Before Eastbourne was a holiday town, it was a health town. Victorians came here not just for fun but to be cured — by sea air, sea bathing and sunshine — and the town they built reflected it, from grand hotels to Britain’s first purpose-built convalescent hospital. This is the story of Eastbourne the health resort, and the remarkable Gothic landmark at its heart.
The cult of sea air
In the 18th century, doctors began prescribing something new: the seaside. Sea bathing and “bracing” salt air were held to cure everything from melancholy to consumption, and quiet coastal villages found themselves reborn as health resorts. Eastbourne’s moment came early — in 1780, four of King George III’s children were sent here for a summer holiday, a royal endorsement of the local air that put the little settlement on the fashionable map. Over the following century, as the Dukes of Devonshire built their elegant resort, health remained the great selling point: pure air off the Downs and the sea, sheltered sunshine, and a refined atmosphere that earned the town its nickname, “the Empress of Watering Places”. By 1871 the local paper could describe leafy Meads as the “Belgravia” of a flourishing health resort.
All Saints: a Gothic pioneer
The grandest monument of health-resort Eastbourne rose at the foot of the Downs in Meads. Between 1867 and 1869, on land given by the 7th Duke of Devonshire, the Anglican nursing sisterhood known as the All Saints Sisters of the Poor — led by their formidable founder, Mother Harriet Brownlow Byron — built the All Saints Convalescent Hospital: widely regarded as the first purpose-built seaside convalescent hospital in Britain. Designed by the “gentleman architect” Henry Woodyer in soaring Gothic Revival style, it looked more like a great monastic palace than a hospital, and it was soon joined by a magnificent chapel (1874) famed for its polychrome brickwork, geometric tiling and gallery carried on marble pillars — today a Grade II* listed treasure with its Belgian altar and German stained glass. Here, patients sent from London’s grime were nursed back to strength by the sisters, with sea air as the medicine.
Did you know? The hospital’s chaplain in the 1950s, the Reverend Hubert Brasier, was the father of future Prime Minister Theresa May — who was born in Eastbourne during his time here.
A town of convalescent homes
All Saints was the flagship of a whole fleet. A children’s convalescent home followed in its grounds from 1889, and across the town sprang up a constellation of health institutions: the Leaf Homoeopathic Cottage Hospital, the Princess Alice Memorial Hospital, and numerous private convalescent and rest homes catering to every class of invalid. Schools, too, marketed the healthy air — Eastbourne became famous for its private schools partly on the strength of it — and the great seafront hotels, led by the Grand, welcomed wealthy guests taking extended “cures” by the sea. Recuperation, in short, was one of Victorian Eastbourne’s biggest industries.
Healing in wartime
When war came, the health town turned its skills to the wounded. All Saints set aside beds for soldiers of the Boer War, and in 1917 the hospital was taken over by a Canadian military unit for the rest of the First World War — while across town, thousands of recovering British soldiers in their distinctive blue uniforms filled Summerdown Camp, the great convalescent camp on the edge of the Downs. The Second World War saw the hospital requisitioned once more, even as the town itself endured its ordeal by bombing.
Famous convalescents
Eastbourne’s reputation drew some illustrious invalids. Most famous of all was King George V, who came to convalesce by the sea in 1935, staying at Compton Place with Queen Mary and taking the air at Holywell, where a beach chalet was reserved for the royal couple. The King’s recuperative visit delighted the town — the ultimate advertisement for the health-giving powers of Eastbourne air, a century and a half after those first royal children paddled here.
The legacy today
The NHS eventually took over All Saints, and its wards cared for patients into the 21st century before the hospital finally closed in 2004. Plans to demolish Woodyer’s Gothic masterpiece were fought off by local residents — a campaign that gave birth to the Meads Community Association — and the buildings were instead converted into apartments, with the grounds opened up as All Saints Park and the glorious chapel preserved, now one of the area’s most sought-after wedding venues. The health resort’s wider legacy is everywhere once you look: in the sanatorium-scaled hotels, the bracing promenade, the sheltered gardens — a whole town, in a sense, built as a prescription. For the full backstory, see our history of Eastbourne.
Eastbourne the health resort: FAQs
What was All Saints Hospital in Eastbourne?
A Gothic Revival convalescent hospital in Meads, built 1867–69 by the All Saints Sisters of the Poor to designs by Henry Woodyer — regarded as Britain’s first purpose-built seaside convalescent hospital. It closed in 2004 and is now apartments, with its Grade II* chapel preserved.
Why was Eastbourne considered healthy?
Victorians prized its clean sea air, sheltered sunny climate beneath the Downs, and sea bathing — all prescribed as cures. Royal visits, starting with George III’s children in 1780, sealed its reputation as a health resort.
Can you visit All Saints today?
The former hospital is private housing, but All Saints Park in its grounds is a public park, and the spectacular chapel hosts weddings and events — so its Gothic splendour can still be enjoyed.
What is Eastbourne’s connection to Theresa May?
The former Prime Minister was born in Eastbourne, where her father, the Reverend Hubert Brasier, served as chaplain to All Saints Hospital and its chapel in the 1950s.
More from this era: the WWI convalescent city at Summerdown Camp, elegant Meads village, and the royal retreat of Compton Place.