and provided an important source of employment for local people. It consisted of a large open shed with a tiled roof and a round kiln where roof tiles and chimney pots were made. There were a row of cottages built for the workers, known as 'Pottery Cottages' adjacent to the main works and clay was obtained from two local sources; Red Clay from Vale Road and White Clay from Forty Acre Field (roughly to the west of Frederick Road)Silverhill Pottery - Historical Hastings Wiki
accessdate: 10 April 2020 From the early 1840s the Pottery was owned by Fred Tree, and among his workers was an artistic potter named John Pelling who was promoted to foreman in 1846. John bought the pottery works five years later and married Fred's daughter, Polly. He became well known for creating a unique style of rustic pottery with a wood-bark design, and according to a local story this was inspired by Polly's maiden name. The Tivoli Hotel (not to be confused with the Tivoli Tavern situated further up Battle Road and demolished in 2013) stood at the junction of Battle Road (B2159) and Sedlescombe Road North between 1836 and 1860 and, this high-class establishment was so well known that, its local area was known as "Tivoli". The Tivoli Hotel was possibly near where Barclays Silverhill branch now is.

Modern Silverhill

After founding his new town of

St Leonards-on-Sea St Leonards-on-Sea (commonly known as St Leonards) is a town and seaside resort in the borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The origin ...

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) 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 ...

gained permission by an Act of Parliament of 1837 to build a turnpike road northwards from Maze Hill to avoid the congestion in

.Turnpike Roads - Historical Hastings Wiki
, accessdate: 28 February 2020 However, when this was authorized, the Hastings Council also obtained the necessary Turnpike Act to build a new road towards London. This road started at Hastings town centre and continued through Bohemia into Battle Road, crossing Burton's road at the Tivoli Hotel. Battle Road is now the B2159, and the road that goes through

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

is the

A2100 The A2100 is a model of communications satellite spacecraft made by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. It is used as the foundation for telecommunications payloads in geosynchronous orbit, as well as GOES-R weather satellites and GPS Block IIIA satell ...

. There were controversies over plans to build an

ASDA Superstore Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

on the former Marshall Tufflex site,Asda plans for new store in Silverhill unveiled ''Hastings & St. Leonards Observer'', 29 May 2008
which, in a poll set up by ASDA, gained 72.8% support. Possibly as a result of these controversies, and some saying that it would cause extra congestion and pollution', the plans were revised in 2009 and the store was officially opened on Monday 15 November 2010, complete with café, pharmacy and large car park with a petrol station which opened in 2014. The development also led to minor changes in the four-way junction in Silverhill, with new and improved street lighting and extra traffic lights to accommodate heavier traffic flows including a bus layby.

Religious buildings

The main church is St Matthew's Church on London Road. The original church was built in 1860 but was rebuilt in 1884 by

John Loughborough Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficie ...

, who designed

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

and Brisbane Cathedrals as well as other churches in East Sussex. St Matthew's is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. St Luke's United Reformed Church was built in 1857 as Silverhill Independent Presbyterian Chapel, and was one of the oldest

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Toponymy

Demography

Economy

Modern Silverhill

Religious buildings

References

Notes

Bibliography