King William I used the lands he had conquered to reward his knights and gave Bexhill manor to Robert, Count of Eu, with most of the Hastings area.

The Manor House was the easternmost residence owned by the bishops and would have been used as a place to stay while travelling around or through the eastern part of their diocese.

In 1276 a large portion of Bexhill was made into a park for hunting and in 1447 Bishop Adam de Moleyns was given permission to fortify the Manor House.

In 1561, Queen Elizabeth I took possession of Bexhill Manor and three years later she gave it to Sir Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset.

At about this time, defensive Martello towers were built along the south east coast, some near Bexhill, in order to repel any French invasion.

In 1814 the soldiers of the King's German Legion left Bexhill, eventually playing an important part in the Battle of Waterloo the following year.

In 1813, Elizabeth Sackville married the 5th Earl De La Warr, and when the male line of the Dukes of Dorset died out in 1865 she and her husband inherited Bexhill.

It was the 7th Earl De La Warr who decided to transform the small rural village of Bexhill into an exclusive seaside resort.

He contracted the builder, John Webb, to construct the first sea wall and to lay out De La Warr Parade.

Webb, in part payment for his work, was given all the land extending from Sea Road to the Polegrove, south of the railway line.

Opened in 1890, the luxurious Sackville Hotel was built for the 7th Earl De La Warr and originally included a house for the use of his family.

[12] Those who voted against the consultation's outcome mostly expressed concerns about the added burden to local taxpayers that a town council would bring.

[15] Above Rother, the next level of government is the East Sussex County Council, with responsibility for Education, Libraries, Social Services, Highways, Civil Registration, Trading Standards, and Transport.

The competition was announced in The Architects' Journal in February 1934, with a programme that specified an entertainment hall to seat at least 1500 people; a 200-seat restaurant; a reading room; and a lounge.

The aesthetics employed in the International Style proved especially suited to the building, tending towards streamlined, industrially-influenced designs, often with expansive metal-framed windows, and eschewing traditional brick and stonework in favour of concrete and steel construction.

Among the building's most innovative features was its use of a welded steel frame construction, pioneered by structural engineer Felix Samuely.

The building was opened on 12 December of the same year by the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth).

In 2005, after an extensive programme of restoration and regeneration, the De La Warr Pavilion reopened as a contemporary arts centre, encompassing one of the largest galleries on the south coast of England.

The Art Deco and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff and constructed in 1935.

Although sometimes claimed to be the first major Modernist public building in Britain, it was in fact preceded by some months by the Dutch-influenced Hornsey Town Hall.

The wreck of the VOC Amsterdam, an eighteenth century cargo ship that ran aground between Bexhill and St Leonards, can be seen at low tide.

Reginald Sackville, seventh Earl De La Warr, decided to transform what was then a village on a hill around its church into an exclusive seaside resort, which he named Bexhill-on-Sea.

He was instrumental in building a sea wall south of the village, and the road above it was then named De La Warr Parade.

During the Second World War, Bexhill was named as a point to attack as part of Operation Sea Lion by Nazi Germany.

Efforts are being made to increase tourism in Bexhill, including annual events such as the 'Festival of the Sea' and, formerly, 'Roaring Twenties Day', each held during the summer.

This club is located on Little Common Road, and also has a football club, Judo, Keepfit classes and a fully equipped gym Bexhill is home to a detachment of the Sussex Army Cadet Force,[33] a volunteer youth organisation, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, which accepts cadets aged between 12 and 18 years of age.

Rother District Council Chairman opened the Garden and President Raouf Oderuth of Bexhill Rotary Club unveiled the Coin Collector.

[36] Bexhill also holds the world record for the greatest number of mermaids in one area (325), a feat achieved in September 2017 at the annual 'Festival of the Sea'.

[37][38] As with the rest of the British Isles and Southern England, Bexhill experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters.

In terms of the local climate, Bexhill is on the eastern edge of what is, on average, the sunniest part of the UK, the stretch of coast from the Isle of Wight to the Hastings area.