Lewes
Encyclopedia
Lewes is the county town
of East Sussex
, England and historically of all of Sussex
. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district
. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town. At the 2001 census it had a population of 15,988.
settlement of Mutuantonis was here, as quantities of artifacts have been discovered in the area. The Saxons
built a castle, having first constructed its motte
as a defensive point over the river; they gave the town its name.
After the Norman invasion
, William the Conqueror
gave Lewes to William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
. He built Lewes Castle
on the Saxon site; and he and his wife, Gundred
also founded the Priory of St Pancras
, a Cluniac priory, in about 1081. Lewes was the site of a mint
during the Late Anglo-Saxon
period and thereafter a mint
during the early years after the Norman
invasion. In 1148 the town was granted a charter by King Stephen. The town became a port with docks along the Ouse River
.
The town was the site of the Battle of Lewes
between the forces of Henry III and Simon de Monfort in the Second Barons’ War in 1264, at the end of which de Monfort's forces were victorious. The battle took place in fields now just west of Landport. (Professor David Carpenter gave a lecture about the Battle of Lewes
at Lewes Town Hall in the summer of 2010; it can be heard at the following website. )
At the time of the Marian Persecutions
of 1555–1557, Lewes was the site of the execution of seventeen Protestant martyr
s, who were burned at the stake in front of the Star Inn. This structure is now the Town Hall. Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Lewes developed as the county town of East Sussex, expanding beyond the line of the town wall. It was an active port and developed related iron, brewing and ship building industries.
In 1846 the town became a railway junction, with lines constructed from the north, south and east to two railway stations. The development of Newhaven
ended Lewes's period as a major port. Lewes became a borough in 1881.
. In 1974 it became a civil parish with the title of town; there are three wards, Bridge, Castle and Priory, each being served by six councillors. The Mayor for 2010/11 is Councillor John Stockdale and the Deputy Mayor is Councillor Michael Chartier.
For many years, Lewes was dominated by the Conservative Party, both at local and national levels. Since 1991, however, when the Liberal Democrats won the District Council for the first time, there has been a swing away from the Conservatives, although they experienced a revival in the 2007 District Council elections. In the East Sussex County Council elections of 2009 the town returned an Independent in the Lewes Division with an increased majority over the Liberal Democrats.
The Liberal Democrats' parliamentary candidate, Norman Baker
, won the Lewes constituency
in the 1997 general election
narrowly, and then again in 2001 with a much increased majority and share of the vote. Baker held the seat in 2005, with a small swing of 1.6% in the Conservatives' favour, although they too saw their share of the vote fall. Baker held Lewes in 2010 with a reduced majority, but 52% of the vote. He was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary, until his resignation from the post following the election of Sir Menzies Campbell as party leader.
Lewes is the seat of the East Sussex
County Council, whose offices are located at County Hall in St Anne’s Crescent. Lewes District Council
, the second tier of local government, is administered from offices in the High Street.
The head office of Sussex Police
is in Lewes.
On 31 March 2009 Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced his decision to confirm the designation of the South Downs National Park
, which came into being exactly one year later and includes the town of Lewes within its boundaries.
, cut through by the River Ouse
, and near its confluence with the Winterbourne Stream. It is approximately seven miles north of Newhaven
, and an equal distance north-east of Brighton. The Greenwich Meridian runs through the western part of Lewes, where a pub (now demolished) was named after it.
The South Downs rise above the river on both banks. The High Street, and earliest settlement, occupies the west bank, climbing steeply up from the bridge taking its ancient route along the ridge; the summit on that side, 2.5 miles (4 km) distant is known as Mount Harry. On the east bank there is a large chalk
cliff
Cliffe Hill that can be seen for many miles, part of the group of hills including Mount Caburn
, Malling Down (where there are a few houses in a wooded area on the hillside, in a development known as Cuilfail) and Golf Hill (home to the Lewes Golf Club). The two banks of the river are joined by Willey's Bridge (a footbridge), the Phoenix Causeway (a recent concrete road bridge, named after the old Phoenix Ironworks) and Cliffe Bridge (an eighteenth-century replacement of the mediaeval crossing, widened in the 1930s and now pedestrianised).
The High Street runs from Eastgate to West-Out, forming the spine of the ancient town. Cliffe Hill gives its name to the one-time village of Cliffe, now part of the town. The southern part of the town, Southover, came into being as a village adjacent to the Priory, south of the Winterbourne Stream. At the north of the town's original wall boundary is the St. John's or Pells area, home to several nineteenth-century streets and the Pells Pond. The Pells Pool
, built in 1860, is the oldest freshwater lido in England. The Phoenix Industrial Estate lies along the west bank of the river. This area is home to the old fire station and subject of a potential regeneration project.
Malling lies to the east of the river and had eighteenth and nineteenth-century houses and two notable breweries. Road engineering and local planning policy in the 1970s cleared many older buildings here to allow the flow of traffic; it now goes along Little East Street, across the Phoenix Bridge and through the Cuilfail Tunnel to join the A27.
The town boundaries were enlarged twice (from the original town walls), in 1881 and 1934. They now include the more modern housing estates of Wallands, South Malling (the west part of which is a previously separate village with a church dedicated to St. Michael), Neville, Lansdown, and Cranedown on the Kingston Road.
