Holywell (traditional local pronunciation "holly well") is a part of Meads, a district of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, UK.

Holywell has no specific boundaries, but lies approximately between the western end of the lower promenade and the chalk pinnacle below Bede's Preparatory School.

William Figg’s 1816 map of Eastbourne shows an area called Holly Well Furlong near what was until 1896 the Hollywell fishing hamlet.

[1] The fishing settlement was approached from what is now Holywell Road via the lane between the present Helen Gardens and St Bede's Preparatory School.

On the left side of this lane, opposite the present sports complex of St Bede's School, stood Holywell House - said to have been an inn at one time.

[6][7] Some historians trying to find a reason for the name Holy Well have associated it with the Chapel of St Gregory which is presumed to have existed near the South Cliff Tower in Bolsover Road.

The fresh water springs issuing from the low cliffs below the fishing settlement are mentioned in James Royer’s 1787 guide, Eastbourne – A Descriptive Account of that Village.

In 1861, another book, Eastbourne as a Resort for Invalides [sic] states: "At Holywell there is a chalybeate spring, the curative properties of which have given the name of the Holy Well.'

[10] A cross-Channel telegraph cable was brought ashore at Holywell (on what is now Beach Number 1) in 1861 and terminated in a so-called "landing shed" – the latter probably located in the old Gore chalk pit.

[11] In May 1940, HMS Jaguar was involved in Operation Quixote, when the six telegraph cables between the East Coast of England and the German islands of Borkum and Nordeney were severed.