A Bit of Seaford History

Extract from: A handbook for East-Bourne and Seaford, and the neighbourhood, by George Frederick Chambers

Published in 1883

Pages 98 – 103

WHAT East – Bourne was , say , 30 years , Seaford is now – not exactly a town , not exactly a village . Relatively to its various Sussex rivals it once held a much more conspicuous place than it now does . The river Ouse which now enters the sea at Newhaven , formerly did so at Seaford , and then Seaford had some pretentions to being a seaport town , but it is nothing of the kind now . Newhaven has grown into a port , whilst Seaford is merely a small summer watering – place .
The diversion of the Ouse was due to a great storm in the reign of Elizabeth , and presumeably in 1570 . The river which between Newhaven ( till then called Meeching ) and Seaford followed a course nearly parallel to the sea beach , on the occasion in question broke through its right bank , and formed a new channel which it never afterwards forsook until the existing cut was made , artificially , somewhat to the W. This event was a blow of course to Seaford from which it never re covered , but the construction of the railway to Seaford in 1864 set it on its legs again in some degree .

Seaford is a Cinque Porte affiliated to Hastings and ranking amongst the 7 members or limbs of Hastings , Pevensey standing second .
As a Cinque Port , Seaford enjoys sundry privileges , and once was called upon to bear sundry burdens inci dental to those privileges . It obtained a charter in 35 Henry VIII . , ( 1544 ) , under which it is still governed by a Bailiff and Freemen some of whom , under the name of Jurats , act as assessors to the Bailiff in the administration of justice . This charter is still preserved and is in the custody of the Town Clerk , I. Gell , Esq . , of Lewes . It is a fine specimen of caligraphy . ” The Bailiff is annually elected on Michaelmas Day with the following formalities . At the summons of the Church bell the assembly of Freemen takes place in the town hall , and after the pro formâ business has been gone through , the freemen – leaving the jurats behind them on the bench -retire in a body to a certain gate post near West House , and there elect their chief officer for the year ensuing . The motive for this singular proceeding seems to be the prevention of unfair influence on the part of the magisterial body .
The townsmen are attended on this occasion by the sergeant – at – mace in his proper costume , bearing the ensign of the Bailiff’s authority in the shape of a small mace of silver , which is ornamented with the arms of Queen Elizabeth .
The procession commences at a place the Old called Tree , where it appears the town pillory anciently stood , as it is called in old documents ‘ The Pillory Tree . ‘ The place of execution , or rather the perquisite of the finisher of the law , ‘ is still indicated by the namecof a piece of landccalled the ‘ Hangman’s Acre . ‘ Asca corporation , Seaford still appoints its Recorder , an officer who has at present neither duties nor emoluments . “
( Lower : Suss . Arch . Coll . vi . , 89. )
It returned two members to Parliament from 1400 , 1298 till and from 1641
till it was disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832 . The first William Pitt sat
for the borough 1747-54 , and Canning in 1827 for a few weeks before his death .

Grounds are not wanting for the opinion that Seaford was a place of repute even in Saxon times . It has been by some authorities identified with Mercredesburn ( mear Sea crædford) the site of Ella’s famous battle with the Britons in 485 . ( H. L. Long , Suss . Arch. Coll . vii . 75.)

There is a picture of Seaford by Collins , R.A. , in the South Kensington , Museum .

The borough seal is a curious relic . On the obverse is an Eagle rudely executed , and the following legend in Roman and Gothic characters mixed : -SIGILLVM BURGENSIVM : De saFFORDIA On the reverse is a ship , and the following words : -WITH SVTTONII ** ET * CHYNGTON .
These two inscriptions may be thus rendered : – ” The Seal of the Burgesses of Seaford with Sutton and Chyngton , ” The two last names are those of 2 properties at the E. end of the parish . This seal is of 2 distinct dates . The obverse is of the 13th century , but the re verse is of much more modern and may possibly have been cut when Henry VIII’s charter was granted .

The Bailiff has an official seal of his own , smaller and very rude .

(Both are engraved in Sass . Arch . Coll . i . )

In the reign of Edward III . many attacks were made on Seaford by the French , and much mischief was done by them .

Another great event in its history was the outbreak of the ” Black Death ” in 1348 , which decimated the population and other wise injured the prosperity of the place .

In 1545 the French under Claude D’Annbault High Admiral , made a raid on Seaford , but were repulsed by a Sussex celebrity , Sir Nicholas Pelham .

The former importance of Seaford is attested by the fact that it furnished in 1347 to the siege of Calais 5 ships and 80 men , whilst Hastings supplied only the same number of ships , and only 16 men more . James I. in the 4th year of his reign conferred the Lordship
of Seaford on the Lord Mounteagle of Gunpowder – Plot celebrity , for his ” good service . ” This is not described , but the inference is obvious .