Countryside walks can be taken starting from several points in Lewes. One can walk over Mount Caburn to the village of Glynde
starting in Cliffe, traverse the Lewes Brooks
(an RSPB reserve) from Southover, walk to Kingston near Lewes
also from Southover, or wander up along the Ouse to Hamsey Place from the Pells. The South Downs Way
rises just below Lewes and hikers often stop off at the town.
, Lewes Brooks
and Southerham Works Pit
. Lewes Downs is a site of biological interest, an isolated area of the South Downs. Lewes Brooks, also of biological importance, is part of the floodplain of the River Ouse
, providing a habitat for many invertebrates such as water beetles and snails. Southerham Works Pit is of geological interest, a disused chalk
pit displaying a wide variety of fossilised fish remains. The Railway Land nature reserve is on the east side of the town next to the Ouse, and contains an area of woodland and marshes known as the Heart of Reeds. The Winterbourne stream, a tributary of the Ouse, flows through it. This stream flows most winters and dries up in the summer, hence its name. It continues through Lewes going through the Grange Gardens and often travelling underground. The Heart of Reeds is one of the sites in East Sussex
and Kent
home to the marsh frog
, an introduced species. It is popular with pond-dippers and walkers. A centre for the study of environmental change is due to be built at the entrance to the nature reserve.
On 27 December 1836, an avalanche
occurred in Lewes, the worst ever recorded in Britain. A large build-up of snow on the nearby cliff slipped down onto a row of cottages called Boulters Row (now part of South Street). About fifteen people were buried, and eight of these died. A pub
in South Street is named The Snowdrop in memory of the event.
On 21 August 1864, Lewes suffered an earthquake
shock measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale.
In October 2000 the town suffered major flood
ing during an intense period of severe weather throughout the United Kingdom. The commercial centre of the town and many residential areas were devastated. In a government report into the nationwide flooding, Lewes was officially noted the most severely affected location. As a result of the devastation, the Lewes Flood Action group formed, to press for better flood protection measures.
The town is a net daytime exporter of employees with a significant community working in London and Brighton whilst it draws in employees of the numerous local government and public service functions on which its local economy is strongly dependent.
An important part of the town’s economy is based on tourism, because of the town's many historic attractions and its location.
Arguably the town's most important annual event is Lewes Bonfire
, or Bonfire Night - Guy Fawkes Night
celebrations on the 5th of November. In Lewes this event not only marks the date of the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot
in 1605, but also commemorates the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs burnt at the stake
for their faith during the Marian Persecutions
. The celebrations, which controversially involve burning an effigy of the Pope, are the largest and most famous Bonfire Night celebrations in the country.
.jpg)
The Lewes Chamber of Commerce represents the traders and businesses of the town. The town has been identified as unusually diversified with numerous specialist, independent retailers, counter to national trends toward 'chain' retailers and large corporate retail outlets.
Lewes Farmers' Market, one of the first in the UK, was started in the 1990s by Common Cause Co-operative Ltd and is a very popular re-invention of Lewes as a market town.
The Farmers' Market takes place in pedestrianised Cliffe High Street on the first Saturday of every month, with local food producers coming to sell their wares under covered market stalls. Occasionally French traders from the Twin Town
of Blois
attend, vending on Cliffe Bridge.
From 1794 beers, wines and spirits were distributed from Lewes under the Harveys name, and the town is today the site of Harvey & Son's brewery celebrated as one the finest ale producers in England.
In September 2008, Lewes launched its own currency, the Lewes Pound
, in an effort to increase trade within the town. One Lewes Pound is equal to £1. Like the similar local currency
in Totnes
, the initiative is part of the Transition Towns
movement. The Lewes Pound and the Transition Towns
movement have received criticism for a failure to address the needs of the wider Lewes population, especially lower socio-economic groups. Such local currency initiatives have been more widely criticized in light of limited success stimulating new spending in local economies and as an unrealistic strategy to reduce carbon emissions. The Lewes Pound can be exchanged for the same amount of pounds sterling in several shops in Lewes and can be spent in a wide range of local businesses. Many of the notes were sold on Ebay
at a higher amount. Early numbers and sequenced notes fetched very high prices from foreign collectors.
The town is the location of several significant historic buildings, including Lewes Castle
, the remains of Lewes Priory
, Bull House (the former home of Tom Paine), Southover Grange and public gardens, and a sixteenth century timber-framed Wealden hall house
known as Anne of Cleves House
because it was given to her as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII
, though she never lived there. Anne of Cleves and the Castle are owned and maintained by the Sussex Archaeological Society
(whose headquarters are in Lewes). The Round House, a secluded former windmill
in Pipe Passage, was owned by the writer Virginia Woolf
.
The steep and cobbled Keere Street is home to many historic buildings, including a timber framed antiquarian bookshop. The gardens of the buildings on the east side of the street border the old Town Walls. The Prince Regent once drove his carriage
down the Street, and a sign at the bottom commemorates this event.
The ancient street pattern survives extensively as do a high proportion of the medieval building plots and oak framed houses, albeit often masked with later facades. The eighteenth century frontages are notable and include several, like Bartholomew House at the Castle Gate, that are clad in mathematical tile
s which mimic fine brick construction. Numerous streets of eighteenth and nineteenth century cottages have survived cycles of 'slum clearance' as models of attractive town housing.
