Bexhill, Sussex

Description
Bexhill or Bexhill-on-Sea, a parish, town, and rapidly increasing watering-place in Sussex. The town stands on a rising-ground on the L.B. & S.C.R., 67 miles from London and 5 WSW of Hastings, under which it has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It has a station on the railway between Eastbourne and Hastings, and contains many good houses, has some chalybeate springs, enjoys a very salubrious air, is surrounded by charming environs with fine extensive views, has fine sands, and has for some time been coming into favour as a watering-place. It has a good supply of excellent water. The parish includes also the liberty of Sluice, and extends some distance on the shore. It is governed by a local board. The area is 8015 acres, of which 663 are foreshore and water; population, 5206. The sea is receding from the coast, and has left to view a submarine forest. Lignite is found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £310. Patron, the Bishop of Chichester. The church has a Norman nave and an Early English chancel, and is good. It was restored in 1870, and again in 1890. The Church of St Bamabas was opened in 1891. It was built at the expense of the Rev. Prebendary Charles Leopold Stanley Clarke, rector of Bexhiy. Little Common is a part of the parish lying 2 miles west. The Church of St Mark is a stone building erected in 1842 and enlarged in 1885, in the Early English style. The living is a rectory; value, £280, in the gift of the Bishop of Chichester. There are Wesleyan and Methodist chapels, and two coastguard stations. The Metropolitan Convalescent Home was opened in 1880, The Egerton Park and public grounds, 15 acres in extent, contain a lake, cricket ground, swimming pond, and tennis lawns, and form a handsome and valuable attraction to the town.