All Saints
Hastings, Sussex
The church was founded in 1020AD, ravaged by the French and rebuilt between 1417 and 1430.
St Clement's has many beautiful and interesting features.
As you enter via the porch there is a small modem stained glass window, the work of Margery May in 1962. On the right as you enter is a framed picture and sonnet in memory of Dante Gabriel Rosseti, poet and artist who married Elizabeth Siddall here in 1860. The beautiful Sanctuary Lamp is engraved with their names and was donated by the townspeople.
In the nave you will see two magnificent candlelit chandeliers which are used at special services including Christmas. One was presented by the Hastings Barons of the Cinque Ports who supported the canopy over George II at his coronation in 1761. The other chandelier was given by the townspeople. The great east window together with the Lady Chapel Window are the work of Philip Cole who was the former principal of the Hastings School of Art.
The original windows were blown out by a bomb blast in 1945 when a German bomb demolished the Old Swann Inn in the High Street. This incident is part inspiration for an episode of the television detective series Foyle’s War and the fictional Inspector Foyle’s house is in Croft Road at the west end of St Clement’s.