At the highest point of the old town the Portland stone
and Coade stone
facade of the Crown Court
(1808–12, by John Johnson
), the brick Market Tower and florid War Memorial mark the historic centre, although trade has tended to concentrate on the lower land in modern times. At the lowest part of the town, by the river, Harvey & Son's Brewery, 'The Cathedral of Lewes' is an unspoilt nineteenth century tower brewery and is the only one of the town's five original major breweries still in use. The railway station is the other important monument of the industrial era.
Lewes has limited public garden space hence the popular appeal of the Grange Gardens. Southover Grange was built in the sixteenth century of Caen limestone sourced from the demolition of Lewes Priory
and is used as a nursery school and as a location for weddings and exhibitions. The gardens are open to the public for most of the light hours of every day of the year. The north wing of the building is home to a craft shop and The Window café (open in spring and summer). The Grange has a strict and lengthy list of rules controlling its visitors and the Winterbourne stream runs through it. A tulip tree was planted there by Queen Elizabeth II and a mulberry tree dating perhaps to the seventeenth century is now enclosed by steel fencing. The history of these significant, historic gardens is under researched.
Pelham House dates back to the sixteenth century and features architecture of all subsequent eras and a private landscaped garden facing the Downs. It now serves as an independent hotel. Shelleys Hotel is likewise of some antiquity with a private garden and family associations with Percy Shelley.
The centre of Lewes is notable for a consistently high calibre of regional vernacular architecture and variety of historic construction materials and techniques.
Lewes, from its inception, has been an important transport hub. Its site as a bridging point was probably originally a ford: today the main routes avoid the town centre. The A27 trunk road
taking traffic along the south coast between Eastbourne
and Southampton
passes to the south of the town. The A26
from Maidstone
to Newhaven; and the A275 (the London road) both come in from the north. The Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
serve the town. The Bus Station was closed for a while but reopened in late 2008.
Lewes railway station
was originally the junction for six routes. The town still enjoys hourly fast trains from London
. The two erstwhile rural rail routes to the north, linking to East Grinstead
and Uckfield
respectively, are both now closed, but the East Coastway Line
, connecting Brighton with Eastbourne and Hastings
, and the branch to Seaford
remain.
The Vanguard Way
, a long-distance footpath
from London to Newhaven, passes through countryside east of the town.
Western Road and Southover School, despite being separate schools, are housed in linked buildings. The original Southover buildings are of red brick in the Queen Anne style, dating back to the early 20th century. The additions to it now forming the Western Road buildings date from after 1945. The two schools share a field.
provides a range of courses including A levels, GCSEs and vocational qualifications such as NVQs and BTECs.
opera house. Founded in 1934, the venue draws large audiences for its Summer Festival and has attracted a host of international talent throughout its history.
A number of local classical music series operate in the town, including the Nicolas Yonge Society; the Westgate Series based at the Westgate Chapel; and the baroque and early classical Workshop Series. The Lewes Concert Orchestra was founded in 1993.
The principal town museum is Barbican House Museum at Lewes Castle
, which hosts the Lewes Town Model as well as four galleries of Sussex archaeology. Anne of Cleves House
has various collections relating to the history of Lewes.
There is also the Hop Gallery in the former Star Brewery in Market Street; St Anne's Gallery in the High Street and occasional art exhibitions mounted at the Town Hall. The Foundry Gallery was converted by Artemis Arts from the former Market Lane Garage in 2006 for use for art events.
The Lewes Film Club, which also produces short movies (including the recent adaptation of George Orwell
's Animal Farm
), and Lewes Cinema show films based in the All Saints Centre, a former church.
Local dance schools and clubs include Lewes Dance Club, East Sussex Dance and ballet groups. Starfish Youth Music is based at Priory School and the young bands who take part regularly perform in local venues such as the Paddock and the All Saints' Centre.
Popular music gigs take place at a number of venues and pubs across the town including the Lewes Con Club, the Snowdrop Inn, the Volunteer Pub, the Lewes Arms, The John Harvey Tavern, The Pelham Arms. The Royal Oak hosts a regular Thursday night folk sessions which attracts leading musicians.
A monthly comedy club based at the Con Club was created in 2010.
Annual arts events include ArtWave and the children's Patina Moving On Parade. An annual Lewes Guitar Festival which started in 1999 has not operated since the late 2000s.
Lewes has been influenced by its close proximity to the University of Sussex
and Brighton University in terms of significant numbers of academics and students living in the town.
The Headstrong Club
whose notable members include Thomas Paine
was relaunched in 1987 and continues to operate.
A branch of the popular Skeptics in the Pub movement was created in 2011 in Lewes, based at the Elephant and Castle.
network of newspapers.
Viva Lewes was founded as a weekly web magazine in January 2006 and also as a monthly print handbook in October 2006 covering events and activities in and around the Lewes area.
Bright 106.4 FM
radio station, based in Burgess Hill
, broadcasts to an area which extends to Lewes.
Lewes has its own RSL
radio station, Rocket FM, which broadcasts via FM and the Internet for three weeks in October/November each year, covering the Bonfire period.
Lewes Rugby Football Club, founded in 1930, runs several rugby teams at various competitive levels, including the senior men's sides, the women's, girls' and junior teams. Lewes RFC's home turf is the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road.
The local football
team is Lewes F.C.
