Bexhill-on-Sea is a town and
seaside resortA seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
in the
countyCounties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several...
of
East SussexEast Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, in the south of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, within the
District of RotherRother is a local government district in East Sussex, England. The district is named after the River Rother which flows within its boundaries.-History:...
. It has a population of approximately 40,000. The Anglo-Saxon name for the settlement was
Bexelei, from
leah—a glade where the box tree grows.
History
The earliest evidence of occupation of the site came from the discovery of primitive boats at Egerton Park. The town came into official existence with the Charter of 772. In this charter, King Offa II, King of Mercia, granted land to Bishop Oswald to build a church. Three hundred years later, around 1066, William the Conqueror gave the Rape of
HastingsHastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, including the captured town of Bexhill (also referred to as the "Badman Town"), to Robert, Count of Eu, as the spoils of victory.
The manor of Gotham in Bexhill was held by the de Lyvet (
LevettLevett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
) family from an early date. (The Levetts held land at
FirleFor the suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, see Firle, South Australia.Firle is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word fierol meaning overgrown with oak...
,
CatsfieldCatsfield is a village and civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England. It is located six miles north of Bexhill, and three miles southwest of Battle. The village once consisted of two manors: Catsfield and Catsfield Levett...
,
NinfieldNinfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is situated 4 miles north of Bexhill-on-Sea, at the junction of two roads: the A269 from Bexhill to Battle and the A271 to Hailsham...
,
South HeightonSouth Heighton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located seven miles south of Lewes. In the 1890s the population of the village grew from less than 100 to over 500 as a result of the opening of a nearby cement manufacturing plant...
and
West DeanWest Dean is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located north of Chichester on the A286 road just west of Singleton. The parish includes the hamlets of Binderton and Chilgrove....
and elsewhere, some of which was lost due to an heir's bankruptcy.) Thomas de Lyvet, son of Richard, granted Gotham manor to
James Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and SeleJames Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele was an English soldier and politician, son of Sir William Fiennes and wife Elizabeth Batisford ....
. Thomas's daughter Elizabeth, who married William Gildredge of
WithyhamWithyham is a village and large civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The village is situated 10 miles south west of Tunbridge Wells and 3.5 miles from Crowborough; the parish covers approximately .-Geography:Withyham parish lies on the edge of Weald, in the...
, unsuccessful disputed Gotham manor in 1445. The Gildredge family later lived at nearby
EastbourneEastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, where by 1554 they owned much of the land. Today's Gildredge Park in Eastbourne is named for the family. Most of the Gildredge lands were carried by marriage into the Gilbert (now
Davies-GilbertThe Davies-Gilbert family is one of Britain's most prestigious families.The Davies-Gilbert family are descendants of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was an older half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh . In the 19th Century, they developed the towns of Eastbourne and East Dean in Sussex...
) family of Eastbourne, who made the Gildredge manor house their own.
The church owned Bexhill Manor until Queen Elizabeth I acquired it in 1590 and granted it to
Thomas SackvilleThomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset was an English statesman, poet, dramatist and Freemason. He was the son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer.-Biography:...
, then Baron Buckhurst. Thomas became the first Earl of Dorset in 1603. In 1813, when the male line of the earldom had died out, Elizabeth Sackville married the fifth
Earl De La WarrEarl De La Warr is a title created in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1761.In the United States, Thomas West, 3rd baron is often named in history books simply as Lord Delaware. He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony, and the Delaware Bay was named after him...
, and she and her husband inherited Bexhill. This early history can still be seen in street names, with Sackville Road, Buckhurst Road, De La Warr Parade, and King Offa Way being some of the most significant roads in the town. On 20 May 1729, a
waterspoutA waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water. While it is often weaker than most of its land counterparts, stronger versions spawned by mesocyclones do occur...
came ashore, became a
tornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
, and travelled 12 miles (19.3 km) inland to
BattleBattle is a small town and civil parish in the local government district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south southeast of London, east of Brighton and east of the county town of Lewes...
and Linkhill; nine farms and properties received serious damage.
SmugglingSmuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
was rife in the area in the early nineteenth century. In 1828, the local Little Common Gang were involved in what was known as the
Battle of Sidley Green, Sidley being an area in the north of Bexhill.
The Birth of British Motorsport - Today the trail-blazing motor racing drivers of 1902 seem as remote in the minds of those connected with the present day sport as the Casablanca Grand Prix. Bexhill's motor races did not occur in isolation but were part of a campaign to promote Bexhill-on-Sea as a fashionable new resort and used the Bicycle Boulevard, which the 8th Earl had built along De La Warr Parade in 1896.
