Tag Archives: Ballast Pit

The Crumbles Branch, Eastbourne

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The featured image for this article shows a typical branch train heading towards Eastbourne. It comprises a number of mineral wagons running empty after delivering coal to the Eastbourne Gas Works, © Public Domain. [38]

The Crumbles Branch (also known as the Ballast Line or Crumbles Railway) was a 3.5-mile standard-gauge industrial branch line constructed in 1862 that ran east from Eastbourne’s railway area out onto the remote shingle beach known as The Crumbles. [5][6][7][8]

The Crumbles Branch ran from Eastbourne Railway Station Northeast roughly parallel to the coast. It is shown in yellow as it was part of the wider network near Eastbourne. A short branch can be seen near Roselands which served the Destructor Works. The Gas Works with its associated sidings, is directly North of the ‘LA’ of Roselands. The Turquoise line runs through, what were until the 1960s, rifle ranges to the Northeast of Eastbourne. It appears on the Ordnance Survey undertaken at the end of the 19th century but not on later surveys, so should not be confused with an electric tramway which was a tourist attraction in the mid-20th century. It may be associated with the Hall & Co. Narrow-Gauge (2ft) Tramway. [24][31]
This image is a scan of the relevant page of a BR SR Route Mileage folder which gives some details of the Crumbles line at Eastbourne. The branch features at the centre of the image. This image was shared on the Disused Railways of Sussex Facebook Group by John Atkinson on 28th January 2021. [36]

The shingle bank/beach was 3⁄4-mile-wide (1.2 km) – shingle collected here was used as ballast for railway lines across the LB&SCR and the wider UK network. [2: plate 27]

This photograph was taken by Andrew Diack at the beginning of July 2025. Looking north-northeast from the Waterfront car park at Sovereign Harbour, the photo shows a fenced-off fragment of land in the form of a bank that is approximately 3⁄4-mile-wide (1.2 km) and is known as the Crumbles, © Andrew Diack and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [6]

Andrew Diack tells us that, “This distinctive area of coastal deposition lying adjacent to the sea underlies modern Sovereign Park and Princes Park and continues towards Sea Houses, near Eastbourne Pier. The irregular surface of ridges and hollows once contained pools of water in places, and a “Cromble Pond” of irregular form is shown on early maps, including John Speed’s map of Sussex of 1611 and Robert Marden’s map of Sussex of 1693, while the Ordnance Survey map of 1813 also shows “Crumble Pond”. In 1845, the Crumbles were partitioned between Lord Burlington, later the 7th Duke of Devonshire, and the Gilbert family; both families had a long association with the town as major landowners, benefactors and developers. The Gilberts and the Cavendish family, who as the Dukes of Devonshire were, in fact, connected by marriage through the Compton family, who were also landowners in Eastbourne and whose estate was managed from their residence at Compton Place, previously Bourne Place. The partition of the Crumbles was said to have been beneficial toward the development of the Seaside suburb to the east of Eastbourne. The railway came to Eastbourne in 1849, and with the expansion of railways so grew the demand for railway ballast and the need for gravel quarries to supply the stone. In 1857-62 the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) negotiated the purchase of not less than 48,000 cubic yards of shingle from the Duke of Devonshire at 1 penny per cubic yard, to be extracted from the Crumbles.” [6]

Andrew Diack writes: “Due to the buoyant demand for ballast, this was a period of expansion for the gravel pits that produced the product, but it was equally a time when the natural landscape of vegetated shingle ridges suffered greatly by being transformed into a scarred landscape where industrial machines created holes and gashes in the surface of the land. Over a period of a hundred years shingle was removed at the rate of around 250,000 tons per year for railway ballast and building material, and that resulted in the height of the land being reduced by 4 metres within 100 metres of the shore.” [6]

Additional branches were added to the line, including a siding built in 1870 for the Eastbourne Gas Company, which straddled the railway. The gasworks received coal via the rail connection and in return, produced coke, which was taken away. [2: plate 32][3]

“In 1926, a line was laid for the Eastbourne Corporation Electric Works, which transported coal and supplied fuel to the bus garage, as well as taking scrap metal from the refuse destructor works.” [2: plate 29][3][5]

In fact, “as Eastbourne expanded, the branch evolved into an industrial corridor. It served the town’s gasworks (delivering large volumes of coal), brickworks, timber yards, and destructor works.” [6]

Ballast trains ran until 1932, when the LB&SCR’s successor, the Southern Railway, switched to using granite.

