106 West Hill, St Leonards

[Chris Page]

Can anybody tell me where West Hill, St Leonards was in 1930, please?

I have a Marriage Certificate of 18 January 1930 at St Leonards Parish Church for the marriage of a second cousin, Margaret GOLLOP, to Arthur BERKSHIRE from Brighton. Margaret is shown as living at 106 West Hill, St Leonards but I can only find West Hill Road where number 106 is a modern house.

Thanks for any help.

Chris Page

[ColinL]

Hi Chris
West Hill St Leonards is still in existence and is situated parallel to The Marina one road back.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/W+H ... 7691?hl=en

St Leonards parish church was bombed in the 2ww but has been replaced. West Hill Rd area was subject to several bombs and many places were damaged, perhaps 106 was demolished

[ColinL]

Satelite image

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/W+H ... 8432?hl=en

[Chris Page]

Thanks Colin but that map takes me to 'West Hill Road', I cannot see just 'West Hill' marked on it?

Chris

[ColinL]

When I lived in Hastings it was common usage to distinguish the West Hill (in Hastings) which was always just described as West Hill. Whereas West Hill Road was often referred to as West Hill St Leonards as opposed to using the word 'road'.

There is no reference to West Hill (in St Leonards) in any book that I have about Hastings & St L.
Some one currently in Hastings might be able to look up the Gollop family circa 1930 in a local directory

[Richard]

The first tip-and-run raid in Hastings occurred on 17 May 1942, when four Messerschmitt 109s circled the town, machine-gunning the streets in the West Hill area. Twenty-eight year-old Constance Ethel Torrance was killed when a bullet penetrated the window of her house, 60 St George's Road.
At 4.20pm on Thursday 24 September 1942 came the worst attack seen so far in terms of lives lost. Seven fighter-bombers, with an escort of fighters, swept in low over the rooftops and dropped large bombs at Warrior Square, Quarry Hill, the West Hill and De Cham Road, whilst showering the town with cannon-fire, twenty-three people were killed and 43 were injured.

Perhaps 106 was one of the houses bombed or damaged, hence rebuilding occurred eventually.
The occupants had been evacuated before any bombing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peoples ... 2416.shtml

[Richard]

ColinL is right, West Hill Road was not officially referenced as 'West Hill' in St Leonards.
Just that local people knew it as 'West Hill'.

[Chris Page]

Thanks Richard. Thanks also for the interesting information about the bombing raids and the BBC website. A very interesting site that I hadn't seen before. I think you must be right that the original 106 West Hill (Road) was demolished and has since been rebuilt.