Hastings Railway History

[Richard]

An independent 'Brighton, Lewes & Hastings Railway' was incorporated in 1844 to construct a 32.5 miles line from Brighton to Bulverhythe, 2.75 miles from Hastings?
A temporary terminus named "Bulverhythe" was opened on 27 June 1846, on a site near the 'Bull Inn' on the modern day A259 Bexhill Road, pending the construction of a bridge over the River Asten. The station remained open for just under six months, before the line was extended to a permanent station at St Leonards, West Marina, in November 1846.
West Marina Station was the nearest station to Hastings until 1851 when the Bo Peep tunnel through to Warrior Square and the tunnel to Hastings were completed.

Does anyone know why the first railway into Bulverhythe was initially constructed?
Clue - In 1823 annual horse races were established at Bulverhythe Salts, one of the finest racecourses in the UK in its day.
I take 'Salts' to mean salt marshes - which could be those that flood on all high tides or those that just flood on spring tides. Perhaps, historically, that was the case with the low lying land at Bulverhythe - the original racecourse, which was prone to flooding, and most probably relocated prior to the arrival of the railway
The horse-racing was so successful that in September 1826 the course was moved to 'South Saxons' at the bottom of Filsham Road and this allowed approximately 6,000 spectators a better view from the surrounding slopes.'

So, the railway first came to Hastings owing to the success of horse-racing at Bulverhythe and not to transport tourists to the seaside - that came later.

[ColinL]

Thanks for that little bit of Hastings history that had passed me by. At around the same time the companies who owned the turnpike roads into Hastings via the Ridge and St Leonard's via Hollington were in fierce competition to see who would collapse the earliest. Then the two rail companies competed for routes to London via Eastborne or Battle

[Richard]

Filsham Valley & Bulverhythe, this is where visitors coming down by train get their first impression of Hastings & St Leonards as they glimpse the sea across school playing fields and open spaces that follow the valley to the coast at Bulverhythe. This is basically the Filsham Valley flood plain where horse-racing began, nearest to the sea, and later moved to 'South Saxons' at the bottom of Filsham Road.

As far as I am aware the later development of St Leo's town badly needed a road (the new London road) for access to London and elsewhere by horse-drawn coach, etcetera, because access along the coast from Hastings was treacherous and White Rock was in the way in those days.
To build a new road costs money, of course, and the New London road's owners erected 'turnpikes' in order to collect a fee per trip.
The railways may have contributed, in part, to their eventual decline and competition but these turnpikes would have collected fees for some time afterwards, surely, until they were bought out by the local council?

[whiffler]

Racing bringing the Railway to Hastings ?! - a real red herring.

The temporary terminus near The Bull was to have some paying traffic before the link section and bridge to what became West Marina was built. Press reports even mention the coaches waiting to rush the passengers into town.

Old maps have a couple of vacant lots conveniently located close to railway level where the A259 turns having dropped down the hill from the Bull itself. One lot even extended flush to the railway.

Even with modern houses you can see the peculiar boundaries at that point.