Place:Eastbourne, Sussex, England

Watchers
NameEastbourne
Alt namesBournesource: ancient hamlet of Eastbourne
Meadssource: ancient hamlet of Eastbourne
Norwaysource: ancient hamlet of Eastbourne
Sea Housessource: ancient hamlet of Eastbourne
Bridgemeresource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Downside (Eastbourne)source: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Hampden Parksource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Holywellsource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Kingsmeresource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Langneysource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Little Chelsea (Eastbourne)source: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Ocklyngesource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Rattonsource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Rodmillsource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Roselandssource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Shinewatersource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Sovereign Harboursource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Upperton (Eastbourne)source: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Winkney Farmsource: neighbourhood within Eastbourne
Pevensey Baysource: suburb within the bounds of Eastbourne
Stone Crosssource: suburb within the bounds of Eastbourne
TypeParish, Borough (county)
Coordinates50.767°N 0.283°E
Located inSussex, England
Also located inEast Sussex, England     (1865 - )
See alsoPevensey Rape, Sussex, Englandrape in which it was located
Eastbourne Hundred, Sussex, Englandhundred in which it was located


source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Eastbourne is a town, seaside resort and borough in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex on the south coast of England, 19 miles (31 km) east of Brighton. Eastbourne is immediately to the east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain.

With a seafront consisting largely of Victorian hotels, a pier and a Napoleonic era fort and military museum, Eastbourne was developed from four separate hamlets. It has a growing population, a broad economic base and is home to companies in a wide range of industries.

Though Eastbourne is a relatively new town, there is evidence of human occupation in the area from the Stone Age. The town grew as a fashionable tourist resort largely thanks to prominent landowner, William Cavendish (1808-1891), later to become the Duke of Devonshire. Cavendish appointed architect Henry Currey to design a street plan for the town, but not before sending him to Europe to draw inspiration. The resulting mix of architecture is typically Victorian and remains a key feature of Eastbourne.

As a seaside resort Eastbourne derives a large and increasing income from tourism, with revenue from traditional seaside attractions augmented by conferences, public events and cultural sightseeing. The other main industries in Eastbourne include trade and retail, healthcare, education, construction, manufacturing, professional scientific and the technical sector.

Eastbourne's population is growing; between the UK censuses of 2001 and 2011 it increased from 89,800 to 99,412. The 2011 census shows that the average age of residents has decreased as the town has attracted students, families and those commuting to London and Brighton.

The following quotation answers the question: What were the names of the four individual hamlets? From Eastbourne's Story provided by Eastbourne Borough Council

"In the 13th century, the Lamb Inn (as popular now as it ever was) was built facing the church. Business was conducted in the cellar and the resident merchant lived in a flat above. On the other side of what is now one of Eastbourne's busiest roads, is the timbered house, Pilgrims, which has mediaeval origins and is thought to be one of the oldest inhabited private homes in the Britiah Isles. By 1555 the Manor (estate) was call East Bourne and was purchased by three Sussex families. A hundred years later there were just 130 houses in the parish and the population of 800-900 was grouped in four areas: in Bourne, near the church; in the area which is now around South street [unnamed]; at Sea Houses--some of which still stand on Marine Parade; and in Meads."

Districts

the text in this section is based on a section of an article in Wikipedia

The Eastbourne District of East Sussex is made up of the County Borough of Eastbourne (which ceased to exist in 1974), the town of Polegate to the north and nearby sections of the surrounding parishes of Willingdon, Jevington, Pevensey, Westham. It is surrounded by the large district municipality of |Wealden which before 1974 was Hailsham Rural District.

Within Eastbourne's limits are:

  • Langney: Langney Rise, Shinewater, Kingsmere, Langney Village, the Marina, Langney Point
  • Hampden Park: Hampden Park Village, Willingdon Trees, Winkney Farm, Ratton
  • Inner areas: Rodmill, Ocklynge, Seaside, Bridgemere, Roselands, Downside
  • Town centre: Town centre, Little Chelsea, Meads, Holywell, Old Town, Upperton
  • Sovereign Harbour: North Harbour, South Harbour
  • Pevensey Bay and Stone Cross:areas absorbed since 1934

The places in italics have been redirected here.

There was a community known as Norway, Eastbourne in the triangle now bounded by Wartling Road, Seaside and Lottbridge Drove. The name was a corruption of North Way, as this was the route to the north. The area is now a housing estate and the only evidence there was a Norway are a Norway Road and the local church whose sign reads "St Andrew's Church, Norway".

The former fishing hamlet of Holywell (local pronunciation 'holly well') was situated by the cliff on a ledge some 400 yards to the southwest of the public garden known as the Holywell Retreat. It was approached from what is now Holywell Road via the lane between the present Helen Gardens and St Bede's School which leads to the chalk pinnacle formerly known locally as 'Gibraltar' or the 'Sugar Loaf'. The ground around the pinnacle was the site of lime kilns also worked by the fishermen. The fishing hamlet at Holywell was taken over by the local water board in 1896 to exploit the springs in the cliffs. The water board's successors still own the site, and there is a pumping station but little evidence of the hamlet itself, as by now even most of the foundations of the cottages have gone over the cliff.

History

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Eastbourne#History. This is a very long section with sub-sections starting with "Pre-Roman" and ending with the 21st Century.

Local History Society

Eastbourne Local History Society was founded in 1970. It is a charitable, not-for-profit organisation in the United Kingdom whose objective is the pursuit and encouragement of an active interest in the study of the history of Eastbourne and its immediate environs and the dissemination of the outcome of such studies.

As the major landowner, the Cavendish family has had strong connections with Eastbourne since the 18th century. The current President of the Society is William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.

Containing over 1,500 articles about the history of Eastbourne, the Society's indexed journal, The Eastbourne Local Historian, is the major historical resource for the town and has been published quarterly since its inception in 1970. Over the years, the Society has published various books about the history of Eastbourne, seven of which are currently in print.

Research Tips

  • The East Sussex Record Office, The Keep, Woollards Way, Brighton, BN1 9BP, United Kingdom (email thekeep@eastsussex.gov.uk) holds material for the Archdeaconry of Lewes, present-day East Sussex, and therefore generally holds historical material for East Sussex parishes only. An on-line catalogue for some of the collections held by the East Sussex Record Office (ESRO) is available under the Access to Archives (A2A) project (a nationwide facility housed at The National Archives, Kew).
  • The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies' Sussex Collection (PDF). This is a 9-page PDF naming the files relating to Sussex in their collection-a possible first step in a course of research.
  • Further resources may be found on GENUKI's main page on Sussex.
  • The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.
  • GENUKI on Eastbourne
  • Maps of the local area are to be found on the WeRelate page for Pevensey Rape and on that for Hailsham Rural District or Eastbourne Rural District.
  • A History of the County of Sussex provided by British History Online does not include articles on parishes that were part of Pevensey Rape.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Eastbourne. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.