Bexhill-on-Sea : Images of England

Today’s Bexhill-on-Sea is composed of two areas: the old town, which has had a parish church since the eighth century and survived the ravages of the Norman Conquest, and the late Victorian development of the seafront. By the turn of the century Bexhill-on-Sea had become a fashionable resort renowned for its health-giving environment.

This fascinating compilation of over 200 old photographs, drawn from the wealth of archival material preserved at Bexhill Museum, gives a glimpse of how Bexhill looked before the Victorian developments and charts the expansion of the town through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many of the images included are rare and have never been published before.

The influence of the Earls De La Warr in developing the town is comprehensively covered, including ambitious building projects such as the Kursaal and De La Warr Pavilion to such events as the 1902 motor races, the first in the country. Further aspects of town life are illustrated in chapters on sport, transport and wartime, and there is a section on the villages of Collington, Cooden, Little Common and Sidley.

This interesting and informative collection will appeal to all those connected to Bexhill. Those who remember bygone Bexhill will find it a nostalgic record of times past, while to newcomers to the area it will be an invaluable guide to the town’s history and background.