Some pictures of Hastings that you and I will recognize from childhood. Much has changed since, I’m sure. Welcome to Memory Lane!
. . .and there’s a cave, long abandoned but didn’t smell nice when I looked in as a childGeorge Street. Is it still recognisable now?Southern Railway poster probably from 1930s. What is the “castle” at the top? of the East Hill? Not Hastings Castle, whose ruin stands like a broken tooth on the West Hill. It’s surely the East Hill lift whose top end lay abandoned in our childhood, but has been restoredYes, it did look like this from the bay window of 11 Priory RoadIf you stood above the Caves on a summer’s day it would look like thisditto looking north-east instead of due eastfrom the West Hill looking towards St Leonards showing the old pier whose rusty jagged had a keep away sign in my childhood. In the far distance you can see Marine Court, a block of flats still occupied todayFamily photo posed on the West Hill, just above those rocks I loved to climb aged sevenLocal author Laura Hughes developed a special Hastings treasure map following the launch of her picture book, ‘We’re Going on a Treasure Hunt’, with Bloomsbury Publishing in 2020
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2 thoughts on “Happy Birthday Mary”
Fabulous post, it’s an important place in my life too. I had a flat in St Leonards for years and a nephew still lives in George Street (still not so very changed from the photo). I agree with you, the castellated building on the hill is the top of the East Hill funicular.
Thanks Michael. I bought some photo paper and printed 22 photos, every one better than these, which I’ve sent to Mary. Everywhere she or our step-parents have lived, familiar vistas, a road where she’s inherited a couple of houses as flats to let. Old photos, old engravings, recent ones from Google Street View. The Jenny Lind in Old Hastings HIgh Street—used to be called the Bell—and next to it John Bray, estate agents that’s been there forever. And much more
Some pictures of Hastings that you and I will recognize from childhood. Much has changed since, I’m sure. Welcome to Memory Lane! 
a wayfarer’s notes 
Fabulous post, it’s an important place in my life too. I had a flat in St Leonards for years and a nephew still lives in George Street (still not so very changed from the photo). I agree with you, the castellated building on the hill is the top of the East Hill funicular.
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Thanks Michael. I bought some photo paper and printed 22 photos, every one better than these, which I’ve sent to Mary. Everywhere she or our step-parents have lived, familiar vistas, a road where she’s inherited a couple of houses as flats to let. Old photos, old engravings, recent ones from Google Street View. The Jenny Lind in Old Hastings HIgh Street—used to be called the Bell—and next to it John Bray, estate agents that’s been there forever. And much more
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