Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve is a truly fabulous corner of Sussex and home to a number of what some might call hidden gems, that include waterfalls, secluded beaches that you have to climb down a rope to access and the Hastings hermit’s cave.
Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve
Covering some 853 acres of ancient gill woodland, heathland, grassland and farmland, together with five kilometres of dramatic sandstone cliffs and coastline, the park feels like one of the wildest landscapes in Sussex. It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation.
Hastings itself has long had an unusual relationship with caves. On the West Hill above the Old Town, the famous St Clement’s Caves have accumulated stories of smugglers, tunnels and wartime use as bomb shelters. Along the coastline around Rock-a-Nore, caves and cliff dwellings once formed part of everyday life.
Finding the hermit’s cave
Climb the steps from Hastings Old Town or take the funicular if it happens to be running and you emerge into broad open grassland and extraordinary sea views. At the summit sits an Iron Age hillfort, a reminder that people have been drawn to this landscape for a very long time indeed.
As you emerge from the East Hill tunnel there is a map nearby and, while not perfect, it includes directions to the cave. Take a photograph before setting off; you may thank yourself later. From East Hill, then continue for around 0.5 km, passing the Iron Age hillfort on your left. Continue as the path begins dipping into woodland. On my walk, I took the first path to the left as the route entered the glen and started to descend: a narrow path with undergrowth crowding around both sides.
A little further on I took the first path to the right, following the route as it twisted and wiggled through the trees. I wasn’t even sure if I was on a path at some points. If you are using a map, the cave sits south-west of the reservoir, roughly in the upper middle section of Ecclesbourne Glen. The total distance from the bottom of the steps in Hastings Old Town to the cave is roughly 1.5 km.
And in the interests of honesty, I eventually did what walkers have done for generations: asked somebody who looked as though they knew where they were going and then scuttled around until I found it. Eventually the woodland opens and you emerge above the cave itself, with a rough path scrambling down towards its entrance.
Meet the hermit
Its best-known resident was John Hancocks, a London draper who arrived in Hastings around 1893, close to bankruptcy and trying to rebuild a life that had gone badly wrong. According to local accounts, he had once been reasonably successful until a friend approached him for financial help. Hancocks lent the money. The friend failed to repay him.
Arriving in Hastings, he initially lived as a squatter before discovering a cave tucked away in Ecclesbourne Glen. He spoke to the landowner and was allowed to stay. Little by little he created a home.
He enclosed a small plot in front with a hedge and large wooden gate and settled into a life that would remain there for the rest of his years. His “homestead”, of which there are no signs now beyond the cave, reportedly contained a stove, though apparently no bed, and records suggest he cultivated the surrounding land and worked as a market gardener.
Descriptions of him are unexpectedly affectionate. Tanned from life outdoors, not especially well groomed perhaps, but never dirty or unkempt. Solitary but peaceful. Known for singing quietly to himself. There are even suggestions that another cave-dweller further up the valley occasionally disturbed the peace.
Some details remain uncertain. Accounts disagree on elements of his story, including the year of his death, with some sources placing it in 1904 and others later. Like many lives lived quietly at the edges of society, parts of his story seems to have slipped into uncertainty. But a visit to his cave is a poignant reminder of lives previously lived and the enduring memories of a landscape that to us, may feel new.
If you have enjoyed this post about the Hastings hermit’s cave, you may also like:
