Introduction
Hastings was well known for having the best natural harbour on the South coast, but during the mid 13th Century, dramatic changes where to take place along the Sussex coastline. A series of terrible storms hit the shores in 1287 and caused large areas of the shoreline to be reshaped. With rivers being forced to change their natural course to reach the sea, previously accessible shipping harbours became blocked by huge deposits of earth, silt, shingle and debris from the storms.
Hastings was particularly badly effected and the people now had to come to terms with a huge shingle bank which had clogged up the harbour and blocked the previous route to the sea. It was this shingle bank that would later become known as the America Ground.
No-mans land
The new piece of land created by the shingle bank comprised of the area which is now Robertson Street, Trinity Triangle, Carlisle Parade and Harold Place, was just outside the boundaries of Hastings Borough, effectively making it a no-man’s land.
The Hastings locals soon worked out that nobody owned this new piece of land and they could live there without paying any rent or taxes. Many people moved in, building a thriving but ramshackled community of houses, shops and businesses.
The Lord Cornwallis, the Earl of Chichester, Battle Abbey Estates and the Hastings Corporation all claimed the land rightfully belonged to them, and as they argued the legal side of who should have ownership of this new land, the settlement kept on growing, and by the 1822 the bedraggled collection of shacks and upturned boats on the shingle bank had grown into a community with more than 1,000 occupants.
The novelist Sheila Kaye-Smith described the area in her 1919 book ‘Tamarisk Town’, as having been “free to any beggars, gypsies or other undesirables ... a mock city of shacks, huts and tents.”
The America Ground is born
Inspired by the recent American Revolution, the residents reacted defiantly to the various powers trying to take control of their settlement and declared themselves independent from Hastings as the ‘twenty-fourth’ US state. They hoisted the Stars and Stripes flag and the famous America Ground was born.
Many tradesmen took advantage of the rate-free business opportunity. These included a baker, brewer, numerous fishermen and livestock keepers, a gardener, carpenter, miller and boat repairer among many others. Lodging houses were big business at the time and there were also warehouses for rope, tallow and coal. As the population of the ground grew, limekilns, stonemasons, a tallow factory, a sawing house and a butchers also sprung up and eventually the area even contained a gin palace and a small school.
Rope Walk
The main thoroughfare through The America Ground was a level stretch which followed a similar route to Robertson Street as we know it today. This flat area was attractive to rope-makers who erected upturned boat hulls along it as makeshift shelters from which to run their businesses. The track became known as ‘Rope Walk’.
The Crown takes control
As time moved on Hastings was becoming more and more fashionable as a seaside resort, attracting new construction and the affluent middle classes who were fascinated by the town. Local councillors urgently wanted rid of this city of shacks and huts that adorned their seafront and a request was made to central government to remove the “undesirables” from the area which was by now encroaching on the western end of the town.
An inquisition was called by the Crown Commissioner to establish ownership of the land and decided to grant leases to 100 inhabitants for seven years after which time the area would be taken over by the crown.
The majority of the inhabitants refused this offer and moved their shacks, re-erecting them in St Leonards. It is believed that at least 28 buildings in the centre of St Leonards have been moved there from the America Ground.
Following the exodus in 1834 The America Ground was left empty.
The America Ground today
In 1849 real estate developer Patrick Francis Robertson leased the crown lands for 99 years at a rate of £500 per year. The following year work was started on building the road that would bear his name and is still called Robertson Street today.
The spirit of the America Ground continues to this day in Hastings and the American Flag is flown next to the Union Jack around the 4th of July every year. 1999 saw a ceremonial reading of the American Declaration of Independence in Robertson Street, and a huge party was thrown in 2000 by the America Ground with four stages set up to cater for a variety of entertainment.
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America Ground Community
Ramshackled Shacks |
