Thursday 25 August 2011

Old Town fishing fleet - scavenger hunt

Parts of our town are hundreds of years old......some of the buildings are Tudor.......locally it's known as the 'old town'........and it's one of Britain's oldest fishing ports.......there's no harbour.......boats have launched from the beach for over six hundred years......it actually has the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Britain.

Behind the boats are the 'net huts'.........these unique wooden buildings were originally used as workshops and storage for nets,sails and ropes........the Borough Council restricted the area allowed for each net hut to eight square feet because of the limited space between the cliffs and the sea........to overcome this problem the fishermen built their equipment stores upwards to maximise the allowed space and constructed three storeys, one above the other.......about 45 of these unique structures can still be seen today and they are considered one of Hastings most famous landmarks.......they are now mainly used for storage. 

Next to the net huts.........you can buy fresh fish........caught that same day.......and taken straight to the Fish Market.
Which finally brings me to the point.........a hand written sign for Rinda's scavenger hunt!!!
Interesting that you buy the shellfish by the kilo.....and the fish by the pound......no confusion there then!!!!!

14 comments:

Beverly said...

Those storage huts are so cool, I'll have to be sure the Chosen One and the boys see them (on your blog, doubt I can get them there in person)Hoping to share some cooked versions of all my produce soon :)

Kathyk said...

FAB atmospheric photos Jacky.

Happy Thursday

Kathyk

Alison said...

That's odd about the pricing....great pics though...and these huts are indeed cool!
Alison xx

Sandra said...

I really enjoyed this post, very interesting and I loved the photos

Carrie said...

Brilliant post.. I have always had the impression that you lived near to us (you are actually about 40mins away) and I am reading on my phone so the pictures are always slow to load but as soon as I started to read I thought "I know this place"! I started to read it out loud to my husband to say that it sounded like Hastings when scrolled down and saw that I was right. Lovely pictures!

Amy said...

All I know is that your fish and seafood prices are very cheap! Even if we buy straight from the boats - which we can down at Mum and Dad's, it is nowhere near that pricing ... most of our fish is around the $25 a kilo mark ... and we are all being encouraged to eat more of it - hard at those prices!

Sian said...

These photos are just so atmospheric Jacky - they make me want to take a trip to the seaside

Sarpreet said...

shellfish by the kilo and fish by the pound! lol - i would be confused! thank you for sharing the history of your town. I like things like this.

Melissa said...

Great photos!

scrappysue said...

What an interesting place to live, and great photos! x

Ginger said...

I enjoyed seeing these photos of where you live Jacky :) I really like the second photo. Mmmm love mussels... it is expensive to buy seafood here... but we have flown lobster in before and it is cheaper to do that than to go to the local market.

Scrappi Sandi said...

I love Hastings & we've stayed several times in Rye...lovely part of the world!...& just to confuse things even more...don't they also sell cockles & mussels by the pint?!!! Thanks for all those historical facts :)

Anonymous said...

Loved the glimpse at your home town and those fishing huts are amazing.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Jacky,
There's so much I love about this post that I've been saving it until I had a chance to come back and comment on it. Thanks for giving us such a neat insight into your town. I love those tall shacks!
And so great to see you notch another one off the scavenger hunt list.
Rinda