The greatest novelist of the Victorian age had a quiet connection to Eastbourne. Long before the town became a bustling resort, Charles Dickens made several visits to an ancient house in the Old Town — a link now marked by a blue plaque. Here’s the story of Dickens in Eastbourne.
The great novelist
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) is generally regarded as the finest novelist of the Victorian period, and one of the most influential writers in the English language. From Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol to David Copperfield, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, his novels created some of literature’s most unforgettable characters and gave us the very word “Dickensian”. At the height of his fame he was an international celebrity, his stories devoured in monthly instalments by rich and poor alike.
Dickens’s Eastbourne visits
According to the town’s records, Dickens made several visits to Eastbourne during the 1830s — the decade in which his star was rising with The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. He came as a guest of his close friend, the Victorian artist Augustus Egg RA, who rented a house in the Old Town’s Borough Lane. For a young writer under the relentless pressure of serial deadlines, a few days by the sea in a quiet Sussex village would have been a welcome escape from London.
The plaque and the house
The house in question is “Pilgrims”, 4–6 Borough Lane, an ancient building in the heart of Eastbourne’s Old Town. A blue plaque there records that Charles Dickens “made several visits to this ancient house in the 1830s”. It was put up in 2005 by the Eastbourne Dickensians, the local society devoted to the author, whose then chairperson championed the memorial.
Did you know? Local legend has it that secret underground passages once linked Pilgrims to the nearby St Mary’s parish church and the old Lamb Inn — the kind of atmospheric detail Dickens himself might have relished.
Like Eastbourne’s other literary plaques, this one marks a private building, so it’s one to enjoy from the street as you explore the pretty lanes of the Old Town — an area that still has the village character Dickens would have known.
A visitor, not a resident
It’s worth being honest about the connection: Dickens was an occasional visitor to Eastbourne rather than a resident, and his best-known seaside haunt was Broadstairs in Kent, which he loved and returned to for years. But that shouldn’t diminish the pleasure of knowing that the author of A Christmas Carol spent time in the town — one more thread in Eastbourne’s surprisingly rich literary story, alongside Lewis Carroll and George Orwell.
Charles Dickens in Eastbourne: FAQs
Did Charles Dickens visit Eastbourne?
Yes. Records indicate he made several visits to Eastbourne in the 1830s, staying as a guest of his friend, the artist Augustus Egg, at a house in Borough Lane in the Old Town.
Where is the Charles Dickens plaque in Eastbourne?
On “Pilgrims”, 4–6 Borough Lane, in Eastbourne’s Old Town. It was erected in 2005 by the Eastbourne Dickensians. It marks a private house, so please view it respectfully from the street.
Did Dickens live in Eastbourne?
No — he was a visitor rather than a resident. His famous seaside home was at Broadstairs in Kent, though his visits to Eastbourne are a genuine part of the town’s history.
Discover more: explore the famous people of Eastbourne, follow the blue plaque trail, or wander the historic Old Town.