Taking the locality of your choice outline the impact of one major element of social change in the 19th century. -  (for example the railways, population growth, unemployment/poverty, changing institutions and attitudes e.g. the New Poor Law, education, sanitation etc.)

The Railways and Hastings.

by C G Swarbrooke

The town of Hastings up until the 1850`s had been dependant on its shipping to bring the various necessities of life.  The arrival of the railway had such an impact on the town and its surrounding area, that not only did it completely change the geography of the Priory Valley; and cause the centre of the town to move Westwards, back to a position it had occupied some 600 years earlier,[1] but also helped to boost the economy of the town and make Hastings the second largest seaside resort in Britain in the 1880`s.

From a passage in the book “Hastings of Bygone Days and the Present” written in 1911 by  Henry Cousins, a local historian and lecturer, a description is given of how an area of land between the east and west cliffs of  Hastings (Priory Valley) looked at the beginning of the 19th century, before the building of the railway.

“When all beyond the Castle Cliffs was open country”, “one could have stood on the old wooden structure marked on the early maps  ‘Priory Bridge’, and looked up the Priory Valley without seeing anything beyond the Water Mill House down the Brooks, and a few old farm buildings scattered about the Priory Farm, and the Priory Stream, meandering through the valley where the Cricket Ground is, and running westward along the present site of Pelham Street; and on the western side of the valley, the Priory Farm, and White Rock, jutting far into the sea” (extracts from pages 195 and 208).

Up until the early 1840`s the two main local industries were fishing and ‘tourism’ (only for the wealthy and those with private coaches), but all of this changed in 1846 when the track from Brighton constructed by the ‘London and Brighton Railway Company’ reached the western outskirts of the town where a temporay wooden station had been built at Bulverhythe. The newspaper of the day described the arrival of the first passenger train on Saturday June 27th 1846 at 11.20am. It reported the towns greeting amid the firing of guns and joyous peals of bells followed in the evening by a fireworks display on St Leonards Green and the rolling of lighted tar barrels down the hill to the beach.  The next afternoon saw the arrival of the first Sunday train witnessed by many hundreds of excited inhabitants, all eager to see this extraordinary sight of a number of horseless carriages rushing along.

Construction of the railway was not confined to one contractor, but by several different companies having a section each, the common practice at the time.

The 1¾ miles of track from Bulverhythe to Hastings[2] took around 5 years to build and presented enormous problems to constructors ‘Newton, Smith, Fisher and Company’ as 1½ miles had to be tunnelled (1,318  yards Bopeep Tunnel and 788 yards Hastings Tunnel) to eliminate the excessive gradients and avoid any demolition of ‘James Burton’s’ exclusive new town of St Leonards. The track bed finally reached completion in December 1850.

In 1848 the ‘South-Eastern Company’ who were proposing to extend their Ashford line to Hastings, bought several acres of the ‘Priory Meadows’(a favourite resort for picnics), which being on a level with the sea (once the bed of the Old Haven) would have to be raised several feet to bring it up to the necessary levels. 

‘Messrs Hoof and Sons’ were involved in the construction of this massive earth embankment across the Priory Valley, effectively cutting the valley in two, and confining the towns commercial and industrial development to the south of the embankment; plus a 1,402 yard tunnel followed by a difficult series of embankments and cuttings eastward from Hastings towards Ashford.

The vast quantities of earth and rocks excavated from the tunnels were used to build this massive embankment.  Parts of the low-lying marshy valley were also filled in, where it was so soft that anything that was constructed (i.e. lines, station buildings and roads) sank into the silt, sometimes by several feet overnight before it finally settled.[3] Spoils from the tunnels were also used to level out the steep incline of what today is Cambridge Road, as well as parts of Devonshire Road, Middle Street, Station Road and Cornwallis Terrace.  Havelock Road, the main approach to the station, is built on an entirely artificial mound of rock and earth from the tunnel spoils.  The enormity of this embankment can be judged by the length of the brick lined roadway that was built through it at a point where Ore Lane (now a part of Queens Road) went under the track and formed a 120 yard long, dark and gloomy road tunnel. (St Andrews Archway) 

By the Summer of 1850, 3000 men were employed to work in conjunction with the railways  bringing with them  their families.  With these and the hundreds of traders and ‘hangers on’ who followed the construction gangs, they made a tremendous social and economic impact on the town and its population.(17,600 in the 1851 census). Demand for housing and building sites was at a premium whilst the local traders, shopkeepers, public house owners etc. were taking full advantage of this sudden influx of wealth. The police and magistrates were also kept busy keeping law and order and dealing with the  overwhelming flood of Irish Navvies that formed the main core of the railway workers.

