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EASTBOURNE |
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Like so many of the southeast's seaside resorts,
EASTBOURNE
was kick-started into life in the 1840s, when the Brighton, Lewes & Hastings railway company built a branch line from Lewes to the sea. Past holiday-makers include George Orwell, the composer Claude Debussy - who finished writing
La Mer
here - as well as Marx and Engels. Nowadays Eastbourne has a solid reputation as a retirement town - albeit one that's a touch livelier than the nearby custom-built Peacehaven. Eastbourne's elegant three-mile seafront consists of houses and hotels and is tainted by barely a shop, but the greatest draw around is the South Downs, which the sea has ground into a series of dramatic chalk cliffs around
Beachy Head
, just west of town.
The Town
Conforming to traditions, Eastbourne's
pier
is the focal point of its seafront: opened in 1872 and among the finest on the south coast. The promenade is framed by two prominent red-brick Martello forts: the northeastern one, the
Redoubt...
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