Hastings, Sussex
Hastings Funicular Railways
East Hill Lift
The East Hill today is the start of the Hastings Country Park, stretching some 5 miles along the coast to Fairlight, encompassing over 600 acres of glorious unspoilt countryside, with open cliffs, wooded glens and the Fire Hills so called due to the fiery coloured gorse that sweeps across the top.
An application for a lift on East Hill was put before Hastings Borough Council by the original Hastings Lift Company whilst construction of the West Hill Lift was in progress. When it went into liquidation the Council resolved to undertake the scheme itself and commenced excavation at East Hill. The East Hill Lift was finished in the spring of 1902, the total cost being £6,000.
The upper station was designed to look like a castle having brick facing with local blue stone dressings. In each of the two castellated towers was an iron tank containing about 1,200 gallons of water, connected to stand pipes on either side of the track for illing tanks beneath the cars.
The lover station in Rock-a-Nore Road looked like a picturesque cottage and was built over 23ft deep chamber containing the huge cross-over pulley round which the railrope passed from one track to the other. The cutting between stations at its deepest is over 120ft and carried the 22ft-wide track at an incline of 1 in 1.28 for 265ft.
In 1973 the council discovered that it needed to be brought up to current safety standards and the antiquated water balance mechanism was replaced with an electric motor. The lift was closed and after some delay the work was completed with new cars on new chassis at a cost of £35,000 and the lift finally reopened in September 1976.
Resent Improvements
Since 2003 Hastings Borough Council has made a significant investment into both lifts as part of a modernisation programme. This has included items such as the overhaul of the gearbox and replacement of track and sleepers at the West Hill Lift between 2003 - 2005 and the repair of the concreate track, replacement of the carriages and overhaul of chassis at the East Hill Lift in 2009.
Both lifts have also benefitted from new electronic control and safety systems including overspeed sensors and secondary braking devises. The total cost of these improvements has exceeded £1m but have helped to ensure that the lifts remain in safe operation, carrying in excess of 200,000 passengers each year.
See also:-
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Hill_Cliff_Railway
www.visit1066country.com/things-to-do/cliff-railways-east...
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EAST HILL LIFT, ROCK-A-NORE ROAD, HASTINGS
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II
List Entry Number: 1043427
Date first listed: 14-Sep-1976
Details
ROCK-A-NORE ROAD 1. 5204 (North Side) East Hill Lift TQ 8209 NE 8/484 II 2. 1903. The housing at top for machinery built of random stone with parapets and coping, and at rear (north) bartizans on corners. The front (south side 2 squat square towers flanking wide moulded arch, glazed in, in front of which are the tracks. The lifts are on a steep incline. At the bottom a small brick building with corrugated asbestos roof; gable with tile-hanging and small Venetian window, below is a central doorway and flanking windows with stone hood over on brackets. (See also West Hill Lift, George Street).
Listing NGR: TQ8272209520
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1043427
Hastings, Sussex
Hastings Funicular Railways
East Hill Lift
The East Hill today is the start of the Hastings Country Park, stretching some 5 miles along the coast to Fairlight, encompassing over 600 acres of glorious unspoilt countryside, with open cliffs, wooded glens and the Fire Hills so called due to the fiery coloured gorse that sweeps across the top.
An application for a lift on East Hill was put before Hastings Borough Council by the original Hastings Lift Company whilst construction of the West Hill Lift was in progress. When it went into liquidation the Council resolved to undertake the scheme itself and commenced excavation at East Hill. The East Hill Lift was finished in the spring of 1902, the total cost being £6,000.
The upper station was designed to look like a castle having brick facing with local blue stone dressings. In each of the two castellated towers was an iron tank containing about 1,200 gallons of water, connected to stand pipes on either side of the track for illing tanks beneath the cars.
The lover station in Rock-a-Nore Road looked like a picturesque cottage and was built over 23ft deep chamber containing the huge cross-over pulley round which the railrope passed from one track to the other. The cutting between stations at its deepest is over 120ft and carried the 22ft-wide track at an incline of 1 in 1.28 for 265ft.
In 1973 the council discovered that it needed to be brought up to current safety standards and the antiquated water balance mechanism was replaced with an electric motor. The lift was closed and after some delay the work was completed with new cars on new chassis at a cost of £35,000 and the lift finally reopened in September 1976.
Resent Improvements
Since 2003 Hastings Borough Council has made a significant investment into both lifts as part of a modernisation programme. This has included items such as the overhaul of the gearbox and replacement of track and sleepers at the West Hill Lift between 2003 - 2005 and the repair of the concreate track, replacement of the carriages and overhaul of chassis at the East Hill Lift in 2009.
Both lifts have also benefitted from new electronic control and safety systems including overspeed sensors and secondary braking devises. The total cost of these improvements has exceeded £1m but have helped to ensure that the lifts remain in safe operation, carrying in excess of 200,000 passengers each year.
See also:-
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Hill_Cliff_Railway
www.visit1066country.com/things-to-do/cliff-railways-east...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EAST HILL LIFT, ROCK-A-NORE ROAD, HASTINGS
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II
List Entry Number: 1043427
Date first listed: 14-Sep-1976
Details
ROCK-A-NORE ROAD 1. 5204 (North Side) East Hill Lift TQ 8209 NE 8/484 II 2. 1903. The housing at top for machinery built of random stone with parapets and coping, and at rear (north) bartizans on corners. The front (south side 2 squat square towers flanking wide moulded arch, glazed in, in front of which are the tracks. The lifts are on a steep incline. At the bottom a small brick building with corrugated asbestos roof; gable with tile-hanging and small Venetian window, below is a central doorway and flanking windows with stone hood over on brackets. (See also West Hill Lift, George Street).
Listing NGR: TQ8272209520
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1043427