Andrew Diack continues: “Although the gravel had a variety of uses, when railways changed to the use of granite chippings in 1930, the business went into terminal decline. (Broken granite chips interlock better than rounded pieces of flint, and they also provide good shock absorption and easier maintenance.) Shingle extraction gradually diminished, and by 1932, the railway was no longer used to transport shingle, though it continued to serve [some] other industrial sidings in addition to the gasworks.” [6]

“The branch ceased steam working in April 1960, after which diesel shunting locomotives took over [2: plate 28] until the line was closed in … 1967.” [2: plate 29][3][5]

Andrew Diack says that “The Crumbles railway continued to serve the gasworks until …  1967, but with gas production ceasing in June 1967, the track fell into disuse, and in the late 1980s it was removed at the time of the Eastbourne re-signalling project.” [6]

A short series of photographs follow below, all taken circa. 1962 by Dick Gilbert.

The line to the Crumbles remained in place until the early 1960s when these pictures were taken.
There is no trace of anything shown in these pictures in the 21st century (Dick Gilbert, around 1962), (CC BY 2.0). [4]
The line across the Crumbles (Dick Gilbert, around 1962), (CC BY 2.0). [4]
The location of this wooden building is what is now the eastern side of the roundabout where the A259 coast road meets Lottbridge Drove (A2290). It is no longer there, but was probably a house for the crossing gates controller as the line crossed the A259 here – the houses on the left are on that road and some are still recognisable. The trackbed out to the Crumbles is on the right (Dick Gilbert, around 1962), (CC BY 2.0). [4]
The redundant rails and sleepers removed from the branch line (Dick Gilbert, around 1962), (CC BY 2.0). [4]
Disused/redundant skip wagons (Dick Gilbert, around 1962), (CC BY 2.0). [4]

The remote shingle beach area of The Crumbles where the line terminated has since been redeveloped and is now home to Sovereign Harbour and retail developments. 

An exploration of this line can be found here on YouTube. [7]

Following the Line

A separate line ran alongside the main line out beyond the location of the Engine House. …

The Crumbles Branch ran beside and to the East of the main line a short stub line turned away to the East from the branch to serve a small yard. The branch continued under the bridge which provided a link between Upper Avenue and Cavendish Place. The 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1898, published in 1899. [8]
The same area as it appears on the modern ESRI satellite imagery provided by the National Library of Scotland. The bridge noted on the map extract above can be seen in the top-right of this image. The road is now named Upper Avenue. [9]
The short stub siding mentioned above is shown here on another extract from the same OS sheet. It passes under the link road and most probably already in place before that road was conceived. The site served by the sliding is marked ‘Smithy’ on a later Ordnance Survey map. [8]
The view South from Upper Avenue bridge towards Eastbourne Station. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Looking North from Upper Avenue bridge towards Whitley Road bridge. [Google Streetview, August 2026]
The next length of the line which covers the length between Upper Avenue bridge and that carrying Whitley Road. The 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1898, published in 1899. [10]
While Upper Avenue appears to be much the same width as on the map extracts, Whitley Road bridge has been significantly widened. [Google Maps, August 2026]
Looking South from Whitley Road bridge towards Upper Avenue bridge. [Google Streetview, August 2026]
Looking North from Whitley Road bridge. [Google Streetview, August 2026]
The line to the North of Whitley Road bridge. Another short branch from the Crumbles Branch serves as a private siding for a Timber Yard. The Crumbles Branch can be seen separating from the main line close to the Pumping Station. Another short siding can also be seen leaving the branch closed to the top of this map extract. This 25″ OS map extract of 1898, published 1899, spans two OS sheets. [10][11]
This extract from the 25″ OS map extract of 1898, published 1899 shows the sliding which appeared at the very top of the last map extract. It is not clear what the site was used for at the turn of 20th century. [11]

This small extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1938, published in 1947, shows a new building on the site, no rail connection, and the site is designated a Glass Works. Careful examination of the map extract shows that, although the sidings within the site and the building they served are now gone, the point on the Crumbles Branch remains. [12]

The Crumbles Branch diverged from the main line. 25″ OS map extract of 1898, published 1899. [11]
The line continued to turn northeastwards. [11]
Now heading Northeast, just at the top-right of this map extract a branch led away to the East. It served the Eastbourne Destructor Works and was in place for a period in the early- to mid-20th century. [11]
The Crumbles Branch begins to turn North, the branch to the Destructor Works does not appear on this next 25″map extract from 1898/99, nor does it appear on later 25″ surveys provided by the NLS. [11]
The 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1938, published in 1947 shows both the short siding/branch and the Destructor Works themselves which were sited to the Southeast of St. Philips Avenue. [12]