The Seaford coast was once famous alike for wrecks , wreckers , and smugglers . In 1058 a Flemish vessel was driven ashore near Seaford . On board of her was one Balgerus , a monk of St. Winocs – Bergue , who is described as ” fidelis fur et latro bonus . ” It would almost seem that he came to justify these appellations , for he stole from the neighbouring monastery of St. Andrew certain relics alleged to have belonged to St. Lewinna , an early British convert belonging to Sussex , martyred by the pagan Saxons . Nothing is known as to the whereabouts of this monastery , but possibly it was at Lewes , and possibly also Lewinna gave her name to , or received it from Lewes . ( Suss . Arch . Coll . i . 46. )
But Lower thinks that for ‘ monastery ‘ we must read ‘Church’ and that the narrative applies to St. Andrew’s Church , Alfiston.

On Jan. 6 , 1800 , H. M. S. Brazen , 18 . was stranded on the Ave rocks , off this coast ; out of a crew of 105 officers and men there was but one man saved . A stunted obelisk in Newhaven Churchyard , now much weather – worn , records the catastrophe .

The bathing at Seaford is not good , for the sea rises and falls only within narrow limits , and a sandy bottom is seldom to be had .

The relics of antiquity dug up at Seaford have not been numerous .

About 1823 a Roman cemetery was discovered at a place called Green Street , on the estate of Major W. T. Harison , of Sutton . Many sepulchral urns were found there . The following engraving represents 4
of them . Green Street is about 1/2 m . E. of Corsica Hall ( See post ) , along the valley .
In February , 1854 , a fine medal of Antonia , the daughter of Marc Antony , was found in the shingle below high water mark . It was of pure gold , and weighed 5dwts 38grs. On the obverse were the words ANTONIA AVGUSTA , and on the reverse SACERDOS DIVI AVGVSTI . ( Suss . Arch . Coll . vii .74)

In the summer of 1856 , a boy , prowling about at the mouth of the Cuckmere , observed protruding from a mass of earth , which had recently fallen from the cliff , a Roman urn , represented in the annexed cut . Fancying he had fallen upon a ” crock of money , ” in his haste he broke the urn . His anticipation not being realised , he gathered up the fragments and took them to a local archæologist . They were easily pieced together and found to make a vessel 9in high . ( Suss . Arch . Coll . ix . 368. )

On May 22 , 1858 , a remarkable piece of Mediæval pottery was brought to light in digging the foundations of the new School . It is 11in long and 8 high , and appears to be intended for a stag .
On each of the sides are rude figures representing boars attacked by animals which presumeably are dogs .
Only one other relic at all resembling this has ever been found in England , and , as that was discovered at Lewes , we may infer that both are the production of the same workman, and he a resident in Sussex . This object is now in the
Archæological Museum at Lewes . ( W. Figg , Suss . Arch . Coll . , x . 193. )

In 1826 Mr. Charles Rose Ellis was created by Canning , Baron Seaford . The title is now held by Lord Howard De Walden in right of his mother .
The custom of Borough English prevails at Seaford : in virtue of this , property descends to youngest sons .
The parish of Seaford contains 2235 acres chiefly of Down land . The town is remarkably compact. Its population of 1357 souls resides with in a small area , roughly quadrilateral in figure , which scarcely exceeds 1/4 m . in any direction . With the exception of Pelham Place on the W. , looking towards Newhaven , and some clusters of houses on the N. , near the railway station , the streets are crooked and narrow , and the houses low and small . Pelham Place , however , with its gaunt stuccoed houses is an undoubted disfigurement to the town .
Villas , not long London – like rows of cramped houses , are needed at Seaford .
Directly opposite the town the sea has receded , leaving a long bar , part of which has been fashioned into a sort of promenade . It generally happens that once in every 4 or 5 years the sea washes over this bar on the occasion of a very high tide , and floods the reclaimed meadows and the lower part of the town .
A noteable instance of this occurred on Nov. 15 , 1875. The combination of a heavy gale with a high spring tide led to a frightful inundation .
All the lower part of the town was flooded , many houses were wrecked , and an immense destruction of property took place . No such disaster had been known in modern times .

At the E. end of the bar in question is a Martello tower numbered 74 , the last of the chain round the coast of Kent and Sussex . It was designed for one gun and 25 men , and cost 18,000l , but is empty . Behind this tower is a ” level , ” used as a creation ground . It belongs to the corporation and is called The Bemblands , a corruption of Beamelands , spoken of in an Elizabethan Grant , dated 1592. ( Suss . Arch . Coll . vii . 80. )

A few hundred yards W. of the tower there was once a small battery , but it has been reduced to ruins , by successive great storms . The site and ruins were sold in 1869 to a private individual .
The town – hall should be visited , not for its architectural features , but as a relic of primitive antiquity .
Justice is administered within its walls at stated times .
In the upper part of the town is an open space belonging to the Corporation and called the Crouch . This name is supposed to come from crux , it being a small green with paths running obliquely across it which form a sort of St. Andrew’s cross , thus : X ; or perhaps a cross might have stood there .
A great event in the modern history of Seaford happened on Sept.
19 , 1850. On that day an enormous mass of cliff at the E. end of the town , and estimated at 200,000tons was blown down into the sea by gunpowder with the view of forming a breakwater to protect the beach opposite the town from the encroachments of the sea . Some of the débris remains , but much of it has been washed away , and the plan can only be described as a partial success having regard to the object aimed at .

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