History
The number one reference to Bexhill, or Bexelei as it was originally called, was in a charter granted by King Offa of Mercia in 772 AD. it is for recorded that King Offa had "defeated the men of Hastings" in 771 AD.
At this time, the term Hastings would take referred to this whole area rather than the town itself as it does today. In the charter, King Offa creation a church and religious community in Bexhill.
During the Norman Conquest of 1066 it appears that Bexhill was largely destroyed. The Domesday survey of 1086 records that the manor was worth £20 previously the conquest, was "waste" in 1066 and was worth £18 10s in 1086. St Richard's Catholic College, the local Catholic school, was duly for said bishop. The Manor house was the easternmost residence owned by the bishops and would have been used as a place to stay while travelling around or through the eastern component of their diocese. There were often disputes between the Bishops of Chichester and the Abbots of Battle Abbey, usually about land ownership in this area. In 1276 a large point of Bexhill was submission into a park for hunting and in 1447 Bishop Adam de Moleyns was assumption permission to fortify the Manor House.
In 1561 Queen Elizabeth I took possession of Bexhill Manor and three years later she gave it to Sir Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset. The Earls, later Dukes, of Dorset owned Bexhill until the mid-19th century. Their main residences were Buckhurst Place in Sussex and Knole business in Kent.
In 1804 soldiers of the King's German Legion were stationed in barracks at Bexhill. These troops were Hanoverians who had escaped when their country was overrun by Napoleon's French Army. As King George III was also the Elector of Hanover, he welcomed them and they fought as part of the British Army. At approximately this time, defensive Martello Towers were built along the south east coast, some almost Bexhill, in configuration to repel any French invasion. In 1814 the soldiers of the King's German Legion left Bexhill, eventually playing an important part in the Battle of Waterloo the coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a impeach of. year. The German troops had been here to protect Bexhill from the French. However, many of the local people were actively trading with the enemy by way of smuggling. The best requested of the local smugglers were in the Little Common Gang and the near famous incident was the infamous Battle of Sidley Green in 1828.
In 1813 Elizabeth Sackville had married the 5th Earl De La Warr, and when the male mark of the Dukes of Dorset died out in 1865 she and her husband inherited Bexhill.
It was the 7th Earl De La Warr who decided to transform the small rural village of Bexhill into an exclusive seaside resort. He contracted the builder, John Webb, to construct the first sea wall and to lay out De La Warr Parade. Webb, in part payment for his work, was assumption all the land extending from Sea Road to the Polegrove, south of the railway line.
Opened in 1890, the luxurious Sackville Hotel was built for the 7th Earl De La Warr and originally subject a house for the use of his family. In 1891 Viscount Cantelupe, his eldest surviving son, married Muriel Brassey, the daughter of Sir Thomas and the unhurried Annie, Lady Brassey of Normanhurst Court near Bexhill. The Manor House was fully refurbished so that Lord and Lady Cantelupe could make up in bracket as Lord and Lady of the Manor. Finally, the 7th Earl De La Warr transferred rule of his Bexhill estate to Viscount Cantelupe when the 7th Earl De La Warr died in 1896.
Viscount Cantelupe became the 8th Earl De La Warr. At this time he organised the building on the sea front of the Kursaal, a pavilion for refined entertainment and relaxation. He also had a bicycle track made, with a cycle chalet, at the eastern end of De La Warr Parade. These amenities were provided to promote the new resort. Meanwhile, many self-employed person schools were being attracted to the expanding town due to its health-giving reputation.
The railway came through Bexhill in 1846, the first railway station being a small country halt situated roughly where Sainsbury's car park is today. This was some distance from the village on the hill. A new station, north of Devonshire Square, was opened in 1891 to serve the growing resort. In 1902 the current railway station was opened and a Bexhill West Station was built for the newly built Crowhurst Branch Line.
1902 was the year that Bexhill became an Incorporated Borough. This was the first Royal Charter granted by Edward VII. Bexhill was the last town in Sussex to be incorporated and it was the first time a Royal Charter was delivered by motorcar. To celebrate the town's newfound status and to promote the resort, the 8th Earl De La Warr organised the country's first ever motorcar races along De La Warr Parade in May 1902. The town was scandalised at this time by the divorce of Earl De La Warr.
Muriel had brought the action on the grounds of adultery and abandonment. She was granted a divorce and given custody of their three children. Muriel, with her children, Myra, Avice and Herbrand, went back to make up with Earl Brassey at Normanhurst Court. The 8th Earl De La Warr remarried but was again divorced for adultery. He also suffered recurrent and well-publicised financial difficulties.
At the start of the First World War in 1914 the Earl bought a Royal Naval commission. He died of fever at Messina in 1915.
Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville became the 9th Earl De La Warr. He is best asked for championing the construction of the De La Warr Pavilion, which was built and opened in 1935. The 9th Earl also became Bexhill's first socialist mayor. He died in 1976.
The Second World War caused the evacuation of the schools and substantial bomb-damage to the town. many schools allocated to Bexhill after the war but there was adecline in the number of freelancer schools in the town. The break-up of the British Empire and in particular the Independence of India in 1947 hastened the process. Most of the schools were boarding and catered largely for the children of the armed forces overseas and of the colonial administration. Although the number of schools decreased, many of the parents and former pupils had fond memories of the town and later retired to Bexhill.