The seafront consists largely of Victorian hotels, a pier, theatre, contemporary art gallery and a Napoleonic era fort and military museum.

The remains were found in 2014 to be of a 30-year-old woman who grew up in East Sussex, but had genetic heritage from sub-Saharan Africa, giving her black skin and an African skeletal structure.

In 2014, local metal-detectorist Darrin Simpson found a coin minted during the reign of Æthelberht II of East Anglia (died 794), in a field near the town.

[23] Eastbourne's earliest claim as a seaside resort came about following a summer holiday visit by four of King George III's children in 1780 (Princes Edward and Octavius and Princesses Elizabeth and Sophia).

[24] In 1793, following a survey of coastal defences in the southeast, approval was given for the positioning of infantry and artillery to defend the bay between Beachy Head and Hastings from attack by the French.

[26] A connection with India comes in the shape of the 18th-century Lushington monument, also at St Mary's, which commemorates a survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta atrocity which led to the British conquest of Bengal.

[26] By the mid-19th century most of the area had fallen into the hands of two landowners: John Davies Gilbert (the Davies-Gilbert family still own much of the land in Eastbourne and East Dean) and William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.

)[29] An early plan, for a town named Burlington, was abandoned, but on 14 May 1849 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway arrived to scenes of great jubilation.

During the First World War, Summerdown Camp, a convalescent facility, opened in 1915 near the South Downs to treat soldiers who were injured during trench warfare or seriously ill.

Figures of up to 400 murders were reported in British and foreign newspapers,[42] but, after a controversial trial at the Old Bailey, which gripped the nation[42] for 17 days in March 1957, Adams was found not guilty.

Local conservationists also failed to prevent the construction of the glass-plated TGWU conference and holiday centre (the building now operating as The View Hotel), but were successful in purchasing Polegate Windmill, thus saving it from demolition and redevelopment.

In the 1990s, both growth and controversy accelerated rapidly as a new plan was launched to develop the area known as the Crumbles, a shingle bank on the coast to the east of the town centre.

These were originally chalk deposits laid down under the sea during the Late Cretaceous, and were later lifted by the same tectonic plate movements that formed the European Alps, during the middle Tertiary period.

[19] The chalk can be clearly seen along the eroded coastline to the west of the town, in the area known as Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters, where continuous erosion keeps the cliff edge vertical and white.

[51] Several nature trails lead across the Downs to areas such as the nearby villages of East Dean and Birling Gap, and landmarks like the Seven Sisters, Belle Tout Lighthouse and Beachy Head.

[65] One of the new council's first projects was to build Eastbourne Town Hall, which was designed by W. Tadman Foulkes, and built between 1884 and 1886 under supervision of Henry Currey, the Duke of Devonshire's architect.

[67] Eastbourne became a non-metropolitan district on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with East Sussex County Council once more providing county-level services to the town.

[68] The Parliament Constituency of Eastbourne has always covered a greater area than the borough's nine wards, but due to population growth in the town, it has lost territory over time.

[71] The average age of residents has dropped in recent years as younger people move into the town and young family households have started to balance retirement communities.

The pier is an obvious place to visit and is sometimes used to hold events, such as the international birdman competition held annually, although this was cancelled in 2005 due to a lack of competitors.

[111] A sequence of a rainy day at the seaside for the Doel family has as its backdrop the Wish Tower, the bandstand, the Cavendish Hotel and the pier in the 1987 British/American drama film 84 Charing Cross Road directed by David Jones.

Eastbourne hosted a triathlon in 2016 and 2017, which attracted professional triathletes such as Ben Allen, Jacqui Slack, Lawrence Fanous and 2012 Biathle world champion Richard Stannard in addition to the hundreds of amateurs taking part.

[147] Central government paid Eastbourne Borough Council £2m in one-off funding, to compensate for lost income to the town from the temporary loss of the attraction.

Eastbourne Redoubt on Royal Parade is one of three examples of a type of fortress built to withstand potential invasion from Napoleon's forces in the early 19th century.

Eastbourne's reputation for health, enhanced by bracing air and sea breezes contributed to the establishment of many independent schools in the 19th century and in 1871,[150] the year which saw the arrival of Queenwood Ladies College, the town was just beginning a period of growth and prosperity.

The church was consecrated in 1902[165] and built on the site of the mission hall where the nonsense writer Lewis Carroll (the clergyman CL Dodgson) is known to have preached during his holidays in the town.

[194] Claude Debussy finished composing La mer at the Grand Hotel in 1905. he described Eastbourne to his publisher as "a charming peaceful spot: the sea unfurls itself with an utterly British correctness.

[209] Count László Almásy, the basis of the lead character of The English Patient, was educated by a private tutor at Berrow, and was a member of the pioneering Eastbourne Flying Club.

[223] Douglas Bader, who became a successful Second World War fighter pilot despite having lost both legs in a flying accident, attended Temple Grove Preparatory School in Compton Place Road.

Other ex-students at St Cyprian's include: the amateur jockey Anthony Mildmay; Seymour de Lotbiniere, one-time Director of Outside Broadcasts at the BBC; Jagaddipendra Narayan, a reigning Maharaja of Cooch Behar while at the school.