Quiz: Historic Hastings

The Weald of Sussex, a range of wooded sandstone hills which reaches the sea at Hastings, was an important source of iron in earlier times, since it had the ore and also plenty of timber which provided charcoal to smelt it. With the development of coke-fuelled furnaces in the Industrial Revolution, iron production in England moved to the Midlands and the North . At Hastings, the remains of Roman iron workings have been uncovered at Beauport Park on the north-western edge of the town.

When King Edward the Confessor died in January 1066, three men claimed the English throne - Harold Godwinson of Wessex (the most powerful man in England), Harald Hardrada of Norway and Duke William of Normandy. All could show some justification for their claims: Harold Godwinson saw off Hardrada but was defeated by William at a spot a few miles inland from Hastings, where the little town of Battle now stands.

The origins of the Cinque Ports confederacy are obscure. Some historians think it may have its beginnings in pre-Conquest times. Owing largely to natural causes such as changes in the coastline, the towns' importance declined rapidly from the late thirteenth century onwards: today only Dover maintains its ancient prestige as a major port, though Hastings still has a small fishing fleet.

Hastings was no longer a great port or shipbuilding centre, but it managed to contribute one sizeable vessel to the English fleet - a 60-tonner with eight guns called the Anne Bonaventure.

In a recent poll, Oates was voted the third worst Briton in history. To me the most amazing fact about him is that, no matter how many times he was exposed, he managed to return to favour. He was expelled from Merchant Taylors' School, and had to leave Cambridge University when he could not pay his debts. Having been ordained as an Anglican priest, he was soon forced to leave his first parish (Bobbing, in Essex), and while serving his father in Hastings as a curate he was charged with perjury. Becoming a chaplain in the Royal Navy, he was dismissed within a year. He turned his attention to the Roman Catholic church, and was expelled from two continental seminaries. Back in England, Oates - together with a certain Israel Tonge and others - concocted stories of a Roman Catholic plot to kill the King. In the politico-religious climate of the time, he was widely believed, especially when the magistrate investigating his allegations was mysteriously murdered. Many innocent men were executed on the basis of Oates's evidence, but he went too far when he accused the King's Catholic brother (later James VII & II) of treason. Oates was convicted of sedition, fined £100,000 (an impossible sum for him to pay) and imprisoned. When James came to the throne, Oates faced further charges and was pilloried and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, with the "Glorious" Revolution of 1688, he was pardoned by King William III and granted a pension which eventually amounted to £300 a year (about £40,000 in early 21st-century money). He died in obscurity in 1705.

The vogue for sea bathing, which began in the late eighteenth century, brought visitors to many south coast towns. Some of them found the little fishing port of Hastings picturesque, but others were repelled by its poverty and squalor. For the more fastidious tourist, James Burton and his son Decimus built the new resort of St Leonards-on-Sea, which was ultimately brought within the borough of Hastings.

A chess club was formed in Hastings in 1882, and an international congress (still sometimes said to be the greatest chess competition of all time) was held in 1895. Since 1920 - 21 there has been an annual congress beginning shortly after Christmas and extending about a week into the New Year.

Robert Tressell was the pen-name of Robert Noonan. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to South Africa at the age of eighteen. After the Boer War he wound up in Hastings, where he worked at a number of jobs in the painting and decorating trade. In poor health, he moved to Liverpool with the intention of taking ship to Canada, but died in a workhouse in Liverpool in his forty-first year. The novel, finished in 1910, was first published posthumously in 1914 in an abridged form; the full text did not appear till 1955.

Baird lived a rather peripatetic life in the 1920s, and it is difficult to find agreement about what he did and where he did it in the years before he gave his early demonstrations in London. However, he certainly lived in Hastings from late 1922 till the autumn of 1924, and transmitted an image of the shadow of a Maltese cross over a distance of about 10 feet (3 metres) at his laboratory in Queen's Avenue (a Victorian shopping arcade). According to many accounts, his landlord made him quit these premises after his experiments caused an explosion.

The ground opened in 1864, and hosted County Championship matches regularly from 1895. From the late 1920s to the late 1960s there was a County week featuring two Sussex games (one of which was usually against Kent). The end-of-season Festival week was also a popular event. The last games were played in 1989.