Meads is an area of the town of Eastbourne in the English county of East Sussex. It is at the westerly end of the town below the South Downs.

Boundaries

The local government ward of Meads is extensive, stretching from Birling Gap in the west to almost the pier in the east; it encompasses the famous cliffs of Beachy Head and the former fishing hamlet of Holywell.

thumb|Eastbourne, Meads end of upper promenade, view over Holywell towards Beachy Head

In recent years, the unofficial terms 'Upper Meads' and 'Lower Meads' have been coined to differentiate between that section of the ward on higher ground to the west, and the lower part nearer to the town centre. Although there are no official boundaries, it can be said that 'Upper Meads' (the part originally known to locals as Meads) lies approximately within the bounds of the Meads Conservation Area.

Councillors

The ward is currently represented on Eastbourne Borough Council by three councillors – two Conservative, one Liberal Democrat. A further Liberal Democrat councillor represents the Meads division on East Sussex County Council.

History

A 1783 map of Eastbourne shows but a couple of farms in what was then the hamlet of Meads. However, it is known that there were three in the 19th century: Place Farm, whose farmhouse survives as the listed building now known as Meads Place in Gaudick Road, Colstocks Farm, which stood on the site of St Andrew’s School and Sprays Farm, which was at the corner of Meads Street and Matlock Road. In 1859, Henry Currey, the agent of the 7th Duke of Devonshire, drew up plans for large residences with gardens of commensurate proportions. In 1871, the population of the town having trebled to 11,000, the Eastbourne Chronicle describes Meads as ‘the unrivalled Belgravia of a salubrious and flourishing health resort'. The spiritual needs of the inhabitants were catered for with the consecration of the parish church dedicated to St John the Evangelist in 1869.

Many domestic servants lived in; others made their way to work from other parts of the town, or occupied cottages clustered around the three pubs – the Pilot, the Ship and the Blacksmith’s Arms, the latter demolished before the turn of the century.

In 1894, a small square of cottages was built for working class occupation. Originally known as Wallis’s Cottages, the square was subsequently named The Village.

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Coachmen and grooms, followed in due course by chauffeurs, lived above the stables of De Walden Mews, the property of Lady Howard de Walden. Her mansion, De Walden Court (1884), in Meads Road is now a listed building. The inhabitants of Meads were traditionally known as ‘Meadsites’, the term remaining in current use until at least the 1950s.

All Saints Hospital was built between 1867 and 1869 on land given by the 7th Duke of Devonshire; its chapel was added in 1874. All Saints was built as an Anglo-Catholic nunnery and convalescent home and designed by Henry Woodyer. The listed chapel in the style of High Victorian Gothic Revival is noted for polychrome effects, geometric tiling and an unusual gallery, supported on marble pillars.

Meads during World War Two

Little of significance occurred in Meads during the period of the Phoney War, but with the fall of France in June 1940, many people departed for safety further north. Large houses were shut up as their owners left the anticipated invasion zone and schools were closed. Eastbourne College was evacuated to Radley College in Oxfordshire on 20 June.

Air raids

thumb|left| The Bf 110 was a twin-engine heavy fighter ('Zerstörer' - German for 'Destroyer'). The one which crashed in Meads on 16 August 1940 (A2 + GL) was the first enemy aircraft to be brought down in the County Borough of Eastbourne. At about 5.30 pm on Friday 16 August 1940, the first German aircraft to be brought down within what was then the County Borough of Eastbourne crashed in Meads. A Messerschmitt Bf 110 of the Luftwaffe unit known as ZG 2 had left the former French aerodrome at Guyancourt as part of an escort for bombers raiding RAF airfields at Feltham, Heston and Heathrow. Over the South Downs, the Messerschmitt was engaged by a British fighter – almost certainly the Hurricane flown by Pilot Officer H N E Salmon of No. 1 Squadron. The German aircraft broke up in the air, and the pilot, Hauptmann Ernst Hollekamp, was killed when he fell on the roof of Hill Brow School in Gaudick Road, his parachute unopened. Part of the nose fell onto the Royal Eastbourne golf course, close to the end of Gaudick Road. The rear gunner, Feldwebel Richard Schurk, came down in the sea off Holywell and was drowned. The bulk of the aircraft crashed in the grounds of Aldro School in Darley Road — the wreckage was incorrectly identified in the local press as being that of a Heinkel He 111. At the same time, a lorry was hit in Hampden Park by a bomb which had probably been jettisoned by one of the German bombers returning from the raid on RAF airfields. Three Council workmen were killed – two instantly, the other dying the following day from burns.

On 4 May 1942, the first raid on Eastbourne by fighter-bombers took place. One of the casualties was the Meads parish church of St John, which was set ablaze and severely damaged. Until the church was rebuilt in 1957, services were held at the parish hall in Meads Street. The tower, which originally had a steeple, survived the raid but was not attached to the nave when the latter was rebuilt.

The former All Saints Hospital, a Grade II listed building, was converted into 53 flats, with a further 52 newly built apartments within three separate buildings in the grounds. The listed chapel, however, was retained.

Population

The total population of Meads is 11,769.

Demographics

{| class="wikitable" border="1"

|+ Population by age groups

! Population by age

! Total

! 0-14 yrs

! 15-29 yrs

! 30-44 yrs

! 45-64 yrs

! 65-74 yrs

! 74-84 yrs

! more than 85 yrs

|-

| Eastbourne

| 94,816

| 16.0%

| 17.3%

| 18.4%

| 24.8%

| 10.2%

| 8.9%

| 4.3%

|-

| Meads

| 10,867

| 6.8%

| 19.4%

| 10.2%

| 21.0%

| 14.3%

| 18.5%

| 9.9%

|}

Meads has an average age of 54.1 and the national average is 39.8, that is a difference of 14.3 years.

{| class="wikitable" border="1"

|+ Population by ethnic group

! Ethnicity

! All people

! White

! Mixed

! Asian or Asian British

! Black or Black British

! Other ethnic group

|-

| Eastbourne

| 94,412

| 94.1%

| 1.8%

| 2.8%

| 0.8%

| 0.5%

|-

| Meads

| 10,725

| 93.0%

| 1.7%

| 3.8%

| 0.8%

| 0.6%

|}

{| class="wikitable" border="1"

|+ Population density

! Year

! 2001

! 2011

|-

| Eastbourne

| 20.3%

| 22.5%

|-

| Meads

| 7.8%

| 8.6%

|}

Educational establishments

Higher & Further Education

In 1947, a teacher training college opened in Meads, the first students being troops who had recently returned to civilian life. The university pulled out of Meads in 2025, and the sites are now the subject of development plans.

Schools

Private sector

thumb|left|St Bede’s Preparatory School - one of the two remaining independent schools in 'Upper Meads'. In Victorian times, Meads became a favoured area for private boarding schools — a tradition which persisted until economic factors brought about their gradual demise. Examples of the latter include Clovelly-Kepplestone girls' school which closed in Meads in 1934 and St. Christopher's Girls School which closed the same year.

Pike's Eastbourne Directory of 1911-12 shows five 'Ladies' Schools in Bolsover Road, together with Hill Brow boys' school which subsequently took over the premises of St. Christopher's girls school in Denton Road when that school closed in 1934.

A street directory for 1940 (prepared in 1939) lists ten private schools in 'Upper Meads' alone.

Two independent schools now remain in 'Upper Meads' - St Andrew's Prep and St Bede's Preparatory School (now called Bede's Prep School). The public school, Eastbourne College is in 'Lower Meads'.

State sector

St. John's Meads is a Church of England Aided Primary School, with approximately 215 children on its roll. Undergoing many additions and changes over the years, the school has been on its present site for over a century.

References

  • Eastbourne Meads Website
  • St John's Church Meads
  • Eastbourne — a brief history
  • Eastbourne College
  • St Andrew's Prep
  • Bede's Prep School
  • St John's Meads C of E Primary School
  • Aldro School