In May 1902, the 8th Earl De La Warr worked, in conjunction with the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, subsequently the Royal Automobile Club, to organise the very first automobile racing on British soil. Such was the occasion that thousands flocked to Bexhill to witness the unique spectacle. The very atmosphere reeked with the smell of paraffin with throbbing, puffing and snorting motors everywhere. Away up Galley Hill at the far end of the course one could see a puff of smoke and a fair-sized speck emerge from it. A few seconds later a monster dashes past, causing the very earth to tremble.
Nothing could be seen of the drivers except a crouching figure with streaming hair, whose hands had a death-like grip of the steering wheel. Not only were straight sprint races run from east to west against the clock but cars raced side by side in the opposite direction, very much resembling the start of the Grand Prix races today. Distinguished names appeared on the entry list. There was Lord Northcliffe, the founder of the Daily Mail Newspaper in his Mercedes. Monsieur Leon Serpollet, the Frenchman, in his steam driven "Easter Egg" with the fastest speed of 54 mph and the first French victory on British soil. The indefatigable Mr S F Edge, who ran his Napier against a large entry of French owned Darracqs, and many more well known personalities of the day.
More than 200 entries competed in that inaugural meeting in 1902 and the local hotels and boarding houses were packed with the curious who had come to witness, for the first time on British soil, the spectacle of motor cars racing at speeds in excess of 50 mph when the speed limit of the day was a mere 12 mph.
The huge success of the meeting encouraged Earl De La Warr to make Bexhill the motoring centre for British racing drivers of the day. By 1906 plans were drawn up for a circuit almost reaching Beachy Head, with garages, restaurants and hotel accommodation. The course unfortunately never saw the light of day, and the motoring set moved to the new Brooklands circuit in 1907. A few attempts were made to resurrect the races, and the last competition was held in 1925 after which the Royal Automobile Club withdrew permits on public highways.
Governance
During local government reform in 1974, Bexhill became part of
Rother District CouncilRother is a local government district in East Sussex, England. The district is named after the River Rother which flows within its boundaries.-History:...
, thereby losing its Town Council. In its place, Bexhill became a Charter Trustees town, represented by the Bexhill councillors of Rother District Council. A quarterly forum is held to provide a voice to the community at a local level. There have been recent plans to recreate a Bexhill Town Council.
Bexhill is the home of Rother District Council; District Council Elections are held every four years. Thirty-eight Councillors in total are elected, eighteen of these from the nine wards that make up Bexhill. The May 2011 election returned 11 Conservatives, 4 Independents, 2 Liberal Democrats, and 1 Labour.
The next level of government is the
East SussexEast Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
County CouncilA county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
, with responsibility for Education, Libraries, Social Services, Civil Registration, Trading Standards, and Transport. Elections for the County Council are held every four years. For these elections, Bexhill is divided into three wards: West, King Offa, and East.
The 2005 East Sussex County Council election resulted in 29 Conservatives, 15 Liberal Democrats, 5 Labours, and 1 Independent, of which Bexhill provided 1 Liberal Democrat and 2 Conservatives.
The Parliament Constituency for Bexhill includes the nearby town of Battle. The constituency was created in 1983 and was served by
Charles WardleCharles Frederick Wardle was a Conservative Party member of the British Parliament for Bexhill and Battle.He announced he would not contest the 2001 election in early 2000 after it was disclosed that he was doing consultancy for Mohammed Al-Fayed. He was replaced by Gregory Barker in the 2001...
until the 2001 election, when Wardle left the Conservative party. He was replaced by
Gregory BarkerGregory Leonard George "Greg" Barker is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he currently serves as the Member of Parliament for Bexhill and Battle...
, who remains the current serving MP.
At the European level, Bexhill is represented by the South-East region, which holds ten seats in the
European ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. The June 2004 election returned four Conservatives, two Liberal Democrats, two UK Independents, one Labour, and one Green—none of whom live in East Sussex.
Landmarks
A
Site of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
lies within the Bexhill district—
High WoodsHigh Woods is a 33.5 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1985 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The site is biologically important because the type of woodland, sessile oak coppice Quercus petraea, is not known...
. It is of biological importance because it is the only known sessile oak
Quercus petraea woodland in East Sussex. Fossils are also commonly found in Bexhill. In 2009 the world's oldest
spider webA spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
was found encased in
amberAmber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
in the town. It was 140 million years old. In June 2011 it was reported that the world's smallest
dinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
had been discovered at Ashdown Brickworks near the town. A single vertebra was found.
Areas
- Old Town: The original town on the hill, chartered by King Offa in 772.
- Cooden: An upperclass area of the town, it is in the southwest/west and plays host to a couple of hotels, a golf course, a tennis club, and a beach.
- Little Common: A suburb in the west near Cooden.
- Pebsham: An area to the east of the town, it is near Sidley.
- Sidley: Another area, it is in the north.
- Collington: A residential area near Cooden.
- Bexhill New Town: The main part of Bexhill. There are several roads with a variety of shops, a railway station, a library and the De La Warr Pavilion on the seafront.
