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HASTINGS ' Old Town, east of the pier, holds most of the appeal of this fading seaside resort. With the exception of the oddly neglected Regency architecture of Pelham Crescent , directly beneath the castle ruins, All Saints Street is the most evocative thoroughfare, punctuated with the odd rickety, timber-framed dwelling from the fifteenth century. The thirteenth-century St Clement's church stands in the High Street, on the other side of The Bourne. By a louvred window at the top of the church's tower rests a cannonball that was lodged there by a Dutch galleon in the 1600s - its poignancy rather lost by a companion fitted in the eighteenth century for the sake of symmetry.

Down by the seafront, the area known as The Stade is characterized by its tall, black weatherboard net shops , dating from the mid-nineteenth century. To raise Hastings' tone, the town council attempted to shift the fishermen and their malodorously drying nets from the beach by increasing rents per square foot and these sinister-looking towers were their response. There's a trio of nautical attractions on the adjacent Rock-a-Nore Road: the Fisherman's Museum (daily: April-Oct 10am-5pm; Nov-March 11am-4pm; free), a converted seaman's chapel, offers an account of the port's commercial activities; the neighbouring Shipwreck Heritage Centre (Feb-Easter daily 11am-4pm; Easter-Oct daily 10am-5pm; £1), details the dramas of unfortunate mariners; while the Underwater World , opposite (daily: Easter-Sept 10am-5pm; Oct-Easter 10am-4pm; £5.25; ), features walk-through tunnels and magnified tanks housing marine creatures.

Castle Hill, separating the Old Town from the visually less interesting modern quarter, can be ascended by the West Hill Cliff Railway , one of two Victorian funicular railways in Hastings (daily: April-Oct 10.30am-5.30pm; Nov-March 11am-4pm; 80p). On top of the hill is where William the Conqueror erected his first castle in 1066, one of several wooden prefabricated structures brought over from Normandy in sections. In the thirteenth century, storms caused the cliffs to subside, tipping most of the castle into the sea; the surviving ruins, however, offer an excellent prospect of the town. The castle is home to The 1066 Story (daily: April-Sept 10am-5pm; Oct-March 11am-3.30pm; £3.20), in which the events of the last successful invasion of the British mainland are described inside a mock-up of a siege tent. More fun is the Smugglers' Adventure (daily: Easter-Sept 10am-5.30pm; Oct-Easter 11am-3.30pm; £5.25, combined ticket with The 1066 Story £7), over the hill. Here the labyrinthine St Clement's caves have been converted to house a number of amusing and educational dioramas depicting the town's long history of duty-dodging.