Bourne was primarily an agricultural community, and in the late medieval period the ancient arable farming tradition gave way to pasture farming as the work was less labour-intensive, for at this time many villages were being deserted. This was partly because of the plagues but also because people were beginning to move to towns - thus it was that we see the expansion of a few "towns" at the expense of the villages - like the lost villages of Exceate and Chyngton near Seaford.

One of the last sheep fairs
to be held in Eastbourne

By the mid-l4th century Bourne was one of the major sheep-farming districts in Sussex. Over 1,000 sheep were recorded in 1253 and again in 1340, but by the end of the century the sheep population had risen to 3,000 with 1,000 lambs. While the economy was firmly based on pasture farming, no doubt producing wool and skins for export, the little-known medieval greensand quarry would have assisted the economy, supplying as it did numerous building works in the Eastbourne area. Such buildings include St. Mary's parish church, the Lamb Inn, local houses, Pevensey Castle and numerous local village churches. Obviously, the quarry would have provided an income for the parish and work for the inhabitants. Long shingle beaches obviated the necessity for a small port since boats could be landed at high tide, and unloaded and reloaded during low tide - a procedure used well into the Victorian period. No doubt the landing place was used from Saxon times for the export of surplus salt, grain, wool and other products. One can imagine the Caen stone for the church building being landed here, as were coal, slate, floor tiles and pottery.

A charter for a weekly Thursday market was granted to Bartholomew de Badlesmere in 1315-16; this increased his status as Lord of the Manor and improved local industry. Badlesmere was also granted a charter for a fair in 1314 which, as St. Matthew's Fair, persisted into the 20th century, by which time it had been established as a Sheep Fair. Another fair, commemorating the earlier church dedication of St. Michael, was established in 1232 and persisted as a "pleasure fair" until 1902, when a solitary stall marked the last fair to be held in Church Street.

The Jesus House in Church Street
which once belonged to a medieval gild

Eastbourne could boast of six religious gilds before 1545, which probably had an ancient origin. These gilds were similar to benevolent societies, looking after their members when they fell on hard times, and having a priest to intercede at regular masses. The best documented is that of the Brotherhood of Jesus, but the others included dedications to Saints Mary, Michael (the two church dedications), Richard, Seith and George. These gilds together with the chantry chapel of St. Gregory, once situated near South Cliff Tower, were suppressed by Edward VI in 1550.