In February 7th 1851, the government inspector made a final tour of the line, and on the evening of Wednesday, February 12th, a telegraph message from London Bridge Station was received at Hastings Station saying that the whole section could open the next day[4]. 

The Town Crier then spread the news around the town and at 7.15 the following morning (February 13th) the first official passenger train left Gensing Station (now called Warrior Square) for Ashford.

A report in the ‘Hastings News’ of 1851 stated “The houses that are being built on the Carlisle Parade and elsewhere are intended for families whose dinner hour is generally fixed from six to seven o’clock. If we cannot bring the master of the house home by that hour we shall not have his household”.  Hastings now had two distinct routes to London, (Hastings-Lewes-London in 2½ hrs and Hastings-Ashford-Redhill-London in 3¾ hrs)[5], but the business community were pressing for a quicker more direct route via Tonbridge and Sevenoaks. But it took around 16 years before it was eventually to become a reality in 1868. - 16 years in which the town possibly lost out to other seaside resorts in the day excursion business.  This was due to them being nearer to London and subsequently being able to charge cheaper fares.  The trip to Hastings was longer and therefore would be more expensive.  Population figures taken from the Sussex Census Returns show that during the period 1841 - 1871 Hastings increased by 166% from 11,789 to 31,361 whilst Brighton, (another fast expanding seaside resort) only increased by 92% from 46,661 to 90,011 in the same period.   

New churches were being built to accommodate the religious beliefs of the growing population and it was proposed to erect a new church (by subscription) in the new town centre. Lady Waldergrave gave £1000 to start the fund and the architect Samuel Teulon, a Royal Academy exhibitor  was chosen to build it.  Work had hardly started on the churches construction (on a site levelled by the spoils of the tunnels) when a landslip occurred and it was abandoned. It was later to be built in Robertson Street with the first stone being laid in 1857.  The new church now named ‘Holy Trinity’ opened for worship on 29th September 1858 although the chancel was not completed until 1862 and the church itself was not paid for until 1882.  Due to the expense already incurred the erection of the spire was deferred and never ever built.

Holy Trinity quickly gained a new name - ‘Cathedral of Hastings’ due not only to the enormous cost of construction but also because of its exceptional marble pulpit and its vellum, (hand illuminated) altar book.  

The arrival of the railways into Hastings had started a new chapter in the development of the town which by now had became readily accessible to everyone for the first time.

The Easter holidays of 1865 saw 700 persons or more arriving by way of the Tunbridge line on the Thursday, with the evening express train having an unprecedented number of 20 carriages attached to it, (according to the Hastings and St Leonards News - 21st April). The whole twenty carriages were full, plus a large number also arrived by the Brighton Company’s trains and Good Friday saw heavy excursions (2 by each company) totalling some 4000 people.

One of the first Hastings businessmen to take full advantage of the railways to promote his business was James Rock and Sons, Coachbuilders, who had a lucrative coachworks at White Rock in Hastings and used the railways to exhibit at the Great Exhibition of 1851, thus  receiving Royal patronage.  In Diplocks Handbook for Hastings and St Leonards published in 1846 there appears to be 135 tradesmen’s advertisements with Rock and Son, Coachbuilder listed at 6 Stratford Place, Hastings.  The effect of these new facilities for transport of goods by rail was beginning to show as in 1854 no less than 1,276 tons of coal arrived by this means[6]

Even the local fairs that were held 3 times a year; Whitsun Fair - Whit Tuesday, Rock Fair - July 26th and 27th and the Winter or Town Fair held on St Clements Day, November 23rd benefited from the railway as the St Clements Day Fair of 1851 held in the Fishmarket of the Old Town for once gained some importance with the sale of 70 horses no longer required for railway construction[7]  

Another more successful businessman was a wealthy London merchant by the name of Patrick Francis Robertson who in 1849 leased the America Ground[8] from the crown for a period of ninety nine years at a rent of £500 per annum. Working with Messrs Reeks and Humbert, architects to the Crown of 7 Whitehall Yard, London and who later opened an office at 15 Pelham Crescent, Patrick Robertson ensured the departments approval for his design which was then issued in the form of a steel engraving in order to publicise the new venture.

This advertising was so successful that by 1854 all the main offices and shops had moved from the two main commercial streets of the Old Town (George Street and High Street) to the new development together with the banks and all the commercial life of the town.  This effectively meant that the town centre of Hastings had moved westwards back to the approximate position of the town in 13th century. The main post office had previously moved from George Street to Wellington Place a couple of years earlier.

