When amateur photographer George Woods and his family moved down to Hastings in the 1880s, they joined a legion of Victorians migrating south from the smoggy capital in search of pure, restorative sea air.
Displayed in the Fishermen’s Museum along the seafront, his black and white images document an era when this coastal town was thriving – women wearing flamboyant bustles shade from the sun with frilly parasols, and salty sea dogs fix fishing nets while puffing on clay pipes dangling from their lips.