The branch serving the Destructor Works. [24]

A short aside is worthwhile here, to provide some information about the Destructor Works. …

The Eastbourne Destructor Works was a late 19th-century municipal waste incinerator and early energy-from-waste facility, producing electricity which was used locally in Eastbourne. Plants like this were built as towns grew and traditional waste disposal became difficult, the site burned household refuse in high-temperature furnaces to reduce volume, produce clinker, and generate steam for electricity. Coal was often required alongside the rubbish to keep the furnaces hot enough. [7][13][14]

By the 1950s and 1960s, shifting environmental standards, modern waste management approaches, led to the closure and demolition of the complex and the lifting of its rail link. [7][14]

The wider industrial footprint stretched across the area of modern-day St Philips Avenue and Bridges Close. The refuse handling section stood roughly where the current recycling site is on St Philips Avenue, while the core furnace operations and rail sidings were nearby towards Bridges Close. Only the recycling centre remains as a hint to the past use of the industrial site. The rest of the land has been redeveloped into housing estates and roads.

Simon Meader shared two photographs (photographer not known) which were taken before the nationalisation of the railways, both focus on the location of the level-crossing on St. Philip’s Avenue.

The level-crossing on St. Philip’s Avenue in the inter-war years of the 20th century. This image was shared on the Disused Railways of Sussex Facebook Group by Simon Meader in comments in 2024, © Public Domain. [15]

The level-crossing on St. Philip’s Avenue after bomb damage to the adjacent property in WW2. This image was shared on the Disused Railways of Sussex Facebook Group by Simon Meader in comments in 2024, © Public Domain. [15]

Looking West-northwest along the line of the old rail link, a short cul-de-sac called ‘The Sidings’ is seen here from St. Philip’s Avenue in August 2024. The waste amenity site is behind the camera to the right. [Google Maps, August 2024]

The Sidings runs West-southwest from St. Philip’s Avenue along the line of the old rail link.

The Sidings is bottom-left in this image, the civic amenity site is centre-right. [Google Maps, August 2026]
Looking along the rail link into the site of the Destructor Works from Roseland Avenue level-crossing. This image was shared by  Matthew Cox on the History of Sussex Facebook Group on 14th November 2025, © Public Domain. [17]
Approximately the same view from Roseland Avenue in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Turning through 180° from the view above, this image looks back along the line of the old railway towards St. Philip’s Avenue. The pedestrian gate is on the approximate line of the railway. [Google Streetview, August 2024]

More about the Destructor Works can be seen on Matthew Cox’s video below:

A video providing details of Eastbourne’s Destructor Works and associated rail link. [14]
The Crumbles Branch continues on towards Eastbourne Gas Works. The watercourse that it bridges twice on this extract is Horsey Sewer [11]
At a reduced scale this extract shows the line continuing Northeast. [11]
Now turning East the branch approached the gas works which straddled the line. [11]
The Crumbles Branch approaching the Gas Works, seen from the West in 1932, © Historic England (EPW039402). [22]
Eastbourne Gas Works as shown by the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1898, published in 1899. [11]

The same area in the 21st century, the locations of the two gasometers can still be seen alongside a later additional gasometer. [19]

The lines serving the Gas Works. [24]

Eastbourne Gas Works were rail-served by the Crumbles Branch. The three gasometers can be seen in this aerial view of the Works, © Historic England (EPW039401). [16]
A closer view of the gasworks, seen from the West in 1932, © Historic England (EPW039397). [20]
An even closer view of the gasworks, seen from the West in 1932, showing the Crumbles Branch running through the Works, © Historic England (EPW039397). [20]
The sidings on the West side of the Works, seen from the West in 1932, © Historic England (EPW039397). [20]
The sidings on the East side of the Works with a number of Southern Railway coal wagons in evidence, seen from the West in 1932, © Historic England (EPW039397). [20]
The Gas Works, seen from the South in 1932, © Historic England (EPW039398). [21]

The National Archive record for the Works states: “The Eastbourne Gas Company was formed by Deed of Settlement in 1857. The original area of supply was the town and parish of Eastbourne and the parish of Willingdon. The company was dissolved and reincorporated by Act of Parliament in 1868. A new works was built in Willingdon and the original one closed.”

