Hastings retro - how Waterloo Square became Wellington Square

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The government in an act of Euro diplomacy is renaming its new nuclear submarine HMS Agincourt as HMS Achilles. In 1415 an English and Welsh army of about 11,000 men, most of them archers, defeated a French army of over 20,000 men in the Battle of Agincourt, a key part of the Hundred Years War.

Former Conservative defence secretaries have described the re-titling as “craven political correctness” and “nothing short of sacrilege”.

Whitehall is following in the footsteps of Hastings Council which decided in 1819 to rename the new Waterloo Square as Wellington Square in order not to put off French tourists.

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Construction of Waterloo Square had started in 1816, following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 by the Duke of Wellington, and the new peacetime sparked a surge in the popularity of Hastings as a fashionable seaside resort. Hastings had been in the frontline in the many years of the Napoleonic War, and during it the Duke had been in Hastings on many occasions to oversee the large numbers of troops stationed in the town. So the victory at Waterloo was both a great relief for the people of Hastings after many years of trouble, and a triumph for the man who was almost a local hero.

The Castle Hotel and Baptist Church, Wellington Square, c1905. Pic: contributedThe Castle Hotel and Baptist Church, Wellington Square, c1905. Pic: contributed
The Castle Hotel and Baptist Church, Wellington Square, c1905. Pic: contributed

In 1815 the only buildings in today’s town centre were in parts of what are now Castle Street and Wellington Place. But the local Breeds family could see the development potential, and in the following years built much of the square and its surrounding buildings. They funded the scheme from the large profits they had made from supplying bricks, lime and other building materials for the construction of the Martello Towers in the Hastings area from 1805 to 1808.

Construction work on the square began on its south-east corner, and in early June 1817 the Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported that work on “Waterkoo Square … was in a considerable rate of progress”. It also said that magistrates had just granted a licence for an inn there. This was to be the Castle Hotel on the square’s south- west corner. It opened in 1818 and by the 1820s the Castle was the second-biggest Hotel in Hastings, after the Swan Hotel in the High Street. It was demolished in the late 1960s and replaced by what was initially a Tesco supermarket, and is now Poundstretcher.

But it took several years to build all of the square. On 4 August 1817 the Advertiser reported that “for some circumstances unexplained, Waterloo Square is in an unpromising state, the workmen having ceased their labours there for some time.” However, there was good news: “The influx of company to Hastings for the past fortnight has been almost as incredible as it is indescribable. … At the present moment there is not a house in or about the town unoccupied. … The scene of fashionable gaiety, of innocent amusement and of healthful enjoyment never shone more conspicuous than that at the present period.”

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Waterloo Square consisted mainly of large boarding houses for upmarket visitors, but as many of these tourists came from France, it was thought that some would be put off by the name, so it was changed to Wellington Square in about 1819. Then some years later its neighbouring street was also renamed. What is now Russell Street, running behind the west side of the square, was for the poorer classes working in the square’s large properties. It was initially called Blucher Street, after Prince Gebhard von Blucher who had been in command of the Prussian army at Waterloo, playing a decisive role in supporting Wellington. It was renamed after the prominent Liberal MP John Russell.

The square being built c1818. Pic: ContributedThe square being built c1818. Pic: Contributed
The square being built c1818. Pic: Contributed

Most of the square’s buildings had been completed by 1823, with the last to go up being the Baptist Church on the west side, which opened in 1838.

Waterloo Square was renamed to avoid alienating the many well-off French visitors who lodged there, but as few stayed in the Old Town, Waterloo Passage in the High Street next to the Filo pub was left as it was – and still is! Not to mention Trafalgar Cottages in Tackleway.

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