insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 16 - June 2016 | Page 81

TOWNSPOTLIGHT

S P OT L I G H T

O N

EASTBOURNE

BY LISAMARIE LAMB

Once upon a time (back in 1859, actually) Eastbourne was four separate little hamlets. But, the
Duke of Devonshire decided that there was a need for a specially designed coastal town that
would appeal to locals and visitors alike, and that would become the jewel in the crown of East
Sussex’s seaside splendour. So, he created Eastbourne. Since then, the town has grown further
and become more popular than the Duke could ever have imagined – but what is it about
Eastbourne that makes it so special?

History in Brief
It seems that the Duke of Devonshire was not
the first person to believe that this spot was
a good one; there have been artefacts from
the Stone Age found in the area, and Roman
baths and a Roman villa were discovered near
the pier and the Queens Hotel respectively.
An Anglo-Saxon charter from around AD 963
then talks of a stream at a place called Bourne
– which has long been thought to be modern
day Eastbourne.

The idea for making Eastbourne into the
seaside resort it is today most likely came from
a summer holiday trip that Prince Edward,
Prince Octavius, Princess Elizabeth and
Princess Sophie (the children of King George III)
took in 1780. Although, due to worry of invasion
from the French in the period that followed, that
holiday was not to be repeated for a numbers of
years; instead, Eastbourne became a strategic
military base and set of coastal defences.

Certainly Eastbourne has been around for a
long time, and the twelfth-century church of St
Mary proves that, as does Bourne Place, the
manor house nearby. Today, the manor house
is owned by the Duke of Devonshire, and is
called Compton Place, but it has seen many
changes over the years.

The new lease of life that Eastbourne
experienced at the hands of the Duke of
Devonshire, and his designer, Henry Currey,
was begun by the arrival of the railway. Once
that happened, Eastbourne could truly become
the seaside resort that Sussex needed. And
it worked – between 1851 and 1891, the
population increased from 4,000 to 35,000.

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