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Reopening the Museum and Storm Damage
We are delighted to be able to say that Seaford Museum is open again. We have instigated a one- way route and all visitors must wear face coverings, but we are open and looking forward to welcoming visitors again!
145 years ago this month Seaford was engulfed in another of its regular floods. Previously, in 1824, the incoming flood was so strong as to drive a barge all the way up to Bishopstone. The construction of the railway embankment a few years later protected that valley, instead, the storm of 14th November 1875 was centred on the town itself.
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In the early hours of that Sunday, there were storms observed out in the Channel to the South West with a broad low pressure front pressing up towards
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the Sussex coast. The sea reached its peak one hour before the high tide, overcoming the full length of the beach in what was described as a ‘rolling wave, carrying everything before it’. Bathing machines, huts, boats, boathouses, gates and anything movable was swept off the seafront and into the town. Doors and windows were battered in by the relentless flood, the buildings in Steyne Road, Church Street and Pelham Road being amongst the worst affected. One old bedridden man living in Church Street was unable to escape and had to be evacuated through his bedroom window by boat.
At its height, the flood reached Church Lane (which was then known as Coffin Lane) and to the doorstep of the Bay Hotel in Pelham Road. A ship with a cargo of timber had been in the Bay and timber was thrown into the town by the waves causing even greater damage. The damage caused in this part of Seaford was so extensive that many were left homeless, their houses having been inundated by sea water and some having walls knocked down by the force. The Bailiff of Seaford called for the setting up of a National Relief Fund to help the victims and this raised the astonishing sum of £1,200 relatively quickly.
In the days that followed, there were several unlikely reports of ‘curious events’, Allegedly, a haystack that had been standing at Lyons Place (by the Golf Links) was carried away by the tide to Chyngton half a mile away. On top of this were several ‘fowls’ that had taken refuge there and survived in perfect order. Similarly, it was reported that a billiard table had been washed away from the Assembly Rooms on the seafront and was found two or three days later at Cuckmere.
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Image: Probably taken from the painting by J Moxon who was a French artist just visiting Seaford at the time. It shows the flood from the bottom of Church Street, leading up to Coffin Lane, which ran just below the church.
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