Eastbourne is a medium-sized town in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, with a population, according to the 2001 Census, of around 90,000. Created almost from scratch during the 19th Century, it soon became a prime seaside resort, but has since suffered from the general trend away from taking holidays within the UK. Geographically, Eastbourne is situated at the eastern end of the South Downs, and boasts the famous Beachy Head cliff, as well as extensive beaches.

Trains leave from London Victoria to Eastbourne with a journey time of around 1hr 30mins. Local rail services also serve Brighton to the west and Hastings and Ashford, Kent to the east.

[edit] History

The area around Eastbourne is known to have been settled throughout history - artefacts dating to the Stone Age have been found in the surrounding countryside, and there are both Roman and Anglo-Saxon sites within the modern boundaries of the town; some even speculate that it was a major Roman settlement. 'Eastbourne' was granted the right to hold a market in 1315, three years after a comparable grant at Brighton. However, it remained an area of small rural settlements until the 19th Century, with 4 villages or hamlets occupying the site of the modern town: Bourne (or, to distinguish it from others of the same name, East Bourne), surrounded the "bourne" (stream) which rises in what is now Motcombe Park, and is now known as Old Town; Meads, where the Downs meet the coast; South Bourne; and the fishing settlement known simply as Sea Houses.

Arguably Eastbourne's earliest claim as a seaside resort is a summer holiday visit by 4 of King George III's children in 1780, but it was several decades before it saw serious development. By the mid-19th Century most of the area had fallen into the hands of two landowners: John Davies Gilbert (the Davies-Gilbert family still own much of the land in Eastbourne and East Dean) and William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington. Encouraged by the growing appreciation of the seaside sparked by Richard Russell's assertion of its medicinal benefits some decades earlier, these were to oversee the creation of "the empress of watering places". An early plan, for a town named "Burlington", was abandoned, but in 1849 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway arrived, and the town's growth accelerated. Cavendish, now the 7th Duke of Devonshire hired Henry Currey in 1859 to lay out a plan for what was essentially an entire new town — a resort built "for gentlemen by gentlemen". The town grew rapidly — from a population of less than 4000 in 1851 to over 22000 by 1881 — and in 1883 was incorporated as a "municipal borough"; a purpose-built town hall was opened in 1886.

By the edwardian era, Eastbourne had become an extremely wealthy town,very few towns could match eastbournes wealth including Londons westend. many of the towns historical buildings were built during the edwardian era the turn of the century.

Image:Eastbournepier.jpg

This period of growth and elegant development continued for several decades, but World War II saw a change in fortunes: initially, children were evacuated to Eastbourne on the assumption that they would be safe from German bombs, but soon they had to be evacuated again. Pilots wishing to off-load unused munitions before crossing the channel found such coastal towns useful targets, and many original Victorian buildings were damaged or destroyed.

After the war, development continued, including the growth of Old Town up the hillside and the housing estates of Hampden Park (above the park itself, named after Viscount Hampden, whose grandson sold the land to the council), Willingdon Trees and Langney. Throughout the 20th Century, there were controversies over the loss of historic landmarks or natural features, and over particular buildings, such as the glass-plated TGWU headquarters on the sea-front, and the 22-storey "South Cliff Tower". In 1981, a large section of the town centre was replaced by the indoor shops of the Arndale Centre. Most of the expansion took place on the northern and eastern margins of the town, gradually swallowing surrounding villages, as the richer western part was constrained by the Downs and remained largely unchanged.

In the 1990s, however, both growth and controversy accelerated rapidly as a new plan was launched to develop the area known as the "Crumbles", a shingle bank on the coast to the east of the town centre. This area, now known as the "Sovereign Harbour" and containing a marina, shops, and several thousand houses, along with luxury flats and apartments, was formerly home to many rare plants. Together with continued growth in other parts of the town, and the taming of the central marshland known as the "levels" into farmland and nature reserves, this has turned Eastbourne into the centre of a conurbation, with the appearance from above of a hollow ring. The next development currently being debated is the effective demolition of much of the town centre, to be replaced by a modern shopping centre, and the adaptation of several existing roads to form an inner ring road.

