Town in East Sussex, England
Eastbourne
A seaside resort planned by a duke, where Debussy put the finishing touches to La Mer and Engels' ashes were scattered into the sea off Beachy Head.
Key information
- County
- East Sussex
- Nation
- England
- Population
- just over 100,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Beachy Head, the pier, the bandstand, sunshine and a pre-Wimbledon tennis tournament
- Famous people
- Lewis Carroll, Friedrich Engels, Claude Debussy (all famous visitors or residents)
- Football clubs
- Eastbourne Borough, Eastbourne Town
About Eastbourne
A resort planned by a duke
Eastbourne's tidy, wide-avenued seafront is no accident. In the 19th century the land was largely in the hands of the Cavendish family, the Dukes of Devonshire, and the 7th Duke, William Cavendish, set out to turn a scatter of fishing hamlets into a high-class seaside resort. His architect, Henry Currey, laid out the grand streets, and the railway did the rest. The result was a town of white-stuccoed terraces, gardens and hotels, designed to feel more refined than its rowdier neighbours along the coast. The name is far older than the resort. It comes from the stream, or bourne, in the old village, now the Old Town, where you can still find a medieval church and a quieter, village-like feel a short walk from the front.
The cliff that towers over everything
Just along the coast, the South Downs run straight into the sea and stop. Beachy Head rises 162 metres, making it the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain. At its foot stands the red-and-white striped lighthouse, built in 1902 to replace the older Belle Tout light on the cliff above. Belle Tout had its own adventure: in 1999 the whole building was moved back 17 metres from the crumbling edge, and it now survives as a lighthouse you can stay in. The cliff-top walk from Eastbourne, a steep climb onto the Downs, is one of the best short walks on the south coast. Every year the Beachy Head Marathon sends runners up and down the hills, and the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs stretch away to the west.
The famous people who came for the air
Eastbourne attracted a very particular crowd of thinkers. Lewis Carroll spent his summer holidays here through the late 1870s and 1880s, taking rooms in Lushington Road and entertaining local children. In 1905 the French composer Claude Debussy stayed at the Grand Hotel, the white wedding-cake building on the seafront, and put the finishing touches to La Mer there. Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's collaborator, was another devotee of the town's sea air. When he died in 1895, his ashes were scattered from a boat into the sea off Beachy Head, in line with his wishes. The town also has a darker footnote: Dr John Bodkin Adams, a local GP, was tried in 1957 for the murder of a patient, Edith Alice Morrell, and acquitted. A separate murder charge concerning Gertrude Hullett was not proceeded with.
Pier, bandstand and a fortress by the sea
Eastbourne Pier, designed by Eugenius Birch, the great Victorian pier engineer, opened in 1870 and is a listed structure. A fire in 2014 wrecked part of the amusement arcade at its end, but the pier lives on as a seafront landmark. The seafront bandstand dates from 1935 and is still used for concerts and summer shows. Nearby, the Wish Tower is a Martello tower built in the Napoleonic era to deter a French invasion, and the Redoubt, a circular fortress, was built in the same anxious years of the early 1800s to defend the coast. For art, the Towner gallery sits beside the Congress Theatre at Devonshire Park, near the seafront. It moved there in 2009 from its former home in Manor Gardens in the Old Town, and has a strong collection of modern and contemporary work.
Sunshine, tennis and a retirement reputation
Eastbourne has long advertised itself as one of Britain's sunniest places, and the claim gave it the nickname the Sunshine Coast. The gentle climate and the elegant seafront also drew generations of retired people, which earned it the less flattering label God's waiting room. Today the town also has a lively summer events calendar. Tennis is the town's sporting signature. Devonshire Park has hosted tournaments since the 1880s, and the Eastbourne International is a grass-court event played in the run-up to Wimbledon, so top players use it as a warm-up every June. In August the town fills with crowds for Airbourne, a free air show along the seafront, with jets and display teams roaring over the Channel. For football, the town has Eastbourne Borough and Eastbourne Town. After a bracing walk on the cliffs, the traditional reward is fish and chips on the seafront or a cream tea in one of the town's old-fashioned tea rooms.