Enter

Step through the small door at 135 All Saints Street and journey back in time to another forgotten and truly magical world.

This 16th century merchant’s house is one of the most complete Tudor houses in Hastings Old Town, which underwent a unique and extensive restoration programme from 2006 – 2011 to create the atmospheric dwelling you will see today.

The owner, Alastair Hendy, has taken it back to how it may have looked when first built, carrying out major structural repairs throughout, meticulously restoring every surface and internal fixture – yet reinventing the dust of history. Also emphatically autobiographical, the house challenges the conventions of the traditional restoration make-over and Tudor interior, and looks beyond each room’s constraints and into its more conceptual and imaginative possibilities.

The restoration has allowed it to breathe and, without trying to recreate a Tudor past, the rooms have been humbly furnished to reflect the character of the house. You will experience first hand this magical time capsule lit by candlelight and be able to pick up a few tips on sensitive restoration along with some imaginative design solutions. Unfettered emotionalism sustains Alastair’s appreciation of beauty – and it is through the poetry of his house he shares this elusive world with you.

It is like stepping into the pages of a Grimm’s fairytale. Come and see – you’ll be amazed.

Old Town Mortuary

The house also has some secrets of its own for, up until the 1950s, the rear wing was used as an undertaker’s workshop, cadavers being stored in the adjoining cellar room.

Two elderly Hastings fisherman have recently recounted their memories about when as boys they would come to The Wilderness – as was this upper section of All Saints Street known then – and peer through the back windows of the house to spot the bodies laid out, then scamper away.