(home ground "The Dripping Pan
") founded in 1885 who currently play in the Conference South
. The town is also home to Lewes Bridge View F.C. which has adult teams competing in the Mid Sussex Football League and Lewes and District Sunday League in addition to a number of junior teams across age groups.
Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club
was reconstituted in 1950. The club organises regular time trials throughout the summer.
Lewes Racecourse, located immediately to the west of the town on the slopes of the Downs, operated for 200 years until closed in 1964. It is still used as a training course, and there are several stables nearby. Race days are held at nearby Plumpton Race Course.
Lewes Athletic Club caters for junior and senior athletes. The club trains at the all weather 400m track at the end of Mountfield Road, and other locations in the area.
There are a number of Service Clubs in Lewes of which one is the Lewes Lions Club which is a member of Lions Clubs International
, the largest Service Organisation in the world. The club runs various events including the Christmas Concert in December each year with the LGB Brass and the annual "International 'Toad-In-The-Hole' Competition" and holds street collections to raise funds so as to assist people and organisations in and around Lewes.
(1737–1809), who was employed as an excise officer in the town for a time from 1768 to 1774 when he emigrated to the American colonies. The Paine association sits at the centre of a radical tradition that is represented today by writers working in the town.
The sciences and natural enquiry are represented by Gideon Mantell
who is credited with the first discovery and identification of fossilised dinosaur (iguanodon
) teeth. Lewes doctor, Richard Russell
, popularised the resort of Brighton
.
Lewes is the birthplace of sixteenth century madrigalist Nicholas Yonge
and more recently home in the 1960s to Charlie Watts
of the Rolling Stones as it is now to other musicians, notably Herbie Flowers
, Arthur Brown
and Tim Rice-Oxley
from Keane.
Daisy Ashford
lived at Southdown House, 44 St Anne’s Crescent from 1889 to 1896 where she wrote The Young Visiters. Virginia Woolf
briefly owned - but never lived in - the Round House, a windmill in Pipe Passage, in 1919 before moving to her final home, Monk's House
in Rodmell
. Arthur Conan Doyle
resided in Castle Banks House for some time. Diarist John Evelyn
spent his boyhood at Southover Grange.
, and a prison
, is reflected by the fact that many notorious people have been connected with the town. During the 1916 Easter Rising
in Ireland several prominent figures involved in it were in Lewes Prison, including Éamon de Valera
(1882–1975); Thomas Ashe
(1885–1917); Frank Lawless
(1871–1922); and Harry Boland
(1887–1922). Others have included George Witton (1874–1942) involved in shooting prisoners during the Boer War
.
Lewes assizes saw many important trials. In 1949 serial killer
John George Haigh
was sentenced to death. In 1956 suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams
had his committal hearing in Lewes before being sent to the Old Bailey
, London for trial. He was subsequently tried and convicted in Lewes in 1957 for fraud
, lying on cremation
forms and obstructing a police search. An early case was that of Percy Lefroy Mapleton
(1860–1881) hanged for murder and the subject of the first composite picture on a wanted poster
.
Waldshut-Tiengen
, Germany, since 1974 Blois
, France, since 30 June 1963
"Hlaew", which means "hill". This refers to the hills of the South Downs
or ancient burial mounds within the area.
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
of East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, England and historically of all of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district
Lewes (district)
Lewes is a local government district in East Sussex in southern England covering an area of , with of coastline. It is named after its administrative centre, Lewes. Other towns in the district include Newhaven, Peacehaven, and Seaford. Plumpton racecourse is within the district...
. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town. At the 2001 census it had a population of 15,988.
History
Archaeological evidence points to prehistoric dwellers in the area. Scholars think that the RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
settlement of Mutuantonis was here, as quantities of artifacts have been discovered in the area. The Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
built a castle, having first constructed its motte
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
as a defensive point over the river; they gave the town its name.
After the Norman invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
gave Lewes to William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...
. He built Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle stands at the highest point of Lewes, East Sussex, England on an artificial mound constructed with chalk blocks. It was originally called Bray Castle.-History:...
on the Saxon site; and he and his wife, Gundred
Gundred
Gundred or Gundreda was probably born in Flanders, sister of Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester...
also founded the Priory of St Pancras
Lewes Priory
The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line at the head of the Ouse valley to the south of Lewes...
, a Cluniac priory, in about 1081. Lewes was the site of a mint
Mentha
Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
during the Late Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
period and thereafter a mint
History of the English penny (1066-1154)
This is the history of the English penny from the years 1066 to 1154.- The Early Norman kings :Following the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror continued the Anglo-Saxon coinage system. As a penny was a fairly large unit of currency at the time, when small change was needed a penny would be cut...
during the early years after the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
invasion. In 1148 the town was granted a charter by King Stephen. The town became a port with docks along the Ouse River
River Ouse, Sussex
The River Ouse is a river in the counties of West and East Sussex in England.-Course:The river rises near Lower Beeding and runs eastwards into East Sussex, meandering narrowly and turning slowly southward...
.
