St Clement's Caves are a network of sandstone caves cut into the West Hill above Hastings Old Town. The caves have been used for centuries — as a smugglers' cache, a venue for entertainments, and as air raid shelters during the Second World War — and now function as a tourist attraction with guided tours.
The interior contains a mixture of natural caverns and man-made tunnels, with carved decorations and historical displays that trace the caves' varied history. The connection to smuggling is particularly strong: the Hastings area was a major smuggling coast in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and the caves were a convenient hiding place for contraband. The caves are open seasonally and accessed from the top of the West Hill, near the castle.