Over the next eighty or so years The area served by the plant grew. At each stage of development an Act of Parliament either extended the area of supply or permitted the company to purchase other gas companies and their areas of supply until nationalisation took place in 1949 when the undertaking became part of the Sussex Divison of South Eastern Gas Board.

The Crumbles Branch left the Gas Works heading Southeast, (one of the Gasometers is on the left of this image), seen from the South in 1932, © Historic England (EPW039398). [21]
A passing loop was provided on the line, to the East of the Gas Works, after bridging a drainage channel the line crossed…. to the Southwest of Crumbles Bridge. [11]
Crumbles Bridge can be seen at the top-centre of this next map extract. The line continues in a generally East-northeast direction, crossing another drainage channel. [11]

The early gravel extraction/ballast workings were to be found at this location and this was for a time the end of the branch as shown on the 6″ Ordnance Survey below: …

In 1875/76 this 6″ Ordnance Survey, published in 1879 shows the gravel pits which were the end of the line at that time. Crumbles Bridge can be seen just to the North of centre-left of the extract. [25]

The level crossing and Crumbles Bridge. [25]

Crumbles Bridge was built between 1823 and 1827 to serve the local turnpike road network connecting Eastbourne and Hailsham. It crossed a low-lying drainage channel.  The bridge was reconstructed in 1969 as the local road infrastructure changed. The surrounding shingle and marsh landscape has since been heavily redeveloped into residential areas and the Sovereign Harbour marina.

The same area as shown on the map extract immediately above. The location of the level crossing is just to the Southwest of the roundabout. The drainage channel continues to follow its original course with the more modern bridge sitting at the same location as the old Crumbles Bridge. [37]

Looking Southwest along the line of the Crumbles Branch from the location of the old level-crossing on Seaside. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
Looking Northeast along the line of the Crumbles Branch from the location of the old level-crossing on Seaside. The line ran towards the poplar trees on the horizon. [Google Streetview, August 2024]
The same location as on the extract from the 1875/76 6″ Ordnance Survey as it appears on railmaponline.com. [24] The turquoise line which appears here may represent a part of a 2ft-gauge network of tramways owned by Hall & Co. Hall & Co. tramways were transient, moving with the area being worked for shingle. [31]

Hall & Co. 2ft-gauge tramway as it was in 1959, this extract is taken from the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey. [32]

The Crumbles Branch line was extended beyond that shown on the 1875/76 6″ Ordnance Survey above, to access further gravel reserves to the Northeast.

The line curve towards the Northeast and passed the end of a tramway which ran through the rifle ranges. [26]

The military association with the Crumbles began in the early 19th century with the construction of defensive Martello Towers to ward off Napoleonic invasion. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, this desolate, wide-open shingle plain was deemed the perfect location for a military live-firing range.

The main range featured firing points stretching up to 600 yards. Marksmen and local cadet groups (such as the Eastbourne College Cadet Corps) would lie on the dirt to fire live ammunition from .303 Lee-Enfield rifles at large targets. The targets were managed by soldiers or cadets stationed “in the butts”—a protected, sunken trench directly beneath the targets. Their dangerous job was to pull the massive frames up and down via ropes, patch up the bullet holes, and signal the scores back to the firing line.

A red warning flag was flown whenever firing was live, and any stray bullets flew harmlessly out over the English Channel. The ranges remained active through both World Wars for troop training and continued operating well into the 1960s. The range finally closed in the late 1960s, and the area was later completely reshaped to build the Sovereign Harbour marina complex.

The electric tramway of the mid-20th century is covered in a separate article which can be found here. [30]

The line continued out across the shingle bank. [26][27]
The line continued further Northeast. [27]

The end of the line in 1898/99. [27]

Railmaponline.com shows a somewhat greater extent of the various lines which served the shingle quarries/workings at this location. These extensions supported the workings until their closure in the 1930s. [24]

This is the extent of the line as it appears on the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1908, published in 1909. [28]
This is the extent of the line as it appears on the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1925. [29]
E2 Tank No. 100 at the Ballast Pit in the 1920s. This image was shared by Robert Ian on the Disused Railways of Sussex Facebook Group on 15th January 2025. [35]