The town was the site of the Battle of Lewes
Battle of Lewes
The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264...
between the forces of Henry III and Simon de Monfort in the Second Barons’ War in 1264, at the end of which de Monfort's forces were victorious. The battle took place in fields now just west of Landport. (Professor David Carpenter gave a lecture about the Battle of Lewes
Battle of Lewes
The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264...
at Lewes Town Hall in the summer of 2010; it can be heard at the following website. )
At the time of the Marian Persecutions
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
of 1555–1557, Lewes was the site of the execution of seventeen Protestant martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s, who were burned at the stake in front of the Star Inn. This structure is now the Town Hall. Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Lewes developed as the county town of East Sussex, expanding beyond the line of the town wall. It was an active port and developed related iron, brewing and ship building industries.
In 1846 the town became a railway junction, with lines constructed from the north, south and east to two railway stations. The development of Newhaven
Newhaven, East Sussex
Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...
ended Lewes's period as a major port. Lewes became a borough in 1881.
Governance
Lewes became one of the non-county boroughs within the then Sussex, East county under the Local Government Act 1933Local Government Act 1933
The Local Government Act 1933 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated and revised existing legislation that regulated local government in England and Wales...
. In 1974 it became a civil parish with the title of town; there are three wards, Bridge, Castle and Priory, each being served by six councillors. The Mayor for 2010/11 is Councillor John Stockdale and the Deputy Mayor is Councillor Michael Chartier.
For many years, Lewes was dominated by the Conservative Party, both at local and national levels. Since 1991, however, when the Liberal Democrats won the District Council for the first time, there has been a swing away from the Conservatives, although they experienced a revival in the 2007 District Council elections. In the East Sussex County Council elections of 2009 the town returned an Independent in the Lewes Division with an increased majority over the Liberal Democrats.
The Liberal Democrats' parliamentary candidate, Norman Baker
Norman Baker
Norman John Baker is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Lewes in East Sussex since 1997. Since May 2010 he has been Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Transport....
, won the Lewes constituency
Lewes (UK Parliament constituency)
Lewes is a constituency located in East Sussex and centred on the town of Lewes. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a safe Conservative seat until 1997, but the Liberal Democrats have gained a strong foothold.-Boundaries:The constituency is...
in the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
narrowly, and then again in 2001 with a much increased majority and share of the vote. Baker held the seat in 2005, with a small swing of 1.6% in the Conservatives' favour, although they too saw their share of the vote fall. Baker held Lewes in 2010 with a reduced majority, but 52% of the vote. He was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary, until his resignation from the post following the election of Sir Menzies Campbell as party leader.
Lewes is the seat of the East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
County Council, whose offices are located at County Hall in St Anne’s Crescent. Lewes District Council
Lewes (district)
Lewes is a local government district in East Sussex in southern England covering an area of , with of coastline. It is named after its administrative centre, Lewes. Other towns in the district include Newhaven, Peacehaven, and Seaford. Plumpton racecourse is within the district...
, the second tier of local government, is administered from offices in the High Street.
The head office of Sussex Police
Sussex Police
Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing East Sussex, West Sussex and City of Brighton and Hove in southern England. Its head office is in Lewes, Lewes District, East Sussex.-History:...
is in Lewes.
On 31 March 2009 Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced his decision to confirm the designation of the South Downs National Park
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex...
, which came into being exactly one year later and includes the town of Lewes within its boundaries.
Geography
Lewes is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, in a gap in the South DownsSouth Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
, cut through by the River Ouse
River Ouse, Sussex
The River Ouse is a river in the counties of West and East Sussex in England.-Course:The river rises near Lower Beeding and runs eastwards into East Sussex, meandering narrowly and turning slowly southward...
, and near its confluence with the Winterbourne Stream. It is approximately seven miles north of Newhaven
Newhaven, East Sussex
Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...
, and an equal distance north-east of Brighton. The Greenwich Meridian runs through the western part of Lewes, where a pub (now demolished) was named after it.
The South Downs rise above the river on both banks. The High Street, and earliest settlement, occupies the west bank, climbing steeply up from the bridge taking its ancient route along the ridge; the summit on that side, 2.5 miles (4 km) distant is known as Mount Harry. On the east bank there is a large chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
Cliffe Hill that can be seen for many miles, part of the group of hills including Mount Caburn
Mount Caburn
Mount Caburn is a 480-foot isolated peak, one of the highest landmarks in East Sussex, England, about one mile east of Lewes overlooking the village of Glynde. It is an isolated part of the South Downs, separated by Glynde Reach, a tributary of the River Ouse.-Enclosure:On the summit of Caburn...
, Malling Down (where there are a few houses in a wooded area on the hillside, in a development known as Cuilfail) and Golf Hill (home to the Lewes Golf Club). The two banks of the river are joined by Willey's Bridge (a footbridge), the Phoenix Causeway (a recent concrete road bridge, named after the old Phoenix Ironworks) and Cliffe Bridge (an eighteenth-century replacement of the mediaeval crossing, widened in the 1930s and now pedestrianised).
The High Street runs from Eastgate to West-Out, forming the spine of the ancient town. Cliffe Hill gives its name to the one-time village of Cliffe, now part of the town. The southern part of the town, Southover, came into being as a village adjacent to the Priory, south of the Winterbourne Stream. At the north of the town's original wall boundary is the St. John's or Pells area, home to several nineteenth-century streets and the Pells Pond. The Pells Pool
Pells Pool
Pells Pool, Lewes, East Sussex, is a public outdoor lido open May-September. The original structure was built in 1860 making it the oldest freshwater lido in England.-Description:The pool is fed by spring water and is approx 44 x 21 metres...
