Peter Grimes opens tonight!

The look of the Met’s Peter Grimes set, designed by Scott Pask, is inspired by the unique buildings that line the beach of the seaside town of Hastings, England, where director John Doyle makes his home. (See the earlier post about Pask.)

Known as the Hastings Net Shops, these distinctive tall wooden huts are actually not shops, but storage buildings for the town’s fishermen to keep their nets and tackle out of the weather. Today 45 net shops survive in Hastings on the wide shingle beach called the Stade. The present-day Stade is quite different from what it looked like during the heyday of the fishing industry in the 18th and early 19th century. At that time it was an exceedingly narrow strip of beach and the normal tide came within yards of the cliffs and houses. Storms regularly washed the beach structures away. As a result, the net shops had to be tall and compact in plan. In the 1830s, after the first groins were built and the beach was slowly widened, the Borough Council set down strict regulations as to where the shops could be located on the Stade, including a rule that their size should not exceed eight feet square.

The net shops still line the Hastings waterfront today.
Photo: Old Hastings Preservation Society

Simple vertical ladders nailed to the walls inside the shops provide access to the various interior floors. The doors at each level open outward and can usually be hooked back. Some net shops have small shuttered windows and many have stable doors at ground level where even today fishermen can be seen repairing their gear. The exterior of the huts is boarded and tarred for protection. The encrusted appearance on the historic buildings is the result of numerous applications of tar, which has always made the huts extremely combustible and subject to fire. In 1846 a serious fire destroyed many of the shops, but a successful public subscription enabled most to be rebuilt.

The earliest known reference to the net shops dates from 1588, when part of the narrow beach—then known as the Stonebeach—was leased to local fishermen for a farthing a foot.

For more information about the Hastings Net Shops, the Hastings Fishermen’s Museum, or the Old Hastings Preservation Society, visit ohps.org.uk.

This entry was posted by Charles Sheek on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 11:01 am and is filed under Peter Grimes, New Production Countdown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.