[edit] Reputation

The town promotes itself as "The Sunshine Coast", and often claims the highest recorded hours of sunlight, producing a rivalry with the larger coastal resorts of Bournemouth and Weymouth. To many people, however, Eastbourne is more readily associated with the elderly, as it has historically been a popular retirement destination, and it is often referred to in age-related jokes. The 2001 census showed that it still has a larger than average over-60 population[1] (just over a quarter of the population are of retirement age as opposed to the UK average of 18.4%) Recent major housing developments have been aimed mainly at young families, and the provision of adequate schooling has become a key local issue.

The seafront at Eastbourne is distinctive in having few shop fronts opening onto it, the road being almost entirely populated by Victorian hotels. This is because much of Eastbourne has traditionally belonged to the Duke of Devonshire, who retains the rights to these buildings and does not allow them to be developed into shops. Along with its pier and bandstand, this serves to preserve the front in a somewhat timeless manner. Eastbourne has several remaining Martello Towers and a fort, known as The Redoubt, from the same era. This latter was built as a barracks and storage depot, and armed with 11 cannons, and is now the largest military museum in the south east.

One feature that has always been heavily promoted is Eastbourne's floral displays, most notably the "Carpet Gardens" along the coastal road near the pier. These displays, and the town as a whole, frequently win awards — such as the 'Large Coastal Resort' category in the 2003 Britain in Bloom competition.

Beachy Head cliff, to the west of the town, is an infamous suicide spot.

[edit] People

The population of Eastbourne at the 2001 census was 92,100, and the town is growing fast. Ethnically, the town is 96.6% white, with small minority groups including Latino, Chinese, Thai and Korean; white minority groups include Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Greek (mainly from Cyprus), Spanish, Portuguese, Venezuelan, Polish and Estonian.

Chinese form the largest minority group, and have been in the town for the last 4 decades. Chinese restaurants and takeaways are a common sight; in many parts of the town one only needs to walk a few paces to find an oriental restaurant. The second largest minority in Eastbourne are the Greeks, a significant community of whom can be found around the Susans Road area, which consequently has many Greek restaurants, kebab houses and a Greek orthodox church. Many of the town's fish and chip shops are Greek owned.

[edit] Districts

Within Eastbourne's limits are:

Langney District: Langney Rise, Shinewater, Kingsmere, Langney Village, The Marina, Langney Point.
Hampden Park district: Hampden Park village, Willingdon trees, Winkney farm, Ratton.
Inner districts: Rodmill, Ocklynge, Seaside, Bridgemere, Downside.
Town districts: Town centre, Little Chelsea, The Meads, Holywell, Old Town.
Sovereign Harbour: North Harbour, South Harbour.

Eastbourne's greater area comprises the town of Polegate, and the civil parishes of Willingdon and Jevington, Stone Cross, Pevensey, Westham, and Pevensey Bay village. All are part of the Wealden District.

[edit] Transport

The most common form of transport throughout the town is the car, and consequently Eastbourne has more cars than the average town, made even higher by the number of tourists and commuters traveling in and out.^{[citation needed]}

Many of the town's major roads and dual carriageways can be very busy at times, while the buses and trains are usually half empty. Consequently, many measures are being taken to encourage the use of public transport, which has produced a slow increase of passengers on the trains and buses.

Taxis are the second favourite form of transport, many of the town's taxis are luxury cars; many cab firms are located in town and the surrounding area. Hire cars are the most common. Some firms offer a special airport shuttle service to Gatwick airport and Heathrow.

Buses are of good standard and offer journeys to all parts of the town and surrounding areas. A daily sevice runs to Brighton, battle, Hailsham, Hastings and Tunbridge wells several times a day. Southern Stagecoach operates a service to Folkstone via Hastings. Many of the surrounding areas operate bus services in to town. The Cuckmere bus, Hastings buses, Brighton buses and even Maidstone and Distict buses travel to the town. The newest service is run by Pevensy and Westham District in partnership with Eastbourne buses.

Eastbourne buses was the first modern "motorbus" sevice to operate in the world, starting in 1903, and this long history is a source of pride for the company, which is part-owned by the Borough Council.

A regular National Express coach service operates daily from London Victoria.

Train Eastbourne's original station was opened in 1849, when the railways first reached Sussex, but the present building dates from 1866. Regular services are to London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, Ashford and a commuter service to Brighton.