- Ninfield: A rural area to the north.
- Barnhorn: An area west of Bexhill; its name survives in Barnhorne Manor and Barnhorn Road (a section of the A259). The name was recorded in AD 772 in an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
charterA charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
as Berna horna.
Economy
Reginald Sackville, seventh Earl De La Warr, decided to transform what was then a village on a hill around its church into an exclusive seaside resort, which he named Bexhill-on-Sea. He was instrumental in building a sea wall south of the village, and the road above it was then named De La Warr Parade. Large houses were built inland from there, and the new town began. In 1890, the luxurious Sackville Hotel was built.
Bexhill was the location for the first motor race in the United Kingdom, in May 1902. Signs at the town's outskirts have the text 'Birthplace of British Motor Racing' appended below the town's name. The Bexhill 100 Festival of Motoring, held on Bexhill's seafront, celebrated this important milestone in motoring history from 1990 until 2002. This final festival commemorated the Centenary of the original "Races". During the life of the Festival, in 1999, the organisers launched The Bexhill 100 Motoring Club, so although the Festival no longer exists, the club still goes from strength to strength, and their committee organises each year, The Bexhill 100 Motoring Club Classic Car Show held on August Bank Holiday Monday in The Polegrove, Bexhill.
The De La Warr PavilionThe De La Warr Pavilion is an International Style building constructed in 1935 and designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff; considered by some to be in an Art Deco style. Some claim it to be the first major Modernist public building in Britain, although in fact it was...
, brainchild of the
ninth Earl De La WarrHerbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, GBE, PC, DL, JP , styled Lord Buckhurst until 1915 , was a British politician. He was the first hereditary peer to join the Labour Party and became a government minister at the age of 23...
, opened in 1935 as one of the earliest examples of
Modern architectureModern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
in a major British public building. It closed for major restoration work in December 2003 and reopened in October 2005.
During the Second World War, Bexhill was named as a point to attack as part of Operation Sea Lion by
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
The town, like many other English seaside resorts, is now much more a settled community. Although there is a small entertainment area on the seafront, it now has a large retired population, like much of the
south coastSouth Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area.-Australia:*South Coast refers to the coast of New South Wales Australia south of Sydney....
.
Transport
Bexhill is on the
A259 roadThe A259 is a busy road on the south coast of England passing through Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and part of Kent. Part of the road was named "the most dangerous road in South East England" in 2008.-Description:...
which forms the coast road between
FolkestoneFolkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
and
BrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. Plans of an A259 Bexhill and Hastings bypass have repeatedly been postponed over the past 40 years but the plans were cancelled due to environmental concerns. Current plans include building a new 3.5 miles (5.6 km) link road between the town and
HastingsHastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
instead. In October 2009 this has been given initial approval for government funding. Nearby
HastingsHastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
is linked to
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by the A21.
The town is served by the coastal railway line between
AshfordAshford International railway station serves Ashford in Kent, England. Services are provided by Southeastern, Southern and Eurostar.International services use platforms 3 & 4, whilst domestic trains use the original platforms 1 & 2, and a new island built when the Channel Tunnel opened...
and
BrightonBrighton railway station is the principal railway station in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. The station master is Mark Epsom...
and has three railway stations, including
Cooden BeachCooden Beach serves Cooden at the western end of Bexhill in East Sussex. It is on the East Coastway Line, and train services are provided by Southern.- The station :...
,
CollingtonCollington railway station serves Collington, at the western end of Bexhill in East Sussex. It is on the East Coastway Line, and train services are provided by Southern....
, and
BexhillBexhill railway station serves Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex. It is on the East Coastway Line, and train services are provided by Southern....
. Regular trains run to
BrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
,
AshfordAshford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
and
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The railway built by the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway (later part of the
London, Brighton and South Coast RailwayThe London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...
) arrived on 27 June 1846, although the present
stationBexhill railway station serves Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex. It is on the East Coastway Line, and train services are provided by Southern....
was not built until 1891, when the town had become popular as a resort. A second line, this time built by the
South Eastern RailwayThe South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
and approaching the town from the north, was a branch line from
CrowhurstCrowhurst railway station is on the main London - Tunbridge Wells - Hastings line in East Sussex in England, and serves Crowhurst. Train services are provided by Southeastern.- History :...
via an intermediate station at
SidleySidley is a village on the outskirts of Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, England. Its governance falls within the jurisdiction of the Charter Trustees town of Bexhill. It is also a ward of Rother district council.It is home to 2 primary schools....
to a terminus at
Bexhill WestBexhill West is a closed station in Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex. It was the terminus of the Bexhill West branch of the Hastings Line. It was opened by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and was operated by the Southern Region of British Railways on closing. The station building still survives...