We have noted in the narrative above the 2ft-gauge Hall & Co. Tramway which was horse and cable-worked. [31][32][34] There were other transient tramways laid on the Crumbles, these were associated with the local brickworks. Just inland of the open shingle beach (approaching St. Anthony’s Hill and the Langney boundary), the 1898 OS maps catch the footprint of Eastbourne’s late-Victorian building boom. Local clay pits and brickfields (such as those that eventually became the South Eastern Brick and Terra Cotta Works) utilized small, lightweight clay tramways to transfer raw materials from excavation pits to the kilns. [33]

References

  1. Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith; Brighton to Eastbourne; Middleton Press, 1985.
  2. Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith; Eastbourne to Hastings; Middleton Press, 1986.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coastway_line, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  4. https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryclaggers/43482880200/in/photostream, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  5. https://uktransport.fandom.com/wiki/East_Coastway_Line, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  6. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/8115913, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  7. https://youtu.be/HSSFptGzpPc?is=TGSPLGusqjEehdRd, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  8. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.6&lat=50.77259&lon=0.28579&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=100, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  9. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.6&lat=50.77259&lon=0.28579&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=0, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  10. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103675453, accessed on 29th August 2026.
  11. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103675420, accessed on 28th August 2026.
  12. https://maps.nls.uk/view/101436231, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/20/a3187820.shtml, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  14. https://youtu.be/9X0YFtsGYzM?is=yWKt8iiJQbE-rt-x, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  15. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18ZS5t6UBz, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  16. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/epw039401, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  17. https://m.facebook.com/groups/sussexhistory/permalink/25602800352636948, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  18. https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/submission-event/eastbourne-industry-and-commerce.html, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  19. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=50.78783&lon=0.30057&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=0, accessed on 30th August 2026.
  20. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW039397, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  21. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW039398, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  22. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW039402, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  23. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/e9fbbd39-8529-47dc-b58f-045c4d7fd34d, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  24. https://railmaponline.com, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  25. https://maps.nls.uk/view/102347779, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  26. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103675429, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  27. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103675393, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  28. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103675390, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  29. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103675387, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  31. The Hall & Co. Narrow-Gauge Tramway was, unlike the main LB&SCR railway branch that took deep shingle out for mainline railway ballast, a localized system dedicated to commercial shingle and gravel extraction. Track was moved dynamically over the years across the Crumbles to reach active digging pits. It was cable-worked and horse-drawn in its earliest iterations. It fed local concrete product works and smaller commercial loading docks rather than servicing the LB&SCR’s need for ballast. See also the OS Map @ reference [32]
  32. https://maps.nls.uk/view/95750294#zoom=4.6&lat=2718&lon=3174&layers=BT, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  33. https://plandocs.tandridge.gov.uk/my-requests/document-viewer?DocNo=25469297, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  34. https://deangoods.co.uk/eastsxng.html, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  35. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GfNXWhYgx, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  36. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GSkYoS75y, accessed on 31st August 2026.
  37. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.6&lat=50.78750&lon=0.30722&layers=168&b=ESRIWorld&o=0, accessed on 1st September 2026.
  38. This image is taken from a report written by C. Butler & C Russell; Desk-based Assessment for the Sovereign Harbour Cycle Network Phases 2 and 3, (Ringwood Road to St Anthony’s Hill Roundabout) Eastbourne, East Sussex (updated from the original Desk-based Assessment for Phase 2A); Chris Butler MIfA, Archaeological Services Ltd., 2012; via: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-969-1/dissemination/pdf/chrisbut1-398965_1.pdf, accessed on 1st September 2026.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Chris Butler and Dr Caroline Russell

Desk-based Assessment for the Sovereign Harbour Cycle Network Phases 2 and 3, (Ringwood Road to St Anthony’s Hill Roundabout) Eastbourne, East Sussex (updated from the original Desk-based Assessment for Phase 2A)

Chris Butler MIfA, Archaeological Services Ltd – Project No. CBAS0176 – October 2012

4.9.11 …The 1st Edition OS map of 1874 (Fig. 16) shows significant changes to have taken place to the landscape surrounding the Phase 2 cycleway route. Although the Horsey Sewer is shown within a field system that broadly reflects that seen on the early maps, a tramway now runs along its length. It crosses the sewer at three places, to run past the Eastbourne Gas Works and on to the Crumbles, with a single track branching off into the gasworks. To the immediate southeast is Horsey Farm, and then further southeast are ‘Rose Lands’ and a brickfields. [p15]

4.9.12 … The tramway served the beach gravel extraction on the Crumbles, and can be seen on the broader OS map to extend onto the beach before dividing into three separate branches; the gravel pits on the beach are recorded as MES7969-MES7971. In 1857-1862, the London Brighton and South East Railway negotiated with the Duke of Devonshire to purchase not less than 48,000 cubic yards of shingle from the Crumbles, at 1 penny per cubic yard. [48] They constructed a railway close to Eastbourne railway station, which ran through open countryside and along the Horsey Sewer, to turn south to cross the turnpike road (Seaside) near the junction with Lottbridge Drove. The railway was 6.4m wide and ran for 5.6km. It was known as the Ballast Line or the Crumbles Railway, and served the gasworks from 1870 onwards. In 1874, the Crumbles were also used for firing practice (firing ranges MES7961 and MES7962).