Tours the city sightseeing runs regular trips around Eastbourne and Beachy Head in open top buses. Eastbourne buses operate tour services throughout the Southeast, London and even France.

[edit] Economy

Eastbourne has never been a heavily industrial town, and its main source of employment and income remains tourism, along with the influx of language students during the summer. There are, however, several large industrial estates on the outskirts of the town, particularly in the Hampden Park area; these include tyre making, wholesale, manufacturing, and catering businesses. For many years, the largest employer in the town was Birds Eye, but that factory was relocated, and today wholesaler Gardners Books can probably claim that position.

[edit] Sports

Eastbourne is home to three senior football clubs all bearing the town's name - Eastbourne Town F.C., Eastbourne Borough F.C. and Eastbourne United F.C.. The biggest of the three is Eastbourne Borough F.C.. They were formerly known as Langney Sports F.C. but renamed themselves in 2001 to better reflect the town of Eastbourne. They now play in the Conference South League.

Eastbourne Town F.C. (http://www.eastbournetownfc.com) and Eastbourne United Association play in the Sussex County League Division 1. Eastbourne Town F.C play at the 'Saffrons' in central Eastbourne at one of the most pleasant county grounds. The Saffrons also hosts Eastbourne Cricket Club and Eastbourne Hockey Club. Eastbourne Town F.C. have recently obtained an FA grant for ground improvements including new seating and new 'dugouts'. The pitch is also being constantly improved and is now in excellent condition.

Eastbourne boasts plenty of under-18s football clubs such as Eastbourne Town F.C. (Youth Under 18's) and Eastbourne Town Old Boys (6-16 years of age). Eastbourne United and Eastbourne Borough also have youth teams. The clubs rival each other and other away teams at league games all year round. All clubs also have Ladies XI's that are well supported.

There are also many other Adult teams in Eastbourne, including Willingdon Athletic, Eastbourne WMC and Eastbourne Dynamos F.C..

The Eastbourne Eagles are the proud speedway club located at Arlington Stadium, just outside the town. They compete in the Elite League, the highest level of speedway in England.

Eastbourne is a golf friendly place to live, with 3 golf clubs, a golfing park and 2 adventure golf courses.

Eastbourne Archers, several tennis clubs, hockey, rugby and lacrosse teams.

[edit] Leisure and Recreation

The most common place of leisure is the 4 miles of fine beaches, from the harbour in the east to Holywell in the west. Eastbourne's Pier is located half way, just 5 mins from the town. Most of the seafront is made up of hotels, from neat petit guest houses to grand buildings.

The Downs: The famous Downs dominate Eastbourne and can be seen from most of the town. Several nature trails lead to areas such as the nearby villages of East Dean and Birling Gap, and landmarks like the Seven Sisters, Belle Tout Lighthouse and of course Beachy Head.

In addition there are two swimming pools, three large fitness centres as well as the smaller sports clubs, one of which has both 10-pin-bowling and 'LaserQuest', a yacht club, children's adventure parks, crazy golf, bowls, go-karting, watersports of all kinds and for the more adventurous kite-karting on the Downs.

[edit] Parks

Eastbourne officially has 10 parks and gardens, although there are several smaller open spaces including Upperton Gardens, the famous Carpet Gardens and the Western Lawns.

The first public park in Eastbourne was Hampden Park, originally owned by Lord Willingdon and opened on 12 August 1902. Facilities include: football pitches, rugby club, indoor bowls, a large lake (formerly a Decoy pond), lakeside cafe, children's recreation area, tennis courts, BMX and skate facility and woodland.

The largest and newest park is Shinewater Park, located on the west side of Langney and opened in 2002. During construction of the new A22 route nearby several bronze age items were discovered thought to date back to 600BC - 800BC. There is a large fishing lake, basketball, football and cricket pitches, a BMX and skate park and children's playground.

Gildredge Park and Manor Gardens: A large open park located between the town centre and Old Town, Gildredge Park is very popular with families and has a children's playground, cafe, tennis courts and bowls lawns. The smaller, adjoining, Manor Gardens was, until 2005, the home of the Towner Art Gallery. The Manor Gardens combines both lawns and shady areas as well as a rose garden.