, built in 1860, is the oldest freshwater lido in England. The Phoenix Industrial Estate lies along the west bank of the river. This area is home to the old fire station and subject of a potential regeneration project.
Malling lies to the east of the river and had eighteenth and nineteenth-century houses and two notable breweries. Road engineering and local planning policy in the 1970s cleared many older buildings here to allow the flow of traffic; it now goes along Little East Street, across the Phoenix Bridge and through the Cuilfail Tunnel to join the A27.
The town boundaries were enlarged twice (from the original town walls), in 1881 and 1934. They now include the more modern housing estates of Wallands, South Malling (the west part of which is a previously separate village with a church dedicated to St. Michael), Neville, Lansdown, and Cranedown on the Kingston Road.
Countryside walks can be taken starting from several points in Lewes. One can walk over Mount Caburn to the village of Glynde
Glynde
Glynde is a village in the Lewes District of East Sussex, United Kingdom. It is located two miles east of Lewes.-Estate:The estate at Glynde has belonged to four interlinked families: the Waleys , Morleys, Trevors, and Brands...
starting in Cliffe, traverse the Lewes Brooks
Lewes Brooks
Lewes Brooks is a 330.07 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1988 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The site is situated to the south of Lewes and west of the River Ouse on a flood plain, and contains many...
(an RSPB reserve) from Southover, walk to Kingston near Lewes
Kingston near Lewes
Kingston near Lewes is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and is located two miles south of Lewes on the slopes of the South Downs....
also from Southover, or wander up along the Ouse to Hamsey Place from the Pells. The South Downs Way
South Downs Way
The South Downs Way is a long distance footpath and bridleway running along the South Downs in southern England, and is one of 15 National Trails in England and Wales...
rises just below Lewes and hikers often stop off at the town.
Natural sites and events
Three Sites of Special Scientific Interest lie within the parish: Lewes DownsLewes Downs
Lewes Downs is a 149.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1986 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981....
, Lewes Brooks
Lewes Brooks
Lewes Brooks is a 330.07 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1988 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The site is situated to the south of Lewes and west of the River Ouse on a flood plain, and contains many...
and Southerham Works Pit
Southerham Works Pit
Southerham Works Pit is a 0.83 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in East Sussex, England. The site was notified in 1996 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The site is home to late-glacial deposits, and is a key reference site for biostratigraphical studies in...
. Lewes Downs is a site of biological interest, an isolated area of the South Downs. Lewes Brooks, also of biological importance, is part of the floodplain of the River Ouse
River Ouse, Sussex
The River Ouse is a river in the counties of West and East Sussex in England.-Course:The river rises near Lower Beeding and runs eastwards into East Sussex, meandering narrowly and turning slowly southward...
, providing a habitat for many invertebrates such as water beetles and snails. Southerham Works Pit is of geological interest, a disused chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
pit displaying a wide variety of fossilised fish remains. The Railway Land nature reserve is on the east side of the town next to the Ouse, and contains an area of woodland and marshes known as the Heart of Reeds. The Winterbourne stream, a tributary of the Ouse, flows through it. This stream flows most winters and dries up in the summer, hence its name. It continues through Lewes going through the Grange Gardens and often travelling underground. The Heart of Reeds is one of the sites in East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
and Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
home to the marsh frog
Marsh Frog
The Marsh Frog is the largest frog native to Europe and belongs to the family of true frogs. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Edible Frog and Pool Frog...
, an introduced species. It is popular with pond-dippers and walkers. A centre for the study of environmental change is due to be built at the entrance to the nature reserve.
On 27 December 1836, an avalanche
Lewes avalanche
The Lewes avalanche occurred on 27 December 1836 in Lewes, Sussex, when a huge build-up of snow on a chalk cliff overlooking the town collapsed into the settlement 100 metres below, destroying a row of cottages and killing eight people...
occurred in Lewes, the worst ever recorded in Britain. A large build-up of snow on the nearby cliff slipped down onto a row of cottages called Boulters Row (now part of South Street). About fifteen people were buried, and eight of these died. A pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in South Street is named The Snowdrop in memory of the event.
On 21 August 1864, Lewes suffered an earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
shock measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale.
In October 2000 the town suffered major flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing during an intense period of severe weather throughout the United Kingdom. The commercial centre of the town and many residential areas were devastated. In a government report into the nationwide flooding, Lewes was officially noted the most severely affected location. As a result of the devastation, the Lewes Flood Action group formed, to press for better flood protection measures.
Church of England
- St. Michael's is located at the top of the High Street and like St. Peter's in nearby SoutheaseSoutheaseSouthease is a small village and civil parish in East Sussex, in South East England between the A26 road and the road from Lewes to Newhaven. The village is to the west of the River Ouse, Sussex and has a church dedicated to Saint Peter...
it has a round tower (with a shingled spire). Its length runs along the street rather than away from it and the cemetery is separated from the High Street by stone walls with iron railings on top. Next to it is a building which is used upstairs as a Sunday SchoolSunday schoolSunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
. - Further west is St. Anne's, a quiet church surrounded by its graveyard, which gives its name to the street it is on.
- St John sub CastroChurch of St John sub Castro, LewesThe Church of St John sub Castro is an Anglican church in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England . It was built in 1839 on the site of an 11th-century Saxon church, and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building...
