Eastbourne, United Kingdom: Self-Guided Walking Tour

Things to do in Eastbourne include exploring historic churches, coastal defences, art galleries and the dramatic cliffs around Beachy Head. The town combines a seafront shaped by its maritime past with landmarks that reveal Eastbourne’s religious, cultural and architectural history. Neywo has a free audio guide for Eastbourne with 34 narrated places.

What to see in Eastbourne

Eastbourne’s coastal landmarks

Eastbourne Redoubt is an unusual circular coastal defence fort on the seafront. Built in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, it formed part of Britain’s preparations against a possible invasion. Its round shape gives it a distinctive presence among the town’s seaside landmarks.

The RNLI Eastbourne Lifeboat Museum offers an introduction to the local lifeboat service. It is a useful stop for understanding the relationship between Eastbourne and the English Channel.

Martello Tower No. 64, also known as Martello Tower 64, provides a straightforward glimpse of an unrestored Martello tower. Its present condition makes the structure itself the focus of the visit.

Towner Eastbourne

Towner Eastbourne, also known as Towner Art Gallery, is a major public art gallery on the seafront. Its collection is one of the most significant public art collections in the South of England.

The gallery began with a bequest made in 1920 by John Chisholm Towner, a local alderman. It first opened in 1923 in Manor Gardens, beside Gildredge Park in Eastbourne’s Old Town. After the original building closed when it was sold in 2005, Towner reopened four years later in a purpose-built venue next to the Congress Theatre, near the seafront. The building now welcomes more than 100,000 visitors each year.

Church of St Saviour and St Peter

The Church of St Saviour and St Peter is an important parish church and a Church of England church. It is also a Grade II* listed building, making it one of the significant historic religious landmarks to see during an Eastbourne visit.

Our Lady of Ransom Church

Our Lady of Ransom Church stands at the corner of Meads Road and Grange Road. This Roman Catholic parish church began as a mission in 1869. The present building was constructed between 1900 and 1903, with further extensions completed in 1926.

The church was designed by Frederick Walters and has Grade II listed status. Its long history and distinctive design make it a worthwhile stop when exploring central Eastbourne.

Eastbourne’s churches

Eastbourne has a particularly varied group of churches and places of worship. Holy Trinity Church, also known as Trinity Church, is an Anglican church built in the Early English style. Its design gives the building a distinctive architectural character.

Central Methodist Church is a large town-centre building with attached schoolrooms and other ancillary buildings. It is Grade II listed and reflects more than a century of Methodist history in Eastbourne. Methodism reached the area in 1803, when soldiers brought the denomination to an isolated collection of clifftop villages.

Other churches add further local detail to an Eastbourne walk. All Saints and All Souls are quiet places of worship in the town, while the Catholic Church of St Gregory is another local religious landmark. Christ Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also form part of Eastbourne’s places of worship.

St Elisabeth’s Church in the Old Town has an unusual history. The present church is its former church hall, which has served as the church since 2002. The original church was designed by Stonham and Sons and Fenning and built between 1935 and 1938. It became a Grade II listed building in 1994, but structural problems led to its demolition in 2020. The former hall and the vicarage are also listed buildings.

Beachy Head and Belle Tout

Beachy Head is a striking chalk headland near Eastbourne and the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising 162 metres above sea level. It stands immediately east of the Seven Sisters, with views along the southeast coast. On a clear day, the outlook reaches towards Dungeness in the east and the Isle of Wight in the west.

The headland has long been a prominent landmark for ships crossing the English Channel. Its dangers to shipping led to the construction of Belle Tout Lighthouse on a nearby cliff between 1831 and 1834. Mist and low clouds could hide the lighthouse, so a new lighthouse was built in the sea in front of Beachy Head and completed in October 1902. Its light can be seen from as far as 48 kilometres away.

Belle Tout was later taken out of service and moved about 17 metres inland in 1999 because erosion threatened the cliff. Even the name Beachy Head has a long history: earlier forms included Beauchef in 1274 and Beauchief in 1317, while the name Beachy Head appears from 1724.

Explore Eastbourne with Neywo

Neywo offers an Eastbourne self-guided walking tour experience with three walks and one bus route. The app includes 34 narrated places, and narration is available in 11 languages.

The three walking tours are:

• Piers, Towers and Theatres: Eastbourne Seafront — 3.5 km, 90 minutes and 8 narrated stops.
• Churches, Chapels and Landmarks of Central Eastbourne — 4.13 km, 112 minutes and 10 narrated stops.
• Beachy Head and Belle Tout: Britain’s Highest Chalk Cliff — 6.83 km, 118 minutes and 4 narrated stops.

There is also one bus route:

• Uno 1: Eastbourne’s Churches and the Royal Hippodrome — 12.3 km, 53 minutes and 7 narrated stops.

Neywo tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Download the free audio guide and explore Eastbourne through its churches, coastal landmarks, art gallery and chalk cliffs. You can also discover more destinations in England and the wider United Kingdom.