Hastings, Sussex : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Hastings. You may be able to find further references to Hastings in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Hastings rape Bartholomew
Hastings parliamentary and municipal borough Bartholomew
HASTINGS a town, a district, and a rape Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Hastings within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 13
William Camden Saxons, Danes and Normans 4
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 3
William Camden Kent 2
William Camden Yorkshire: East and North Ridings 1
William Cobbett Jan. 2nd, 1822: Sussex Journal 1
William Cobbett Aug. 30th to Sept. 1st, 1823: Sussex and Kent 1
William Gilpin Bristol to London 1
Thomas Pennant Gorhambury and Verulamium 1
Thomas Pennant July 4-17: Scarborough to Berwick upon Tweed 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Silverhill 0 2
St Leonards 0 2
Ore 0 2
Hollington 0 2
Baldstrow 0 2
Bulverhythe 2 2
Crowhurst 1 2
Westfield 0 2
Guestling 0 3
Fairlight 1 2
Sidley 0 2
Battle 16 4
Brede 0 3
Bexhill 1 3
Catsfield 0 2
Sedlescombe 0 2
Pett 0 2
Gostrow 0 2
Rother 0 3
Whatlington 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Hastings. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
HASTING William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HASTING CEASTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HASTINGS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.