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A maritime museum has won approval to build shelters to protect its historic boats. The Shipwreck Museum in Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings, said the structures will provide much-needed protection for the historic vessels on display in its rear yard area. The plans were approved by Hastings Borough Council.
The Shipwreck Museum's outdoor display space currently features three historic boats. One of these, The Primrose, already has a timber-framed shelter - permission for which was sought retrospectively - but the other two lifeboats, The Cyril and Lillian Bishop and The Priscilla MacBean, have been left exposed to the elements. Retrospective permission was sought for this shelter, already erected above The Primrose (Image: Michael D Hall Building Design Services) The approved plans will see framed and roofed, but otherwise unenclosed, shelters erected over these three maritime crafts.
The move comes after a previous application to house one of the lifeboats in a new building on a shingle area between two rows of Grade II* shops was refused. The council had rejected the proposal on the grounds that it would harm the setting and legibility of the net shops and the character and appearance of the Old Town Conservation Area. Read next: Former Oriental buffet and nightclub on sale for £350,000 The Primrose is a Rye barge built in around 1890, which worked in Rye Harbour and on the Rivers Rother and Tillingham until the 1930s.
The barge was saved from rotting in the harbour in the late 1980s and brought to the museum in 1992. The Cyril and Lillian Bishop lifeboat (Image: Michael D Hall Building Design Services) The other two ship, both lifeboats, were moved into the museum in July 2024. The Cyril and Lillian Bishop served as the RNLI lifeboat stationed at Hastings between 1931 and 1950.
It was launched on 99 occasions and is credited with saving at least 34 lives, as well as participating in the rescue of troops from Dunkirk in 1940. Read next: Pizza restaurant with zero hygiene rating had mouse faeces and 13°C fridges The Priscilla MacBean, built in 1921, was a self-righting motor lifeboat serving locally until 1928 when it was transferred to Scotland. It was eventually found rotting in an Eastbourne field before being fully restored in Hastings.
The Priscilla MacBean lifeboat (Image: Michael D Hall Building Design Services) All three crafts have historical significance to Hastings and its fishing industry. The museum's application said: "If left to the elements without basic covering, these crafts will be lost. "Each has a pertinence to the area and to the historic fishing industry so associated with Hastings.
" Hastings Borough Council concluded that the proposed development would not have an adverse impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area or any nearby residential properties..
