St Clement’s, Hastings Old Town. Image from https://oldtownparishhastings.org.uk, image uncredited.
It was Mayday and I wanted to be outside watching people dancing for all they were worth on the West Cliff at Hastings. The seaside town holds a lot of memories for me as my maternal grandmother had a cottage down there and we would have family holidays there when I was a child.
Hastings has changed a lot since then. It’s still a fishing town and the catch is still sold on the beach, fresh off the boats. But like a lot of coastal towns it became very run down when people started to prefer foreign holidays to traditional bucket and spade ones.
On Mayday, two lifestyles collide. There’s the 25,000 bikers on the seafront, parading up and down, and the Mayday revellers and Morris dancing up on the West Cliff. 20 years ago when I first came across it, it was held in the Castle but it then became too large for it and so the West Cliff is now its home. As you can imagine Hasting is absolutely packed until roughly 4pm. The queue for the funicular lift up to the top of the West Cliff was even longer than usual and so I started to explore the picturesque Old Town. St Clement’s attracted me as I thought I could explore the church.
It’s an ancient church and there may have been one on this site since 1080. It was rebuilt in 1380 and is the civic church of Hastings. The other local church is All Saints and together they form the old town parish of Hastings. A bomb dropped on St Clement’s and a nearby pub during the Second World War which inspired an episode of the TV series ‘Foyle’s War.’ It blew out two of St Clement’s windows.
But there is also an artistic connection in that Dante Gabriel Rossetti married Elizabeth Siddal here in 1860 and his sister, Christina, is believed to have worshipped at St Clement’s whenever she visited. But alas, the church was closed on my visit and the churchyard was full of people enjoying themselves sitting on tombs and the church steps.
A profusion of wild garlic in the pocket sized churchyard. ©Carole Tyrrell
So I wandered on and then smelled something pungent on the breeze. ‘Wild garlic.’ I thought and so I followed it. The pungent aroma led me to behind St Clement’s church and on the other side of a picturesque alleyway I discovered a tiny, pocket sized churchyard tucked into a corner. There was hardly anyone about as they were all wending their way up to the Mayday celebrations and it was so peaceful. This is part of the closed St Clement’s churchyard.
Bluebells in profusion contrasting with the white flowers of wild garlic. ©Carole Tyrrell
The only headstone that was slightly readable is on the left hand side. ©Carole Tyrrell
Close up of almost readable headstone. ©Carle Tyrrell
The steps in the churchyard through the lush plants. ©Carole Tyrrell
This could be a very rough hourglass. ©Carole Tyrrell
The churchyard with St Clements behind it. ©Carole Tyrrell
The alley between the churchyard and the church. ©Carole Tyrrell
The intoxicating smell of wild garlic was coming from the bountiful flowers inside the churchyard and I was tempted to take a couple of sprigs home with me. The white flowers contrasted with the abundant alkanet and blubells and headstones poked up from the mass of flowers. One or two were faintly legible and I thought I could see a symbol on one but most were now weathered and illegible. I moved further down the alleyway and found that the churchyard gate was padlocked but there was a wooden bench inside and I thought ‘What a quiet, calm place in which to spend a lunch hour.’
Turning away from the small oasis of calm, I braced myself for the walk up the West Hill and told myself not to look down while climbing.
©Text and photos Carole Tyrrell unless otherwise stated.
References and further reading
St Clement – Hastings Old Town Parish (oldtownparishhastings.org.uk)
shadows fly away 