This cache is close to the site of the old Coastguard Lookout and has been made by artist Mary Hooper and a group of volunteers working on the Hidden Hastings Heritage project.
Walk with us through time, sit and stare, take a few moments to let the stories and history of this location spark the theatre of your imagination. Each member of the team discovered stories and histories that make this place one of the treasures of our landscape, here are a few tantalising snippets but so much more to discover and tell. Please take a sticker as a souvenir. Sticker designed by Adrian Newton.
- There are dinosaur footprints dating from between 145 and 100m years ago, found between 2014 and 2018 following periods of coastal erosion along the cliffs near Hastings. These include prints an Iguanodon – a 2.7m tall dinosaur – and Ankylosaurus, which was around six metres long.
- In 1787 General William Roy erected a 32 foot scaffold supporting a theodolite. This was the first triangulation survey which linked Paris and London, Fairlight Down providing the third trig point which could be seen for miles.
- In 1794 a signal station was built where Fairlight Coastguard station is today, because of the Napoleonic Wars with France. It was part of a line of them across the South Coast to identify enemy vessels.
- 1825 Sir John Herscel was developing the longitude line between the Paris Observatory and Greenwich and Fairlight was chosen to make the cross channel link with France, so lots of pioneering map work took place here.
- The Coastguard service used this location to spot smugglers and boats in distress.
- Underneath your feet somewhere is a hidden bunker used by the Royal Observer Core and another used by the RAF and WRENS. The ROC were the 'eyes and ears' of the RAF during times of conflict.
- Amy Johnson, the pioneering British pilot landed in Fairlight in 1931 and proposed to give tourist flights but there wasn't a suitable site for an Airfield. She first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
Work out the message left in the cache using this chart. Please cover the cache with grass when you go.:
To find out more about this cache and the people who made it, check out the QR code on the log book or follow this link
https://www.englandscreativecoast.com/geocaching/geocache-hastings-contemporary-look-out/
This geocache is one of many that form part of the world’s first Art GeoTour: England’s Creative Coast (GT4A5). Within each uniquely created geocache, you will be able to hear about and see local hidden histories and hear stories, music and poetry, retold by local people based on their amazing coastal towns.
More about England’s Creative Coast
England’s Creative Coast is a cultural adventure for 2021 that connects and celebrates the stunning South East coastline of England. Discover 7 new contemporary artworks in the breath-taking landscape across Essex, Kent and East Sussex and take part in our GeoTour, with every cache created by the local people that live in the coastal towns of Southend-on-Sea, Gravesend, Margate, Folkestone, Hastings, Bexhill-on-Sea and Eastbourne.
Find out more about the world’s first art GeoTour, and the organisations that helped bring it to life - Cement Fields, Creative Folkestone, De La Warr Pavilion, Hastings Contemporary, Metal, Towner Eastbourne and Turner Contemporary - at englandscreativecoast.com.
Please follow all government COVID guidelines. Interaction with the geocaches is done so at your own risk.