A timeline history of Eastbourne with prints, photographs and maps. Click on images to enlarge.

Saxon Bourne

491 Saxons captured Roman castle of Pevesney

Norman Bourne

1066 William the Conqueror landed in Pevensey Bay.

1086 Bourne (now Old Town) mentioned in Domesday Book

1114 Henry II visited East Bourne, then a village a mile away from the sea.

Medieval Bourne

1175 St Mary’s Church built in old East Bourne.

1180 Date of cellar of Lamb Inn

1324 Edward II stayed at Borne Place manor house.

1467 Manor of East Borne founded.

Tudor Bourne

1555 Earl of Rutland sold the manor of Bourne in three parts to James Burton, John Selwyn and Thomas Gildredge. 
James Burton took the south west portion, including Meads and what is now the town centre.
Thomas Gildredge had Upperton and the eastern part of the parish with his manor house in The Goffs. 
John Selwyn took the northern part.

Stuart Bourne

1690 Battle of Beachy Head. Dutch & English fleets defeated by French navy.
Allies lost 11 shops but were able to escape to Thames.

Georgian Bourne

1724 Bourne Place, an Elizabethan house bought by Sir Spencer Compton (c. 1674-1743).

1726 Bourne Place rebuilt for Sir Spencer Compton and renamed Compton Place. Designed by Colen Campbell (1676-1729)

1775 Gildredge Manor House built in Old Town for Rev. Lushington., vicar of Eastbourne. 

           

1776 Great Storm

1780 Sea Houses area (now Marine Drive) developed as a fashionable resort for sea-bathing. George III’s children stayed there. (1855 print)


        
1782 A female heir of Spencer Compton married the third son of the Duke of Devonshire.

1787 Eastbourne from Lord George Cavendish’s Seat in the Park by John Nixon (1755-1818)

1790s Napoleonic War led to plans to fortify the coast to Hastings.

1801 Population was 1,668

1808 Martello tower No 73 - Wish Tower built.

1812 Great Redoubt Fortress (now a museum) built as a barracks.

1834 Belle Tout lighthouse built by Mad Jack Fuller.
William Cavendish (1808-1891), 2nd Earl of Burlington inherited Compton Place and other lands in Eastbourne

Early Victorian Eastbourne

1838 Decimus Burton drew up proposals for a new town for the then Earl of Burlington, plans not implemented apart from the building of Trinity Chapel (now Holy Trinity Church) in Trinity Trees.

1849 single track branch line to Eastbourne from Polegate on the Brighton to Hastings line opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.Station located at Upperton Road,

c1850 Darwin wrote part of Origin of Species in East-Bourne.

1858 William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Burlington, became seventh Duke of Devonshire

1859 Local government began (sat in Vestry Room built in 1851)..
East-Bourne developed by Duke of Devonshire with parks, baths and squares west of Devonshire Place laid out. His architect was Henry Currey (1820–1900), apprenticed to Decimus Burton.

Mid Victorian Eastbourne

1860 Print of Grand Parade featuring the Claremont & Burlington hotels
   


1862 Nicholas Whitley drew up plans for development of Upperton area for the Gilbert estate.

1864 Leaf Hall in Eastbourne opened as a working men's institute for the philanthropist William Leaf. Designed by Robert Knott Blessley (1833–1923) in the Gothic style.

1867 Eastbourne College founded.

1870 East-Bourne pier opened. Designed by Eugenius Birch (1818-1884).

1872 Eastbourne station resited a little to the east.

1873 Devonshire Place laid out.
Cavendish Hotel opened.

1875 Winter Garden opened at Meads. Designed by Henry Currey.
Grand Hotel opened on seafront with 400 rooms. Designed by RK Blessley.

1879 Royal Parade built.

Late Victorian Eastbourne

1880 Queens Hotel opened
Sea wall completed

1881 East-Bourne had a population of 22,000, enough to become a town.

1883 East-Bourne received its own Charter
New Theatre Royal & Opera House opened

1884 Devonshire Park Theatre opened. Designed by Henry Currey.

1886 Town hall built



1886 New Eastbourne station designed by F.D. Brick

1888 Pavilion added to East-Bourne pier

1899 Theatre replaced Pier Pavilion.

Edwardian Eastbourne

1901 Statue of 7th Duke of Devonshire erected in Devonshire Place

1902 New Beachy Head Lighthouse (replaced Belle Tout)

1903 Lifeboat station opened.
Devonshire Park Theatre opened refurbished by Frank Matcham

1904 New Theatre Royal & Opera House refurbished & renamed Royal Hippodrome.

1905 Debussy composed La Mer at the Grand Hotel



1908 Electric Picture Hall, opened on first floor of Mutual Improvement Society s hall on Seaside Road.. Renamed Cinema Palace (1912), Tivoli Cinema (1915)  closed in 1983

1911 Flying school opened.
Central Hall Electric Theatre opened at 53 Seaside. In 1942 it was re-named New Central Cinema & Manhattan Cinema (1961). Closed in 1966.

1912 Eastern Cinema Palace opened at 143 Seaside. Renamed Regal Cinema in 1945. Closed in 1953. 

1914 Old Town Cinema opened on High Street & The Goffs. Renamed Regent Picture House (1921) & Plaza (1933). Closed in 1940.

Interwar Eastbourne

1920 Picturedrome cinema opened at 14 Langney Road (renamed The Curzon in 1966, it closed in 2019)

1923 Original Towner Galley & Museum opened in Old Town in the Gilbert Manor House
Alderman John Towner had bequethed 22 Victorian paintings and £6,000 for the establishment of an art gallery.

1933 Luxor Cinema opened at 1-3 Pevensey Road. Acquired by ABC in 1937 & re-named ABC in 1962. In 1986 re-named Cannon. Closed in 1991.

1938 News Cinema opened at Trinity Place. Renamed as the Classic oil 1945, it closed in 1965.

Eastbourne in World War II

1940 7 July: First UK residential bombing by Germans
Eastbourne threatened with invasion by Germany. Partly evacuated.

1942-2 Much bombing of Eastbourne by German fighter-bombers.
Suffered 98 German air raids in all.

Post-war Eastbourne

1961 Eastbourne Society formed.

1963 Congress Theatre opened as theatre and conference centre.

1964 Central Library built.

1965 South Cliff Tower built.

1970 Brighton pier theatre destroyed.
Eastbourne Historical Society formed

1973 1 Dec: Duke Ellington played Congress Theatre (his last recorded concert).

1981 Arndale Centre opened.

1983 Local History Museum added to Towner Gallery

1988 Sovereign Harbour Marina planned on site of The Crumbles.

1993 Sovereign Harbour Marina opened.

1999 Belle Tout lighthouse moved

2009 New Towner Gallery opened in Devonshire Park, College Road. Designed by Rick Mather (1937-2013).



2010 South Downs awarded National Park status.

2019 Claremont Hotel on Grand Parade destroyed by fire.

Books

East-Bourne Recollections - RJ Graham (1888)
By-gone East-Bourne - JC Wright (1902)
East-Bourne Memories - George F Chambers (VT Sumfield c1910)
Eastbourne: A Pictorial History - D Robert Elleray (Phillimore 1978)
A Brief History of Eastbourne - AGS Esner (Eastbourne LHS 1978)
Street Names of Eastbourne - Harold D Spears (Eastbourne LHS 1981)
A Short History of Eastbourne - Lawrence Stevens (Eastbourne LHS 1987)
Robert Armstrong's Guide Eastbourne (1984)
Eastbourne A History - John Surtees (2002)          
Eastbourne Then & Now - John Surtees (2012)      
Eastbourne, Building A Duke's Dream: Eastbourne, Building A Duke's Dream - Alex Askaroff (2019)