Life went on at home as best it could during the Great War. The report accompanying the original photograph in this then and now image states “Huge crowds of people witnessed the annual Roman Catholic Pilgrimage from St Mary Star-of-the-Sea Church to the Chapel in the ruins of Hastings Castle. The image shows the head of the procession passing the site of the Fishmarket (not pictured – but can be seen here) in Hastings Old Town”. The church of St Mary Star-of-the-Sea in Hastings Old Town was built on the site of an old farm house that was adjacent to the Bourne stream in 1883.

The original photograph was taken from the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser dated 26^th August 1915.

The two photographs used to create the image, and the final combined image are below. You can view the top image full size on my Flickr page by clicking on it.

This image is part of a continuing series of Then and Now images I’ve created for East Sussex Council’s World War 1 commemoration website. The website is focused on the contribution that the men and women of East Sussex made towards the war effort.