Hastings Old Town is an area in Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

 roughly corresponding to the extent of the town prior to the nineteenth century. It lies mainly within the eastern-most valley of the current town. The shingle beach known as The Stade

The Stade

The Stade is a shingle beach, situated in Hastings Old Town. It has been used for beaching boats for over a thousand years, a use which continues to this day: it is now home to Europe's largest fleet of beach-launched fishing boats....

 (the old Saxon term meaning "landing place") is home to the biggest beach-launched fishing fleet in Britain.
Many events take place every year in the old town such as the Hastings Old Town Week

Hastings Old Town Week

Hastings Old Town Week is an annual summer event celebrated in the Old Town of Hastings, East Sussex. The Old Town week typically occurs during the first week of August and is officially opened on Winkle Island, during the week events such as concerts, street parties, charity races and Morris...

, Jack In The Green

Jack in the green

A Jack in the Green is a participant in traditional English May Day parades and other May celebrations, who wears a large, foliage-covered, garland-like framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which covers his body from head to foot...

, the Seafood and Wine Festival, and the Bonfire Procession. Many of these events are centred on Winkle Island

Winkle Island

Winkle Island is at the heart of Hastings Old Town in East Sussex, England, in the United Kingdom. The island is part of a unique area in Hastings called 'The Stade' and the stretch of shingle beach from which Hastings' famous fishing fleet has been launched every day for over a thousand...

, which is, at the same time, the gathering place of the renowned Winkle Club

Winkle Club

The Winkle Club is an internationally famous charitable organization formed in 1900 by Hastings fishermen to help the under-privileged families of Hastings Old Town, in East Sussex, in the south of England....

.

The Net Shops are tall black wooden sheds which were built to provide a weather-proof store for the fishing gear made from natural materials to prevent them from rotting in wet weather. The sheds were originally built on posts to allow the sea to go underneath, however more shingle has built up and the sea no longer reaches the huts. The beach area on which the Sheds stand built up after groyne

Groyne

A groyne is a rigid hydraulic structure built from an ocean shore or from a bank that interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment. In the ocean, groynes create beaches, or avoid having them washed away by longshore drift. In a river, groynes prevent erosion and ice-jamming, which...

s were erected in 1834, however the limited space meant the sheds had to grow upwards, even though some sheds do have cellars.
Local historian and author Steve Peak says about the net shops:

The old town’s Net Shops - approximately 50 black wooden sheds standing in neat rows on a shingle beach are unique. They were built to provide weather-proof stores for fishing gear made of natural materials which rotted if wet for a long time. Today’s materials are artificial and can be left in the open. Most net shops stand on a piece of beach that appeared suddenly after the first of the town’s groynes were erected in 1834. The new beach area was small and close to the sea, so each shop could only have about eight or nine feet square to build on. But all boats had more nets than could be stored in such limited space, so the sheds had to grow upwards. Some have cellars. Many originally stood on posts to let the sea go underneath. Fishermen keep spare gear in the shops. One is a museum.

Two medieval Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 churches—All Saints and St Clement's—and the former Ebenezer Particular Baptist Chapel

Ebenezer Particular Baptist Chapel, Hastings

Ebenezer Particular Baptist Chapel is a former Strict Baptist place of worship in the town and borough of Hastings, one of six local government districts in the English county of East Sussex...

 of 1817 (now a house) are in the Old Town. St Clement's was used as a filming location

Filming location

A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...

 for the 2002 TV series Foyle's War. The former St Nicholas' Church, an unparished mission chapel built in 1854 to serve the fishermen, was converted into the Hastings Fishermen's Museum

Hastings Fishermen's Museum

Hastings Fishermen's Museum is a museum dedicated to the fishing industry and maritime history of Hastings, a seaside town in East Sussex, England. It is housed in a former church, officially known as St Nicholas' Church and locally as The Fishermen's Church, which served the town's fishing...

 in 1956.

Lifeboats

Hastings RNLI

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....

 lifeboat

Lifeboat (rescue)

A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

 station, based in the Old Town, was established in 1858. It currently operates a Mersey class offshore lifeboat, as well as a D class inshore rescue boat. The offshore boat is launched from a carriage which is driven into the sea, and the boat is towed back up the beach on its return, by a caterpillar-tracked tractor, waterproofed so that it can operate almost completely submerged.

External links

• Old Town Hall Museum
• Fishermen's Protection Society
• Fishermen's Museum
• Hastings Museums & Arts
• Nautical Heritage Association
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution
• Hastings Lifeboat
• Winkle Club
  Winkle Club
  The Winkle Club is an internationally famous charitable organization formed in 1900 by Hastings fishermen to help the under-privileged families of Hastings Old Town, in East Sussex, in the south of England....
  
  
• Winkle Island
  Winkle Island
  Winkle Island is at the heart of Hastings Old Town in East Sussex, England, in the United Kingdom. The island is part of a unique area in Hastings called 'The Stade' and the stretch of shingle beach from which Hastings' famous fishing fleet has been launched every day for over a thousand...