The controversy about the remains of Beachy Head Woman was played out against the background of an all too familiar story of local authority cutbacks leading to shrinking heritage provision.
In 2024 Eastbourne Borough Council was facing a major financial crisis which led to discussion of major cuts to public services. While it was the council’s plan to close almost all public toilets which garnered the most media attention (a plan which would partially come into effect by the decision to close any which were vandalised rather than repair them) – it was in the area of heritage where the cuts would intersect with the case of Beachy Head Woman.
One option which was immediately agreed upon was the closure of ‘The Beachy Head Story’ – an exhibition which included a room devoted to Beachy Head Woman’s remains and some artefacts from a similar era (but not associated with the burial).
The Beachy Head Story was housed in what was the former Beachy Head Countryside Centre and occupied half of the same building as a popular pub. While there was controversy over potential changes to the running of Eastbourne Theatres, the decision to close the Beachy Head Story garnered little coverage and was taken as almost being a foregone conclusion.
This decision was perhaps unsurprising given the history of Eastbourne Borough Council under various political leadership in regards to heritage. Historic sites in the town – unless run entirely by volunteers or charities – have been closed down completely steadily over time. Possibly the most obvious example is the one which first housed the Eastbourne Ancestors exhibition – the Redoubt.
The Redoubt is a Napoleonic era fortress on Eastbourne sea front which forms part of the chain of fortifications which were built along the coast in the same era known as Martello towers. They are a distinctive landmark along the Kent and Sussex coast, having appeared on postcards for many years. While many Martello towers have been put to various uses from private homes to exhibition spaces – both the Redoubt, and the Martello tower known locally as the Wish Tower, have long been closed to the public.
The Redoubt previously housed a military museum and the outside entrance still shows increasing weatherbeaten signage advertising this. After various attempts to use it as a concert venue or exhibition space, is has been left to decay – and is being slowly claimed by wild plants, with its external curtain wall being increasingly covered in graffiti.
The Towner Art Gallery – which once shared a home with the Gildridge Park Museum – has continued, having been moved out of council hands some time ago – though in a purpose built gallery attached to the Congress Theatre which is under council control.
The story locally is that the Heritage department has undergone rapid downsizing, with little public reporting of exactly what options have been considered for the few sites Heritage Eastbourne still has charge of. The only heritage listing for the town is volunteer maintained, and one blog associated with Eastbourne Heritage has not been updated since 2024.
With local and national elections due in UK in May, and significant reorganisations of local government in England underway, it is for archaeologists and the wider heritage world, local people and local politicians to decide if that situation is satisfactory, and if they decide it is not, what to do about it.
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