Hastings housing history

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Supervillin
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Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:38 pm

Hastings housing history

Postby Supervillin » Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:44 pm

I was talking to someone the other day and they mentioned that an estate was built in Hastings (in the 60's?) specially for people to move down from London. Does anyone know anything about this? It was also said that originally you could only move onto the estate if you already had a job down here, but after a while most of the DFLs moved away because the wages weren't good enough in Hastings. Does any of this ring a bell? Any suggestions for where to find a good recent history of housing in Hastings (say post-war)?

barbann
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Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 8:19 pm

Re: Hastings housing history

Postby barbann » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:25 am

I am not aware of a specific estate being built for DFL's but do remember in the early 70's there were families living in the tower blocks (Hollington) who had moved from London with their jobs and accommodation was part of the package. As you say most of them had returned to London within a year or so. Best of luck with your search

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Derek Jempson
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 6:56 am

Re: Hastings housing history

Postby Derek Jempson » Thu Jul 12, 2018 10:09 am

It was the Tilebarn Estate and the Four Courts that we built to house people from London. I understand that a few families were moved, but it wasn't the big influx that was expected. The local Council was then left with a large number of properties to let, and those were offered to locals. My family was one of the first to be offered a flat in Churchill Court (1964) after being on the housing list for ages.

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Richard
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Re: Hastings housing history

Postby Richard » Thu Jul 12, 2018 11:22 am

The Four Courts are each 16 stories high and were built in the mid 1960s - originally to house the civil servants who flooded to 1066 Country for jobs at the then Ministry of Work.
Two of the blocks are now sheltered housing for elderly people.

According to Geoff's 'Hollington History':
The Four Courts can be seen from many points across the town and are a distinctive feature of the Hollington area. Built in 1966 to accommodate nearly 400 families, the four seventeen-storey blocks were based on a building scheme from Ramsgate in Kent. The blocks were the most expensive high-rise buildings to be constructed at that time and were named after prominent American and British politicians, Roosevelt Court, Kennedy Court, Bevin Court and Churchill Court.

Supervillin
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Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:38 pm

Re: Hastings housing history

Postby Supervillin » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:25 pm

Thanks everyone, I was sure it would have been Tilebarn. This is all very useful.

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Expat-in-Spain
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Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 2:53 pm

Re: Hastings housing history

Postby Expat-in-Spain » Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:01 pm

Hastings was a partner town with the former Greater London Council in what was commonly called the "London Overspill". I actually worked on some early parts of this scheme for a time and wish that I had kept as a souvenir some of the planning drawings! (At the time I was living in Eastbourne but much later moved to Hastings.) The "London Overspill" had been running for many years and much of the development was in East Anglia and the South East, eventually it came to an end before the Hastings scheme was much advanced. A lot of dedication was input by the GLC Architects, one of whom actually moved to Hastings in order to immerse himself in the local "feel".
Perhaps the local library have some of the planning drawings?


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