heritageeastbourne

Holes to rival Parson Darby’s?

~Tales from The Beachy Head Story~ Posted by: Annalie Looking into the validity of Parson Darby’s Hole and all the legends that surround it gives us an interesting view of the landscape. We’re uncovering not just one ghost-of-a-cave, but many ghostly caves. One of the newspaper articles that has us intrigued was printed all aroundContinue reading “Holes to rival Parson Darby’s?”

Parson Darby and the Legend of a Landscape

~Tales from the Beachy Head Story~Posted by: Annalie A Land of Extremes The Beachy Head Downland landscape is one of extremes, of terror and danger at the knife edge of the ocean, on a sunny day this is a pleasant place for a gentle stroll over undulating hills, on a windy day, this is aContinue reading “Parson Darby and the Legend of a Landscape”

Revealing a refugee’s story

Kasey This post was originally written in 2016 At Heritage Eastbourne we all have a passion for discovering and sharing stories about Eastbourne’s past. It’s really exciting to come across objects that illumine human experiences at different times in history. One in particular moved us greatly last week. We spend some of our time going through boxesContinue reading “Revealing a refugee’s story”

Butts Brow Excavation … A few weeks later

Jo Seaman Writing this post a few weeks after we finished our Community Excavation at Butts Brow has given me time to reflect on 3 weeks of fieldwork at a site of National importance on the Downs above Eastbourne (or more correctly Willingdon…or Ratton…or Jevington depending on where you are.) The project was, like everythingContinue reading “Butts Brow Excavation … A few weeks later”

From Sussex to Passchendaele and back again

Kelly van Doorn “A plate of porridge, 2 cups of tea, bacon, bread, butter… cup of cocoa, steak and chips… Roast beef, roast potatoes, cabbage, carrots, cup of tea… 2 [more] cups of tea, bread, butter, pancakes or jam tart… cold beef… cup of cocoa”. This is what Private Frederick Unsted of the Royal SussexContinue reading “From Sussex to Passchendaele and back again”

Wobbly Ditches and Splodgy Banks

The next season of excavation at Butts Brow starts on Monday 13th July until 2nd August. The excavation will be socially distanced but visitors are welcome to pop by and find out about the latest discoveries. We will be posting regular updates and live streaming from the site to our social media channels. We willContinue reading “Wobbly Ditches and Splodgy Banks”

Introducing Heritage Eastbourne’s Archaeology Collection

Kelly van Doorn In the past Heritage Eastbourne’s archaeology collection was underused, which is strange given the size of it! We have objects and archives from the St Anne’s Anglo-Saxon cemetery, Eastbourne Urban Medieval Excavation Project (EUMEP), Bullock Down, Beachy Head, Combe Hill, Summerdown, Motcombe… and the list goes on. Archaeology is a valuable resourceContinue reading “Introducing Heritage Eastbourne’s Archaeology Collection”

The story that begins with a nut

Kelly van Doorn A large part of my job as Collections Officer is reconciling objects with object identification numbers. Early documentation was not up to modern standards and descriptions of objects are sometimes lacking, staff of the 1980s, I’m looking at you! Reconciliation involves me going back through all of the accession registers, object entryContinue reading “The story that begins with a nut”

The Downs Ranger

Lizzie Williams Jumbo, Princess Pat, Mark and Tommy are all names that visitors to Eastbourne may have been familiar with over the years, especially if they visited Beachy Head. These were all names of horses that belonged to the Downs Ranger. The Downs Ranger was a position within Eastbourne Police, whose job it was toContinue reading “The Downs Ranger”

150 years of Eastbourne Pier

Katherine Buckland 13th June 2020, marks 150 years since the official opening of Eastbourne Pier. This blog post explores the beginning of Eastbourne Pier’s story and includes some great photos! The first rumblings of an idea for a Pier in Eastbourne started in 1863; it wasn’t popular at first due to a misunderstanding that itContinue reading “150 years of Eastbourne Pier”