Newhaven – Tide Mills

I’ve walked the Seven Sisters in East Sussex many times, although usually ending at Exceat or Eastbourne. I’d never gone into Seaford and Newhaven which are a little further along the coast, but between them is this lost village that I hadn’t previously been aware of.

Without the information boards I wouldn’t have been any the wiser as to what the remains of the buildings were. There was a settlement which built up around the mill which was located here, and there was a relatively sizeable population by the mid-nineteenth century.

The mill stopped operating in 1900 and this made most of the housing lived in by workers redundant. In 1936 the settlement was designated as being unfit for human habitation and in 1939 the remaining residents were told that they had to leave.

This is part of the nurses’ home.

The remains of the marine hospital.

More information about the marine hospital.

More of the marine hospital building. The buildings location by the sea isn’t helping its preservation, which is part of the reason that the settlement fell into such disrepair even when people were still living here.

The old railway line which ran to the mill site, and there is a former railway station here which is currently being investigated as part of the archaeological dig.

As mentioned above, there’s currently an archaeological dig taking place to try and understand more about the site, and I only had time to visit a small portion of it. However, it’s quite a large site and the remains are relatively extensive. I shall visit again and spend more time here.