strates that the edifice, or at least the greater part of it, was rebuilt in the time of the later Henries, when architecture had laid aside the Saxon heaviness, and assumed a lighter and more embellished form. The remains occupy nearly three sides of a large square; the fourth having probably been taken down to admit a view of the country, when the middle side was converted into a modern habitation. The grand entrance, a large square building, embattled at the top with a handsome octagon tower at each corner, faces the town, and is a very rich and elegant piece of Gothic architecture: the front is adorned with a series of arches and neat pilasters. This gate-way, which, with the adjoining buildings, is affirmed by Buck to have been part of the original structure, cannot, as Bishop Lyttelton observes, be older than the time of Henry VI.* Here were formerly held the sessions, and other meetings for transacting the business of the town; but so little attention was paid to keep the building in repair, that the roof has fallen in, and rendered it unfit for the purpose. The side of the square opposite to the gate-way consists only of two long, low, parallel walls, which formerly supported a row of chambers, and terminated in two elegant turrets, once forming part of another gate. The remaining side of the quadrangle, which is converted into a dwelling-house, has suffered the greatest depredations. Here stood the abbey-church, though the ground-plot cannot now be traced. It was doubtless a very beautiful piece of architecture. The only vestiges of it are nine elegant arches, which seemed to have belonged to the inside of a cloister: they are now filled up, and appear on the outside of the house. Here, as Gilpin feelingly observes, "all is transposition; and the imagination is left to conceive the beautiful effect which a Gothic tower, and the remains of broken aisles and cloisters, would have had in the room of a patched and awkward habitation."† Contiguous to the great church are the ruins of • Church Notes, in manuscript, in the Library of the Antiquarian Society. ↑ Observations on the Coasts of Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent, p. 53. of a hall, probably the refectory of the monks, which affords nothing interesting; but there is another building of the kind, a little detached from the abbey, which is eminently beautiful, though its dimensions, 166 feet by 35, are not quite proportioned. It has twelve windows on one side, and six on the other. The original purpose of this superb room, now used as a barn, seems to have been to entertain the whole country when the monks gave a general feast to their tenants. Uuder the hall, which is raised by a flight of steps, are crypts of free-stone, divided by elegant pillars and springing arches, which form a curious vaulted building, now converted into a stable. This is evidently the most ancient part of the present remains of the abbey: the whole is in a good style of Gothic, probably of the age of King Stephen, or Henry II. with the exception of a ponderous roof, which is a modern acquisition. The town of Battle certainly owed its origin to the foundation of the abbey. It consists of one street, running from north-west to south-east; and, in 1001, comprehended, with the parish, 291 houses, and 2040 inhabitants. Henry I. granted to the town a charter for a weekly market, which continued to be held on Sunday till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was removed to Thursday. In the neighbourhood of the place are several mills for the manufacture of gunpowder, belonging to Mr. Harvey. Their produce has long been celebrated for its excellence, and is surpassed by that made at Dartford alone. Besides the abbey, the only object in this town worthy of notice is the church, the incumbent of which is styled dean of Battle. It is a very handsome edifice, consisting of a nave, chancel, two aisles, and a substantial tower. The windows of the north aisle are adorned with numerous figures, portraits, and devices, in painted glass, In a recess in the north wall of the chancel is a noble altarmonument to the memory of Sir Anthony Browne, standardbearer to Henry VIII. which is a very early specimen of that mixed style of architecture which succeeded, and, by degrees, i totally supplanted the Gothic. He is represented lying on his back, in armour, and adorned with the insignia of the garter. Beside him is the effigies of his lady, in the habit of the times. This church also contains several curious brasses, and other sepulchral memorials of considerable antiquity. HASTINGS, the capital of this rape, to which it gives name, is situated in a valley that forms a beautiful amphitheatre, sloping to the sea oun the south, and bounded on the east and west by lofty hills. It principally consists of two parallel streets, High-Street, and Fish-Street, running north and south, and separated by a small stream called the Bourne, which discharges itself into the sea. The town is divided into three parishes, which, in 1801, contained 542 houses, and 2952 inhabitants. With the subsequent accession to the population it must now be more than double the amount in 1730, when it was stated by Dr. Frewen at 1636 persons: a circumstance which affords no unfair standard for estimating the increased prosperity of the place since that period. It has two weekly markets on Wednesday and Saturday; and fairs on 26th July, and 23d and 24th October. Respecting the origin of Hastings nothing is known with certainty. According to the author of the Saxon Chronicle, it derived its name from a Danish pirate, who erected a small fortress here, as he was accustomed to do wherever he landed for plunder. In the reign of Athelstan, A. D. 924, it was a town of sufficient importance to have a mint. It held the first place among the original cinque-ports; and, with its dependent inembers, was bound, on receiving a legal summons or notice of forty days, to provide twenty-one ships properly equipped for war, each manned with twenty-one able seamen. In consequence of this obligation Hastings, in common with the other cinque-ports, possessed, and still enjoys, certain privileges and immunities, as related in a former part of this work,* Hastings • For a general account of the Cinque-ports, see Beauties, Vol. VIIL. p. 1010-1016. |