Princes park: Princes Park obtained it's name during a visit by the Duke of Windsor as Prince of Wales in 1931. Located at the Eastern end of the seafront it has a children's playground with paddling pool, cafe, bowls and a large lake, noted for its swans. A nearby watersports centre also has kayakking and windsurfing training upon it. Close by are tennis and basketball courts and a football pitch. At the north of the park is Eastbourne United F.C.

Devonshire Park, home to the pre-Wimbledon ladies tennis championships, is located just of the seafront in the towns cultural district. Although the oldest park in the town it only became a public park in 1929.

Other parks include: Helen Gardens and the Italian Gardens at the Western end of the seafront, Sovereign Park between the main seafront and the marina and Motcombe Gardens in Old Town.

[edit] Events

Image:Eastbournebandstand.jpg Eastbourne is home to the Women's tennis tournament which is traditionally seen as the warm-up to Wimbledon, and attracts many of the same players. It the oldest such championship in Europe. Confusingly, this is currently sponsored by a local insurance company based in Bexhill-on-Sea, and is called the "Hastings Direct International Championships".

There is also an annual extreme sports festival held at the eastern end of the seafront.

A major event in the tourist calendar of Eastbourne is the annually held 4 Day, International Air Show, 'Airbourne'. Started in 1994, based around a long relationship with the Red Arrows display team, the event features Battle of Britain memorial flights, and aircraft from the RAF, USAF and many others.

An international birdman competition is held annually off the pier, but was cancelled in 2005 due to lack of competitors. It is believed to return in 2006's Airborne.

Annually there is also a raft competition where competitors, usually local businesses, circumnavigate the pier in a raft made by themselves, while being attacked by a watercannon.

The famous Chinese State Circus performs once a year in Princes Park. The London Philharmonic Orchestra also make regular appearances.

[edit] Education

Eastbourne has in the past been home to numerous small schools, and still boasts several world-famous private schools, such as St Bedes and Moira House For Girls. For a town of its size, however, Eastbourne now has a surprisingly small number of schools. This has led to many of the town's schools having unusually large class sizes, and many children have to travel some distance to school when local schools have no room. Many of the schools have an excellent reputation for sports, art, drama, and dance.

Several language colleges and schools are based in the town, some of which are nationally and internationally famous. Language students are therefore a common sight on Eastbourne's streets, coming mainly from Germany, Scandinavia, France, China, and Japan. Most of the language students visit Eastbourne during their summer holidays and stay with host families, who get paid for hosting the students. The high number of language students in the summer holidays is a cause of social tension in the town, as they tend to make intensive use of the local leisure facilities, for which they may have discounts or block bookings. This annoys local teenagers, who become aggressive against the visittors, and consider them appropriate victims for petty crime.

Meanwhile, many of Eastbourne's schools have "twinning" arrangements with schools in Germany and France, allowing students to exchange with those from abroad.

Parts of the University of Brighton are based in the Meads area of the town.

[edit] Culture

Eastbourne has, over the years, been home, inspiration or backdrop to many artists, writers, musicians, film and TV productions. These include:

People: The writers George Orwell - who is said to have taken inspiration for Animal Farm from Chalk Farm in Willingdon - and Lewis Carroll; Michael Fish (the BBC weather forcaster); the comedians Eddie Izzard and Tommy Cooper; the bands Toploader, Easyworld and Rooster.

Eastbourne's most significant artist is probably Eric Ravilious. Many of his paintings can be found in the local Towner collection.

Films: Notes on a Scandal (2006), The Best Man (2006), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Redemption Road (2001), Pearl Harbor (2001), Licence to Kill, Robin Hood: Price of Thieves, Half a Sixpence

TV: Little Britain, "Agatha Christie's Marple", French and Saunders, Foyles War, Westbeach

In 2007, Eastbourne will gain a new cultural centre, replacing the Manor House (which has now been sold) as home of the Towner Art Gallery; it is located in the cultural district next to the Congress Theatre and Devonshire Park.

Museums How we Lived Then is a "museum of shops and local history", with exhibits representing complete scenarios such as shops and houses with life sized dummies. The museum contains more than 100,000 exibits, covering the period from the 1800s to the Second World War.

[edit] Politics

Politically, Eastbourne is a local government district.