4.9.13 The Eastbourne Gas Company was formed in 1852, [49] and was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1868, [50] whilst the brickworks was in existence by 1866, and was operated by James Peerless, who leased the land from the Devonshire Estate in 1860. [51]

It continued to operate there until 1899. A smaller brickworks was located at Rose Lands, and was operated from 1860 to the 1880’s by the Eastbourne Brick Co. Ltd. [52]

4.9.14 In contrast, little change had taken place by 1875-1880 along the Phase 3 cycleway route (see Fig. 16 for the 1st Edition OS map). A footpath led through the short droveway, having come through the fields to the northwest. Further northeast along the Phase 3 route, two causeways, each in a different field, gave entry to the same field to the southeast. A drainage channel had been excavated beside the Crumble Sewer, to define a small rectangular plot, possibly a holding pen, directly outside the site boundary. At the north end of this new plot, a footbridge now provided access across the sewer and into the field to the northeast. From here, an adjacent causeway, rather than the previous central causeway, led southeast into the narrow field north of St. Anthony’s Hill. The only building nearby was ‘The Lodge’, a public house on the coast road, south of the hill.

4.9.15 The gasworks had expanded eastwards by the 2nd Edition OS map of 1899 (Fig. 17); ESRO holds a plan of the land intended to be acquired for this expansion, which was drawn in 1879 by H.E. Jones, the Engineer for Eastbourne Gas. [53] The main brickworks had migrated northeast, with allotment gardens having been established along the northern edge of the earlier workings. Rose Lands was a nursery by this time, with a refuse destructor works and air compressing station located on its north side. [p16]

4.9.16 The tramway now had additional sidings serving the gasworks. It continued onto the Crumbles, where it ran to the east, while a branch turned southwest before returning westwards to Seaside on an existing earthwork (MES7968) shown on the 1st Edition OS map. Housing development had expanded northeast along the southeast side of Seaside. The tramway also later served the refuse destructor works and air compressing station, the brickworks and a timber yard.

4.9.17 The Phase 3 cycleway route remained unaltered between 1875-1880 and 1899 (see Fig. 17 for the 2nd Edition OS map). The footbridge had gone. The possible animal pen on St Anthony’s Hill now looks to have been defined by a fence line rather than by ditches, and a second larger such enclosure had been erected in the same former field, on the south side of the hill.

4.9.18 The Martello Towers (MES512 and MES513 / MES7994) on this stretch of coastline all disappeared in the late 19th or early 20th century. Tower 71 was demolished after having been used as target practice for the testing of the new rifled Armstrong Guns in 1860. [54]

Tower 72 had been washed away by the sea sometime prior to 1872, [55] as had West Langney Fort. Tower 70 had likewise been undermined by the sea and was abandoned in 1872 along with Tower 69. Tower 67 was demolished in 1922, whilst Tower 68 was knocked down in c.1925 to make way for residential development (however, see para. 4.9.28).

4.9.19 The 3rd Edition OS map of 1909 (Fig. 18) shows little change to the immediate area around the Phase 2 site, although there had been further housing development along Seaside. A long narrow plot of land was now fenced off along one side of a field, to form a passageway presumably for the movement of livestock between two fields, including the narrow field to the east in which the cycleway runs through. The Martello Tower on St. Anthony’s Hill (MES513 / MES7994) is marked on the map, along with its moat and footbridge; its absence from the 1st or 2nd Edition OS map is somewhat odd, although military installations were often omitted from OS maps for security purposes.

