Old lifeboats which found a new home last year are set to get new shelters.
The Priscilla MacBean and Cyril and Lilian Bishop lifeboats were donated to the Shipwreck Museum in Hastings Old Town last year.
Since then, they have been stored in the museum’s yard, which was already home to the Primrose, a Victorian barge used in Rye harbour.
The application says: “The wish is to effect adequate shelter for the three craft for, left to the elements without basic covering, then these craft will be lost. Each has a pertinence to the area and to the historic fishing industry so associated with Hastings.
“A history and relevance ongoing as the shore based fishing fleet continues today.
“To the Primrose, a covering was erected in the autumn of 2024. An occurrence brought about through a combination of need and enthusiasm but, regrettably, without pursuit of a planning permission, an error this application seeks to redress. Thus, the proposal is for the erection of covering or shelter for all three craft.
The simple and unobtrusive framed coverings proposed here seek to aid retention of these maritime artefacts, each significant and pertinent or relevant to both the historic and the current industries of both fishing and tourism in Hastings Old Town.
“The visual impact of the means of protecting the boats shall be modest alongside many aspects of the aforesaid structures existing to the area.
“The worth of these sheltered and protected historic craft, for visitors to the free entry Shipwreck Museum, shall be of considerable value and interest.”
The Primrose was built in about 1890 and used until the 1930s, after which it was left to slowly rot in the harbour until being rescued in the late 1980s and brought to the museum in 1992.
The Cyril and Lilian bishop was used to save at least 34 lives at Hastings from 1931 to 1950, and took part in the Dunkirk rescue.
The Priscilla MacBean was built in 1921, and used in Sussex until 1928, when it was moved to Scotland.
It was found rotting in an Eastbourne field in 2013 by Hastings resident D-Day Wright, who together with John Hamilton bought the boat and restored it.
They were both displayed in the open in Hastings before being rehomed to the Shipwreck Museum last year.