(Latin for St. John-under-the-Castle) is the northernmost church in the old town. The surrounding town quarter is called St. John's. The church's boundaries are actually protected on one side by the Town Walls, although originally St. John's was a small Saxon building. It was destroyed in the 19th century but the main door was kept and used as an east door for the large new church, built in 1839 by George Cheeseman in flintFlintFlint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
and brickBrickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
. In the graveyard there is a memorialRussian Memorial, LewesThe Russian Memorial is an obelisk in the churchyard of St John sub Castro in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England . It was erected in 1877 at the behest of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, in memory of 28 Finnish soldiers of the Russian Army of the Crimean War who died while prisoners of...
to the Finnish prisoners kept in the old naval prison in the 19th century. St. John's Church Hall is a couple of streets away in Talbot Terrace. - In Cliffe there is St. Thomas à Becket's, where the OrthodoxOrthodoxyThe word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
Community also worship. - In Southover, St John the Baptist's is located on Southover High Street next to the local War MemorialWar memorialA war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
. The nave incorporates the hospitiumHospitiumHospitium , hospitality, among the Greeks and Romans, was of a twofold character: private and public.-Private:In Homeric times all strangers without exception, were regarded as being under the protection of Zeus Xenios, the god of strangers and suppliants...
of the Priory of St Pancras. Neighbouring it is Church End and down the road at St. James Street cul-de-sacCul-de-sacA cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
, the Church Hall. - St. Michael, South Malling dates from 1628 and was once in a village of its own. The development of the suburbs has connected South Malling to Lewes although the church mainatins its village setting by the River Ouse, with the neighbouring rectory.
Deconsecrated
- All Saints' is next to the site of a PrioryPrioryA priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
of Grey Friars (FranciscanFranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monks) the only relic of which is an archway at the end of the church boundary wall, which is on the line of the town wall. The mediæval tower survives, abutting a later brick nave by Amon WildsAmon WildsAmon Wilds was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as Wilds senior and his son Amon Henry Wilds as Wilds junior. in 1806 and started working in the fashionable and growing seaside resort...
(1806) and nineteenth century gothic style chancel. This church is now deconsecrated and serves as a community arts space, home to the Lewes Cinema. Lewes Film Club, the Oyster Project disability charity and many local organisations.
Non-conformist
- The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to St. Pancras in memory of the Priory and is a red-brick building over the street from St. Anne's.
- The Religious Society of FriendsReligious Society of FriendsThe Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
(finished 1784) is a Quaker meeting house next to the former All Saints Church (now an arts centre) on Friar's Walk. - The Jireh Chapel, off Malling Street, is a Grade I listed building, being a rare survivor of its type dating from 1805. It now houses the Lewes Free Presbyterian ChurchLewes Free Presbyterian ChurchLewes Free Presbyterian Church is one of seven Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster places of worship in England. It is based in a former Calvinistic Independent chapel in the Cliffe area of Lewes, the county town of East Sussex and the main town in the local government district of Lewes...
. - Westgate Chapel is a sixteenth-century building located in a yard at the top of the High Street (Grade 2 listed). So called because of its position at the old West Gate of the town wall, the Chapel first officially opened for worship as Westgate Meeting in 1700 as English Presbytarian but soon joined by an Independent congregation. Its liberal stance allowed it to become a UnitarianUnitarianismUnitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
church by 1820 (when the congregation of Southover General Baptist ChapelSouthover General Baptist ChapelSouthover General Baptist Chapel is a former Baptist place of worship in the ancient village of Southover, now part of the town and district of Lewes, one of six local government districts in the English county of East Sussex...
joined) and is still a Unitarian chapel today. - Eastgate Chapel is a very different building; a neo Norman design of 1843 in dark flint, it originally had a pepper pot dome but this was removed in favour of a traditional spire in case traffic vibrations below made it fall off. A modern extension was added to the church.
- Christ Church Hall, a modern building, serves both the United Reformed ChurchUnited Reformed ChurchThe United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...
and the Methodist worshippers. - Southover General Baptist ChapelSouthover General Baptist ChapelSouthover General Baptist Chapel is a former Baptist place of worship in the ancient village of Southover, now part of the town and district of Lewes, one of six local government districts in the English county of East Sussex...
was built in Eastport Lane in 1741. The congregation's views moved towards Unitarianism, and in the 19th century they joined Westgate Chapel. The building has been a house since 1972, but had various religious and secular uses before that.
Demography
In 2001 the service industries were by far the biggest employers in Lewes: over 60% of the population working in that sector. A little over 10% are employed in manufacturing, mostly in the smaller industrial units, particularly those in The Mallings Business Centre.The town is a net daytime exporter of employees with a significant community working in London and Brighton whilst it draws in employees of the numerous local government and public service functions on which its local economy is strongly dependent.
An important part of the town’s economy is based on tourism, because of the town's many historic attractions and its location.
Lewes Bonfire
Arguably the town's most important annual event is Lewes Bonfire
Lewes Bonfire
Lewes Bonfire, is a series of celebrations in the town of Lewes, East Sussex which form the UK's largest and most famous Guy Fawkes Night festivities, with Lewes being called the Bonfire capital of the world....