4.9.20 During the First World War, a temporary tented camp was set up at Horsey Bank, in the area of the junction of Churchdale Road and Astaire Avenue. [56] The allotment gardens shown on the 2nd and 3rd Edition OS maps (Figs. 17 and 18) were put to good use during these years, although it is recorded that the Eastbourne Gas Company refused a request to plough up land for allotments, but a compulsion order overturned this. [57] [p17]

4.9.21 From December 1911, Eastbourne Aviation Company Ltd had their manufacturing aerodrome (MES7491) at a site directly to the north of Lottbridge Drove. [58]

From about this time, this site also became the school aerodrome for the Eastbourne Aviation School and the Fowler Flying School. A map of the airfield [59] (Fig. 20) shows the middle stretch of the Phase 3 cycleway route to have been located within Fowler’s original 50 acre airfield.

4.9.22 In August 1914, the hangars and buildings of the aerodrome were taken over by the Royal Navy Air Service. [60] The aerodrome at St. Anthony’s was a RNAS flying school from April 1915 to April 1918, when it became a training depot station for the RAF until 1919. In November 1918, the RAF airfield comprised 242 acres, having predominantly expanded northwest across the Levels (Fig. 20). Almost the full route of the Phase 3 cycleway now stood within the airfield, except for the last stretch through the two fields at the northeast end. With the exception of one area, the buildings, which included a large hangar (MES7990) and the engine sheds, were built around the Martello Tower (MES513 / MES7994) and therefore outside the site boundary. The 15 Bessoneaux hangars were erected in three rows, with two rows having stood opposite each other to the northwest of what is now Birch Road, and the third row having stood along the south side of what is now Leeds Avenue, directly south of St. Anthony’s Hill. During the Phase 2A watching brief an identity disc was found. It is engraved R.N.A.S. / TURNER / ERNEST / EDWARD / A M / F364/ CCE. Ernest Edward Turner is recorded as having been born in 1894 in Bangalore, India, and entered the RNAS in 1914; [61] it is presumed that he served at St Anthony’s.

4.9.23 The aerodrome was licensed for civilian use again in April 1920 [62] and finally closed in 1925. The only remaining structure of the aerodrome is a guardroom (MES7991) from the RNAS phase of use, which is now a bungalow on Leeds Avenue. The large hangar (MES7990) stood extant nearby until the storm in 1987; its foundations are still visible today.

4.9.24 A site on the Crumbles, in the region of the present day Sovereign Centre, was used by the Eastbourne Aviation Company as a seaplane factory, and also for the refuelling and servicing of patrolling seaplanes. [63] The hangars on the Crumbles were converted to an aircraft factory, and during the war the Eastbourne Aviation Company built a total of 252 aircraft. [p18]

4.9.25 By the 4th Edition OS map of 1928 (Fig. 19), the tramway has developed to include a branch line to the refuse destructor works and air compressing station, and additional sidings at the gasworks. The return route of the tramway to Seaside from the Crumbles had been dismantled by this time. Some ‘tanks’ are shown adjacent to the Horsey Sewer, north of the gasworks and alongside a footbridge. Major housing development had taken place to the southeast of the Phase 2 cycleway route, along the northwest side of Seaside. Eastbourne Corporation had a licence to place a footbridge over the Horsey Sewer in 1926, [64] and had an agreement for works in the Horsey Sewer in 1937. [65]

4.9.26 The decline of the tramway began in 1920 when the ballast used on the railways changed to granite chippings and there was no further requirement for the shingle. 

Shingle continued to be taken to the Duke of Devonshire’s depots at Eastbourne Station to be used for building purposes until 1931. [66] The shingle beds at the Crumbles were leased to Hall and Co. [67] who then began to use lorries to move the shingle, stopping rail movements completely in 1932. The tramway continued to serve the gasworks and other industrial sidings, taking thousands of tons of coal to the gasworks (Fig. 21). [68]

4.9.27 The land around the Phase 3 cycleway route looked little different in 1925-1930 from what it had done in 1910 (see Fig. 20 and the 4th Edition OS map of Fig. 19 for a comparison), revealing how easily the land had reverted to pasture after its use as an airfield. A number of buildings from the aerodrome still stood, including the engine sheds as well as the guardroom (MES7991) and large hangar (MES7990). A sluice is shown across the Crumble Sewer, south of the former hangar. A crossing across the sewer was now sited where the footbridge once was; it is the location of a bridge today, although it was not identified as such on this OS map. The crossing led into a small enclosure, once part of a larger enclosure, which linked up with the field to the east.