Patrick Robertson who now lived at Halton House in Old London Road was later elected MP for Hastings between 1852 - 1857 and 1864 - 1869, although he unsuccessfully contested elections in 1859 and 1874 after which he retired from the town.

Building work on this new development commenced in 1850 and by the time of the census in April 1851, the ‘St Mary-in-the-Castle’ ward of Hastings listed 4 buildings occupied by 20 persons in the ‘NEW’  Robertson Street - Number 4 - Pork Butcher, Number 5 - Coach Trimmer, Number 11 - Tailor,  and Number 13 - Drawing Teacher; although it was not officially named  Robertson Street until 1857.   The 1881 census of Robertson Street  shows a totally different picture with 342 people resident in the 53 properties of the street, whilst the ‘1881 Parsons Street Directory of Hastings and St Leonards’ lists some 78 businesses operating from these properties.

Comparing the names listed on the 1881 Census with those in ‘Parsons 1881 Street Directory’ indicated that only 23 of the 78 Business Proprietors actually lived on the premises in Robertson Street, but much accommodation had been provided for the assistants / apprentices to live above their work place (25% of the street total) especially those connected with the clothing Industry - The largest employer being Roddis Goldsmith and Plummer Numbers 1 - 3, with 26 Drapers Assistants living above a machinists work room.   

From the arrival of the railway and the development of the America Ground, the Old Town of Hastings started to decline. Now that most of the more prosperous businesses had moved to the ‘New’ development on the Crown Land, the Old Town quickly became an overcrowded working class area that was largely ignored by the town council. This town council was now composed of the very traders and business people who had migrated to the richer pastures of the Priory Valley. Plans were proposed in 1862 to extend the track from Hastings Station to the fish market in the Old Town, the failure of which contributed to the decline of the fishing industry and the non development of the area. 

Royalty favoured Hastings and St Leonards, amongst which were the ex-royal family of France, Louis Philippe and Queen Amelie[9] (under their titles Count and Countess of Neuilly) who had escaped from France in 1849. They stayed in Hastings until July 18th 1851 when they left in a special coach made for them by Messrs Rock and Son that had a “massive canopy and silver pillars”. 1862 saw Queen Christiana of Spain, the Grand Duke Micheal of Russia and his Duchess, Duke and Duchess of Montpencier with the Princesses of the House of Orleans and Princess May take up residence in the town, whilst the Prince and Princess of Wales and their infant son stayed at the Victoria Hotel in 1864.    These frequent visits by royalty must have gone a long way to attracting many of the richer classes to the area and building operations were pushed forward in order to meet the demand for accommodation. The 1851 Census of Hastings listed some 3223 houses inhabited with 78 uninhabited and 60 in the process of construction (Total 3361), whilst the 1861 Census for the same area listed 4039 inhabited, 129 uninhabited and 46 being built (Total 4224) an increase of 25% in ten years - the population rose by 33% in the same period from 17621 to 23443 persons.

The next twenty five years saw new roads and streets grow in all directions with estates being sold to provide much needed building land, prior to which in 1856 it was proposed that more of Priory Meadow should be drained because of its constant flooding now made worse by the embankment that carried the railway.  1860 saw severe flooding that was followed the next year with the worst flooding for about 10 years and the year after the Priory Meadow was again flooded, this time to a depth of three to four feet. 1861 also saw the formation of the towns modern fire brigade with some 79 volunteers competing for the 39 places in the 3 sections.[10]

Further consolidation if it was ever needed that the Priory Valley had become the Centre of Hastings, was the opening in 1862 of the towns largest hotel, the Queens, on part of the America Ground, and the New Post Office opened in 1869 at 1-3 Meadow Cottages, plus the building of a New Town Hall in Queens Road in 1881.[11] followed in 1882 by the Gaiety Theatre opposite the Town Hall, and in the same year an Electricity Company set up a works in nearby Earl Street. The previous Town Hall (now a Museum) had occupied a position in the High Street of the Old Town for nearly sixty years.

It is clear from the above evidence that the coming of the railway to Hastings was the deciding factor in changing both the location of the town centre and the geography of the Priory valley. Whilst the new development and the economy of the town enjoyed rapid growth, the Old town steadily declined with the loss of its many commercial enterprises as they moved to premises adjacent to the station. A piece of waste ground had  become the town centre and a prosperous fishing and commercial community had sunk to the level of a quaint old fashioned housing estate.

Further Reading:

Central Hastings: The Early Years - Hastings Modern History Workshop.

How the Railways came to Hastings - Hastings Area Local Studies Project

Manuscript History of Hastings and St Leonards - Thomas Brandon Brett, 10 volumes unpublished (Closed access in Hastings Public Library) written in the late 1890`s.