the burtons' st leonards blog
The former chapel on Kenilworth Road, St Leonards on Sea
At the southern end of Kenilworth Road, and now numbered no. 98, is a former chapel, very obvious as one descends the road from the north. Formerly its activities were [...]
read moreWALK in Burtons’ St Leonards: Join us this Thursday 17th September 2026, 11am sharp. Turn up & go: No booking.
WALKS in Burtons’ St Leonards: Join us this Thursday 17th September 2026, 11am sharp, from London Road seafront clock for 90 minutes. We walk for 45 minutes up the 1:5 [...]
read moreDramatic accounts of a storm in 1875 at St Leonards on Sea
The contemporary newspapers can be very revealing in discussing storm damage on the seafront. In this post I give two long and vivid accounts of damage and risk of life. [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1855-56
10 April 1855, Sussex Advertiser: [Summary of news clipping below. Advert for sale of freehold of 8.5 acres on Warrior Square, plus 6.5 leasehold land in the direction of the [...]
read moreThe early history of Albany Road, St Leonards on Sea
On the 2 July 1880, Hastings Council planning application DH/C/6/1/2509 was approved for what the Discovery catalogue describes as a ‘new road from Pevensey Road West to the borough boundary, [...]
read moreThe Royal Victoria Buildings, St Leonards on Sea
Many locals are unaware of the fact that on the promenade in front of the Royal Victoria Hotel, Marina, St Leonards on Sea, there was a row of shops for [...]
read morePadgham and Hutchinson, a St Leonards on Sea building partnership
Padgham and Hutchinson were an important building partnership in St Leonards and Bexhill in the 1890s and early 1900s. A great deal of information is in the useful Discovery database [...]
read moreThe Coach and Horses public house, Mews Road, St Leonards on Sea
The Coach and Horses public house on Mews Road closed in 1950 and is now a private house, 3 Mews Road. The house below it is no. 1 and there [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1854-55
25 April 1854, Sussex Advertiser: 2 May 1854, Sussex Advertiser: 30 May 1854, Sussex Advertiser: [Auction by Mr Vosey [Voysey ?] at the South Saxon Hotel, 1 June 1854. Now [...]
read moreThe early history of Gensing Gardens
This is an account of the early history of what is now Gensing Gardens. It was called at various times the Western Pleasure Ground, Gensing Pleasure Ground, Gensing Wood Public [...]
read moreThe development of Gilbert Road, St Leonards on Sea
Gilbert Road is a short road to the west of London Road, with Tower Road West to its north and Brittany Road to its south. The houses are only on [...]
read moreElvey Thomas of the St Leonards Pier and the White Hart, 54 Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea
In the 1891 census at Deptford, Kent, Elvey Thomas was a 14-year-old clerk, born New Cross, his father a railway official. The Hastings and St Leonards Advertiser, 21 April 1898, [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1853-54
13 May 1853, Hastings and St Leonards News: BATHING. Mr DEUDNEY spoke [at a Council meeting] of the nuisance to the bathers near Warrior square, in consequence of the sea [...]
read moreThe history of Ford Bank, 30 Albany Road, St Leonards on Sea
I have just come back from a very pleasant garden party at Ford Bank, together with many others from the Society. Many thanks to our generous hosts ! Enough to [...]
read moreLetters on local housing, 1911-12: ‘A strong man, a Decimus Burton’, ‘How Hastings may prosper’
A letter was published in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer in its 23 December 1911 issue. It included this passage: Many more visitors come to the town now than [...]
read moreThe Bird in Hand beerhouse, South Street, St Leonards on Sea
The Bird-in-Hand beerhouse was at 1, often numbered 1 and 2, South Street from before 1855 until 1921. Its exact location is however something of a mystery. It is well [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1852-53
Hastings and St Leonards News, 23 April 1852: DEPARTURES. Lady Wallscourt, 42, Marina, on Monday. Lady Williams, Upland Views, on Monday, after six weeks sojourn. Lady Hay, 25, Marina, on [...]
read morePeter Jenkins, St Leonards on sea builder and contractor
This post is a summary of a talk which I have just given at the exhibition ‘A journey through time: the development of West St Leonards’, organised by the WSL [...]
read moreH.C. Holman: auctioneer, estate agent and Warrior Square hotel proprietor
Humphrey Charles Holman – almost invariably cited in newspapers as H.C. Holman — was a very active auctioneer and estate agent, and also an important hotel proprietor. He was an [...]
read moreThe Bachelors’ balls at the St Leonards Assembly Rooms
I recently watched on YouTube ‘The flirtatious Regency balls of Pride and Prejudice: having a ball’, an amusing attempt to recreate Mr Bingley’s private ball at Netherfield in Jane Austen’s [...]
read moreThe Anchor, a former pub on East Ascent, St Leonards on Sea
The former Anchor pub is almost hidden up an alley from East Ascent, and is now numbered 5a East Ascent. As with the other buildings on the road, it is [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1851-52
Much on begging and efforts to stamp it out in this post. Also a letter of complaint about the high cost of bathing machines. 1 April 1851, Sussex Advertiser: John [...]
read moreRobert Richard Duke, a clergyman hotel keeper at Warrior Square
It is unusual for an Anglican minister to be a hotel keeper. Thanks to his going bankrupt there are many details of this man’s finances, which is unusual, both as [...]
read moreAn affiliation order for a servant’s child, 1863
This post is about the delicate matter of the master’s son taking advantage of a household servant, and his attempt to wriggle out of paying for his behaviour. If you [...]
read moreProperty deeds for 75 and 76 Marina, St Leonards on Sea, 1850-1895
An acquaintance of mine bought a year ago six property deeds on eBay which were for 75 and 76 Marina, covering the years 1850 to 1895. These terrace houses are [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1850-51
In my monthly list of newspaper extracts I normally simply give them in date order. In 1850-51 there were numerous lengthy accounts of railway building, the AI sensation of its [...]
read moreNorman Buchanan, a Scottish hairdresser in Hastings and St Leonards on Sea
On the 1 February 1853 the London Gazette published the following notice: Norman Buchanan, insolvent debtor, by his petition at Hastings. Formerly of 28 George Street, Hastings, hair dresser and [...]
read moreA medical scandal: the appointment of Charles Thomas Knox-Shaw as Hastings’ Medical Officer of Health, 1881
On the 3 April 1881 the census recorded the following household at 33 Warrior Square: Archibald R. Shaw, head, M[arried], 58, physician, born Middlesex Laura E.S. Shaw, wife, M, 47, [...]
read moreThe Prince of Wales public house, 15 Western Road, St Leonards on Sea
The Prince of Wales public house reopened in brightly painted and refurbished style on the 5 March with the declared aim of being a not-for-profit enterprise as part of the [...]
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