4.9.28 Residential housing had been built on the east side of St. Anthony’s Hill, and below it along Seaside. Both the inner and outer circular roads of The Circus and Rotunda Road had been laid out around the hill, although neither was specifically named as such at this time. The Circus was built around the in-filled moat of Tower 68, [69] whilst Rotunda Road may have traced the boundary of land first purchased by the government in 1795. The single building at the centre of the housing development, within The Circus, may incorporate the base of the Martello Tower (MES513 / MES7994) in its cellar. [70] Allotment gardens had been planted directly south of St. Anthony’s Hill and beside the Phase 3 cycleway route on Lottbridge Drove. [p19]

4.9.29 During the Second World War the coastline was put into a state of defence with anti-tank cubes, walls and ditches (e.g. MES7997), minefields (e.g. MES8007) andscaffolding located on the beach, and other defences such as pillboxes positioned to the rear (e.g. MES7999, MES8017 and MES8018). [71] Unexploded bombs fell in allotments near Lottbridge Drove on 14th September 1940, while the gasworks was attacked on the 19th October, setting alight the Number Three gasholder. [72] On 12th March 1941, eight bombs were dropped to the south of the Phase 2 site around Churchdale and Southbourne Roads, and on the following night bombs were dropped to the north of the gasworks. On the 26th August 1942, a German FW190 fighter-bomber was shot down and crashed into a ditch beside Lottbridge Drove. Further bombs were dropped on open ground near the gasworks as well as on the Crumbles on 6th June 1943. On considering its location in the Levels, further out of town, no bombs are known to have fallen in the area of the Phase 3 cycleway route. [73]

4.9.30 A 1947 aerial photograph (Fig. 22) shows residential development to have extended almost as far north as the Horsey Sewer. By the early 1960’s (modern OS maps are not reproduced), the housing developments had reached the southern edge of the sewer, and the tramway is still shown. In the locality of the Phase 3 cycleway route, further residential development had occurred on and around St. Anthony’s Hill, and hadexpanded out onto the Crumbles along Wallis Road and around the adjacent crescent.

Between 1947 and 1961, the Horsey Sewer was straightened to the north of the gasworks, cutting off the former droveway onto Lottbridge Drove. Three new causeways had been constructed along the course of the Phase 3 cycleway.

4.9.31 The tramway had gone by the time of the 1975 OS map, as it had finally closed in 1966. [74] The 1975 map also shows the commercial developments at the southeast end of Lottbridge Drove. One or two buildings appear to have stood at the northeast end of the Phase 3 cycleway route, facing onto the road north of the roundabout, which had been built by then; these buildings were demolished by 1992. The commercial developments had extended beyond the Horsey Sewer, along both sides of Lottbridge Drove by the 1981 OS map. This map also shows new housing developments along the north side of the Horsey Sewer. [p20]

Relevant References

48. Botha, A. 2006. The Crumbles Story. Eastbourne: ALB Books

49. Wright, J.C. 1902. Bygone Eastbourne. Spottiswood and Co. Ltd.

50. ESRO amsh/AMS5616/2/70

51. Beswick, M. 2001. Brickmaking in Sussex. Middleton Press.

52. Ibid.

53. ESRO QDP/448

54. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=1669.0;prev_next=next#new

55. http://www.martello-towers.co.uk/south-coast/towers

56. Elliston, R.A. 1999. Eastbourne’s Great War 1914-1918. Seaford: S.B. Publications.

57. Ibid.

58. CCI Gazetteer of Flying Sites

59. McMahon, L. And Partridge, M. 2000. A History of the Eastbourne Aviation Company 1911-1924. Eastbourne Local History Society.

60. CCI Gazetteer of Flying Sites

61. National Archives ADM 188/1175

62. Ibid.

63. McMahon, L. And Partridge, M. 2000. A History of the Eastbourne Aviation Company 1911-1924. Eastbourne Local History Society.

64. ESRO SRA7/15/33

65. ESRO SRA4/6/16

66. Botha, A. 2006. The Crumbles Story. Eastbourne: ALB Books.

67. http://www.cambrianmodels.co.uk/eastsxng.html (Gazetteer of Narrow Gauge Railways in East Sussex)

68. Botha, A. 2006. The Crumbles Story. Eastbourne: ALB Books.

69. Butler, C. 2007. East Sussex Under Attack. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

70. Ibid.

71. Butler, C. 2007. East Sussex Under Attack. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

72. Humphrey, G. 1998. Eastbourne at War. Seaford: S.B. Publications.

73. Ibid.

74. Botha, A. 2006. The Crumbles Story. Eastbourne: ALB Books.

Relevant Images (p50 – 56)