. The line opened on 1 June 1902 and closed on 15 June 1964. The branch was also closed temporarily between 1 January 1917 and 1 March 1919 as an economy measure during the First World War.
Notable people (in alphabetical order)
- John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird FRSE was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube...
, Scottish inventor of the televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, resided in a house by the station toward the end of his life.
- James Beeching
James Beeching was an English boat builder who invented a "self-righting lifeboat" and designed a type of fishing boat which became characteristic of the port of Great Yarmouth in the 19th century...
(1788–1858), shipbuilder and inventor of the self-righting lifeboat.
- Michael Cowpland
Michael Cowpland is a British-born entrepreneur, businessman, and the founder and one-time president, chairman and CEO of Corel, a Canadian software company.-Early life:...
, founder of high-tech companies MitelMitel Networks, is a high-tech company providing unified communications solutions for business. The company previously produced TDM PBX systems and applications but after a change in ownership in 2001 now focuses almost entirely on Voice-over-IP products.Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa,...
, CorelCorel Corporation from the abbreviation is a computer software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, that specializes in graphics processing, similar to Adobe Systems...
, and ZIM, lived in Bexhill and went to Bexhill CollegeBexhill College is a sixth form college with a long history of average post 16 education. In September 2004, the college moved into brand new buildings situated in Penland Road, Bexhill-On-Sea...
until he was 18.
- Fanny Cradock
Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey , better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television cook and writer who mostly worked with her then common-law husband Johnnie Cradock, adopting his surname long before they married. She was the daughter of the novelist and lyricist Archibald...
and Johnnie CradockMajor John "Johnnie" Whitby Cradock was a cook, writer and broadcaster and the fourth husband of television cook and writer Fanny Cradock....
lived on Cooden Drive, Bexhill.
- Sir David Hare
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
, British dramatist, comes from Bexhill.
- Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
Eddie IzzardEdward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
spent part of his childhood years in Bexhill-on-Sea.
- Peter Katin
Peter Roy Katin is a British pianist.-Biography:He attended Whitgift School in South Croydon and was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 12, four years younger than the official entry age, where he studied under Harold Craxton...
—concert pianist, recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist—has made Bexhill his home.
- Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was a Welsh actor, famous for playing Q in 17 of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1999.-Early life:...
, the James BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
actor ("Q"), lived in the town until his death in 1999.
- The Maharajas of Cooch Behar, the Indian princely family had a house in Bexhill in the early 1900s.
- Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
was stationed in Bexhill while in the army during the Second World War, and most of the first volume of his war memoirs takes place there.
- Indie-rock band Mumm-Ra came from Bexhill. The topic of their hometown frequently came up in interviews.
- Graham Norton
Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...
, Irish actor, comedian and television presenter, lives in a contemporary house in the Cooden Beach area.
- Oli Thompson
Oli Thompson made his MMA debut on 3 Feb 2009, defeating Ashley Pollard by a second round arm triangle choke. He has continued to fight since then, On 26 March 2011, after amassing a record of 7-2-0, with his only losses coming to future UFC heavyweight Rob Broughton and former UFC fighter Joe...
- StrongmanIn the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press , supporting large amounts of...
and 2006 winner of Britain's Strongest ManBritain's Strongest Man is an annual strongman event held in the United Kingdom. Competitors qualify for the final through regional heats and the winner is awarded the title of "Britain's Strongest Man"...
.
- Leslie Weatherhead
Leslie Dixon Weatherhead was an English Christian theologian in the liberal Protestant tradition. One of Britain's finest preachers in his day, Weatherhead was noted for his preaching ministry at City Temple in London and for his books, including The Will of God, The Christian Agnostic, and...
, renowned preacher and theologian, retired to Bexhill.
- Ronald Skirth
John Ronald Skirth served in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War. His experiences during the Battle of Messines and the Battle of Passchendaele led him to resolve not to take human life, and for the rest of his army service he made deliberate errors in targeting calculations...
(1897–1977), conscientious objector and author of the First World War memoir The Reluctant Tommy, grew up in Bexhill and describes it at length in his book.
- Edward Victor Grace Day (1896–1958), Malaya Civil Service, Resident Commissioner of Malacca from (1946–1947), and British Adviser, Kedah (1947–1951).
Cultural references
- The second murder in Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's The A.B.C. MurdersThe A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on January 6, 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company on February 14 of the same year...
takes place in Bexhill-on-Sea.
- The town inspired the Goon Show episode The Dreaded Batter-Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea.
- The 2006 dystopian film Children of Men
Children of Men is a 2006 science fiction film loosely adapted from P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In 2027, two decades of human infertility have left society on the brink of collapse. Illegal immigrants seek sanctuary in England, where the last...
portrays a shattered Bexhill as a government-quarantined refugee campA refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
for immigrants
- The song "Sovereign Light Café" by the band Keane refers to a café on Bexhill seafront
External links