Looking to East Cliff above Hastings Old Town from West Cliff near the ruins of Hastings Castle, East Sussex, England.

Commentary.

 

The Old Town of Hastings lies between East and West Cliff.

Traditionally, Hastings has had a key, active fishing fleet,

where boats would be shored up on the shingle beach below the East Cliff, because of the lack of a natural harbour.

The tall, thin, black and distinctive fishing huts, for drying and mending nets have been a landmark for hundreds of years.

The Old Town is a plethora of Tudor and pre-Tudor cottages

on narrow cobbled lanes.

The higgledy-piggledy nature of these dwellings gives an authenticity and charm, unchanged for centuries.

All this genuine history and charm must not disguise

the hard and dangerous life fishing families faced,

and all for a paltry income.

But somehow these soot-smothered, ancient buildings show the same durability that that the fishing families showed.

That is part of their tangible legacy that ensures that this Old Town remains fascinating and very special.

 

Done