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This Artical Is About The Hastings Areas Of St. Leonards And West ST. Leonards. For The Whole Town See Hastings Town


Although part of the town & Borough of Hastings and an ancient parish in its own right, the area that became known as 'St Leonards-on-Sea' was only laid out in the 19th Century in its present form by James Burton as a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off who wished to take the sea air. There are many roads of fine housing, and the design also featured parks and gardens. These include Gensing Gardens in London Road, West St Leonards Gardens with its handsome portico entrance, and Warrior Square Gardens close to the sea front.
In 1885 St. Leonards And Bulverhythe Beacame Part Of Hastings.
In addition to a central sea front area mainly developed in the Edwardian and Victorian era, St Leonards now refers to an area encompassing roughly half of the Borough, and includes formerly distinct hamlets such a Bohemia, Silverhill,Bo Peep and Wishing Tree. (The land that is now St. Leonards was once owned by the Levett family, an ancient Sussex gentry family of Norman origin, and subsequently by their descendants, the Eversfields.)
The sea front continues that of the Hastings Sea Front to a total of more than three miles. Until the Second World War there existed a St Leonards pier situated opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel. At the outbreak of the war it, like most other south coast piers, was deliberately cut in half to prevent enemy invaders using it. After the war the pier was in such a state of dereliction that it was completely demolished.
On the sea front stands an ocean liner shaped art-deco building known as ''Marine Court'' that upon completion in 1937 was the tallest block of flats in the United Kingdom, comprising some 153 flats and 3 restaurants. Despite this claim to fame, entries to a competition to name the building show that it was not universally popular, and included ''Monstrosity Mansions'', ''Have No Care House'' and ''Controversy Building''.
Though a listed building, it is currently in a poor state of repair and awaiting the outcome of various planning enquiries.
There were at one time three railway stations, of which two remain: St Leonards Warrior Square is served by both routes from Hastings to London; West St Leonards is on the route to Charing Cross; and St Leonards West Marina (now closed) served the coast route. The junction for the two routes, called Bo-Peep Junction, was named after a nearby public house.
The principal shopping streets are London Road and Kings Road.

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Trivia

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Trivia

15 Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, was the business address of George Bristow, taxidermist. Bristow was the man at the centre of the Hastings Rarities affair, a case of serial ornithological fraud that took place over at least the first two decades of the 20th Century.
Prince Rainier of Monaco studied at Summer Fields School in St Leonards-on-Sea. [1]

External links

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★ The History of St Leonards on Sea

★ Pictures of St Leonards Warrior Square Station

★ Pictures around Hastings and St Leonards

★ Views of St Leonards and Warrior Square

★ Views of Hastings new town, old town and seafront on a bright January day

★ Article about Marine Court