Jemima Dury

Braycastle Walk’s new Jack in the Green

Drew ‘Droobie’ Copus has created a new festival themed mural for Hastings on Braycastle Walk. Jude Montague (text) and Jemima Dury (images) admire.

Jemima Dury

Jemima Dury

Braycastle Walk on the West Hill is the twitten that leads from Manor Road across St Mary’s Road. It then splits into two branches, one heading back to Milward Road and the other passing over to railway line to St James’ Road and Quarry Road.

I was curious about the etymology of the twitten name which sounded Anglo-Saxon, and discovered it is considered to be derived from ‘breg’ meaning hill or borderland. but the name Bray is associated with families that arrived during the Norman invasion. The name is embedded in Hastings street names, in particular the main Braybrooke Road.

Jemima Dury

The new mural painted by Drew ‘Droobie’ Copus is the latest in a number of his large-scale works around the town, many of which focus on the smaller creatures we spend our lives with, butterflies, insects, while Jack in the Green is a festival which celebrates the abundance of nature. Jack in the Green is the English folk custom associated with the celebration of May Day and, although the parade was rather rained upon here this year, we still enthusiastically celebrated it in Hastings 2024.

Jemima Dury

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