England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hastings St Clement

The Parish

The market town and port of Hastings lies in southern Sussex forming a stretch of the county's coastline with the English Channel. Hastings has 3 churches of which St Clement is the central church of the old town. Hastings is located roughly 61 miles southeast of London and sits at the southern end of the A31 road which connects the town with the capital. Hastings is, of course, invariably associated with the Norman invasion of 1066 but was in existence as a Saxon "burgh" long before that event. In 924 it was of sufficient size and importance for King Athelstan to assign the town a mint whilst early documents of the 8th century also mention its existence. 1066 brought abrupt change with William the Conqueror founding the town castle, the first Norman castle of the land, before setting off to Battle for the denouement of Harold and the Saxons. Little now remains of the once impressive castle which remained William's base for the conquest. By the 12th century Hastings was such an important port as to become head of the Cinque Ports union but that status declined in the 13th century and was superceded by Rye. Much of the old town was destroyed by 2 French sackings in the 14th century, St Clement being forced to rise from destruction along with much else. For much of the medieval period Hastings was simply a port, with a specialist fishing fleet targeting mackerel & herring, and a market town, the regional centre for exchange of goods and specialist skills. Hastings' great expansion came as a result of the trend for coastal bathing which caused rapid development from a population of just over 3,000 to over 12,000 between 1801 & 1841. The arrival of railways from the capital spread the town further such that today, after merging with St Leonards, Hastings covers a rough oval shape some 3 miles from north to south and 4 from east to west all encompassed within the routes of the B3092 & B3093 roads. Today the population is approaching 100,000 making the town one of the largest in its county. Much of the town's drainage which once flowed through the Bourne stream has disappeared sub-surface but still reaches the nearby English Channel. Hastings rises from sea level to 140 metres within St Helens suburb which forms the highest land for many miles. Of the three parishes which formed the town St Clement was the central parish and covered a rather small acreage but supported a population of close to 3,200 parishioners. Despite the town's importance as the Norman headquarters it has no entry specific to it in Domesday Book presumably because its assets were well-known to the Normans there was no need to record them.

The Church

St Clement's church sits at the southern end of Croft Road in the heart of the old town at its junction with Hill Street & Swan Terrace and sitting within narrow and steep set of streets above the High Street. The original St Clement was destroyed by the French sacking of the 14th century so we can date the replacement rather accurately to the end of that century. Perpendicular styling was in vogue and the church was almost entirely rebuilt in that style. The stand-out feature is the tower, placed to the southwest because of the constraints of the site, it shows a neat chequer effect from the use of stone and flint squares. The main body is lengthy as befits a large congregation with the arcades comprising 7-bays. Unusually there is a single continuous nave and chancel with the normal division omitted. For once Pevsner fails to mention a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was clearly light and sensitive. Given the constrained urban setting there is no close parking and it is better to visit after first locating a car park and approaching on foot. The photographer is faced with a severely constrained site with properties close by especially from the opposite side of the narrow Croft Road, only a limited set of views is available none encompassing the entire church.