It was made a municipal borough in 1883, and gained county borough status in 1911. Since 1974 and the Local Government Act 1972 it has formed a district of East Sussex. [2]

It is closely fought between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, and has frequently changed hands. Before the Council Elections in June 2004 it had a Liberal Democrat Council and a Conservative Member of Parliament, but the gain of a single council seat then enabled the Conservatives to take control, and they gained another in 2006 to widen the majority to two. There is no Labour Party representation, and Labour candidates are usually considered to have little chance in elections, even finishing fourth behind the third placed Greens in all but one ward in 2006.

The current member of parliament is the Conservative's Nigel Waterson.

[edit] Trivia

Image:TV6198 eastbournePier.jpg

Up and Coming Singer/Songwriter David Ford (musician) also comes from Eastbourne.
Sam David Jolley, a multi-billionaire oil tycoon, was born in Eastbourne on the 12th of April 1956.
Frederick Soddy, The English radiochemist was born in Eastbourne. He also went to school at Eastbourne College, and later won the Nobel prize in chemistry for his research in radioactive decay and particularly for his formulation of the theory of isotopes.
Actors Prunella Scales and Eddie Izzard both went to school in Eastbourne. The latter started his 2004 tour and filmed the DVD of it in the town as a thank you. Child star Laura Harling and actress Susannah Corbett also studied in the town.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were frequent visitors; the latter's ashes were scattered from Beachy Head at his request.
Eastbourne is home to the busiest railway level-crossing in Europe, located in Hampden Park, it has a peak of 1-3 trains every 3 mins.
Eastbourne houses the largest man-made marina in Europe.
In 2005, Beachy Head overtook the Golden Gate bridge as the number 1 suicide (by jumping) spot in the world.^{[citation needed]}
Eastbourne was the most heavily bombed town in the south outside London during WW2; this is usually attributed to German bombers needing to offload unused ordinance before crossing the channel, and therefore targeting the coastal settlements they passed.
Eastbourne was home to the notorious John Bodkin Adams, better know as Doctor Death, who was charged with killing 21 patients and suspected of 40 more. Recent evidence has revealed he was responsible for more than 200 killings.^{[citation needed]}
Eastbourne is the birthplace and early home town of British Yacht Designer Phil Morrison
James Bond star Roger Moore once lived in the penthouse flat of the South Cliff building on the west end of the seafront.

[edit] References

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. This article has been tagged since September 2006.

[edit] External links

Eastbourne Borough Council official website
Official tourist site
2001 Census profile for Eastbourne
Eastbourne College

Districts of South East England	Image:Flag of England.svg
Adur \| Arun \| Ashford \| Aylesbury Vale \| Basingstoke and Deane \| Bracknell Forest \| Brighton & Hove \| Canterbury \| Cherwell \| Chichester \| Chiltern \| Crawley \| Dartford \| Dover \| Eastbourne \| East Hampshire \| Eastleigh \| Elmbridge \| Epsom and Ewell \| Fareham \| Gosport \| Gravesham \| Guildford \| Hart \| Hastings \| Havant \| Horsham \| Isle of Wight \| Lewes \| Maidstone \| Medway \| Mid Sussex \| Milton Keynes \| Mole Valley \| New Forest \| Oxford \| Portsmouth \| Reading \| Reigate and Banstead \| Rother \| Runnymede \| Rushmoor \| Sevenoaks \| Shepway \| Slough \| Southampton \| South Bucks \| South Oxfordshire \| Spelthorne \| Surrey Heath \| Swale \| Tandridge \| Test Valley \| Thanet \| Tonbridge and Malling \| Tunbridge Wells \| Vale of White Horse \| Waverley \| Wealden \| West Berkshire \| West Oxfordshire \| Winchester \| Windsor and Maidenhead \| Woking \| Wokingham \| Worthing \| Wycombe
Counties with multiple districts: Berkshire - Buckinghamshire - East Sussex - Hampshire - Kent - Oxfordshire - Surrey - West Sussex

Coordinates: 50°48′N 0°15′Ede:Eastbourne fr:Eastbourne nl:Eastbourne no:Eastbourne pl:Eastbourne simple:Eastbourne fi:Eastbourne sv:Eastbourne

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Eastbourne

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