, or Bonfire Night - Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding...
celebrations on the 5th of November. In Lewes this event not only marks the date of the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
in 1605, but also commemorates the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs burnt at the stake
Burned at the Stake
Burned at the Stake is a 1981 film directed by Bert I. Gordon. It stars Susan Swift and Albert Salmi.-Cast:*Susan Swift as Loreen Graham / Ann Putnam*Albert Salmi as Captaiin Billingham*Guy Stockwell as Dr. Grossinger*Tisha Sterling as Karen Graham...
for their faith during the Marian Persecutions
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
. The celebrations, which controversially involve burning an effigy of the Pope, are the largest and most famous Bonfire Night celebrations in the country.
Economy
Lewes Farmers' Market, one of the first in the UK, was started in the 1990s by Common Cause Co-operative Ltd and is a very popular re-invention of Lewes as a market town.
The Farmers' Market takes place in pedestrianised Cliffe High Street on the first Saturday of every month, with local food producers coming to sell their wares under covered market stalls. Occasionally French traders from the Twin Town
Twin Town
Twin Town is a 1997 revenge comedy film made and set in South West Wales. It was directed by Kevin Allen and had a working title of Hot Dog; a hot dog van features in a number of scenes in the film. It stars real-life brothers Rhys Ifans and Llŷr Ifans and also features Dougray Scott...
of Blois
Blois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
attend, vending on Cliffe Bridge.
From 1794 beers, wines and spirits were distributed from Lewes under the Harveys name, and the town is today the site of Harvey & Son's brewery celebrated as one the finest ale producers in England.
In September 2008, Lewes launched its own currency, the Lewes Pound
Lewes Pound
The Lewes Pound is a local currency in use in the town of Lewes, East Sussex. Inspired by the Totnes pound and BerkShare, the currency was introduced with the blessing of the town council in September 2008 by Transition Town Lewes - a community response to the challenges of climate change and peak...
, in an effort to increase trade within the town. One Lewes Pound is equal to £1. Like the similar local currency
Local currency
In economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government , and intended to trade only in a small area. As a tool of fiscal localism, local moneys can raise awareness of the state of the local economy, especially among those who may be unfamiliar or...
in Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, the initiative is part of the Transition Towns
Transition Towns
Transition Towns is a grassroots network of communities that are working to build resilience in response to peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability...
movement. The Lewes Pound and the Transition Towns
Transition Towns
Transition Towns is a grassroots network of communities that are working to build resilience in response to peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability...
movement have received criticism for a failure to address the needs of the wider Lewes population, especially lower socio-economic groups. Such local currency initiatives have been more widely criticized in light of limited success stimulating new spending in local economies and as an unrealistic strategy to reduce carbon emissions. The Lewes Pound can be exchanged for the same amount of pounds sterling in several shops in Lewes and can be spent in a wide range of local businesses. Many of the notes were sold on Ebay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
at a higher amount. Early numbers and sequenced notes fetched very high prices from foreign collectors.
Landmarks
Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle stands at the highest point of Lewes, East Sussex, England on an artificial mound constructed with chalk blocks. It was originally called Bray Castle.-History:...
, the remains of Lewes Priory
Lewes Priory
The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line at the head of the Ouse valley to the south of Lewes...
, Bull House (the former home of Tom Paine), Southover Grange and public gardens, and a sixteenth century timber-framed Wealden hall house
Wealden hall house
The Wealden hall house is a type of vernacular medieval timber-framed yeoman's house traditional in the south east of England. It is most common in Kent and the east of Sussex but has also been built elsewhere...
known as Anne of Cleves House
Anne of Cleves House
Anne of Cleves House is a 15th century timber-framed Wealden hall house on Southover High Street in Lewes, East Sussex, England. It formed part of Queen Anne's annulment settlement from King Henry VIII in 1541, although she never visited the property...
because it was given to her as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, though she never lived there. Anne of Cleves and the Castle are owned and maintained by the Sussex Archaeological Society
Sussex Archaeological Society
The Sussex Archaeological Society, founded in 1846, is the largest county-based archaeological society in the UK. Its headquarters are in Lewes, Sussex...
(whose headquarters are in Lewes). The Round House, a secluded former windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
in Pipe Passage, was owned by the writer Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
.
The steep and cobbled Keere Street is home to many historic buildings, including a timber framed antiquarian bookshop. The gardens of the buildings on the east side of the street border the old Town Walls. The Prince Regent once drove his carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
down the Street, and a sign at the bottom commemorates this event.
The ancient street pattern survives extensively as do a high proportion of the medieval building plots and oak framed houses, albeit often masked with later facades. The eighteenth century frontages are notable and include several, like Bartholomew House at the Castle Gate, that are clad in mathematical tile
Mathematical tile
Mathematical tiles are a building material used extensively in the southeastern counties of England—especially East Sussex and Kent—in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They were laid on the exterior of timber-framed buildings as an alternative to brickwork, which their appearance closely resembled...
s which mimic fine brick construction. Numerous streets of eighteenth and nineteenth century cottages have survived cycles of 'slum clearance' as models of attractive town housing.
At the highest point of the old town the Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
and Coade stone
Coade stone
Lithodipyra , or Coade stone, was ceramic stoneware that was often described as an artificial stone in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was used for moulding Neoclassical statues, architectural decorations and garden ornaments that were both of the highest quality and remain virtually...
facade of the Crown Court
Lewes Crown Court
Lewes Crown Court is a Crown Court in Lewes, East Sussex, England. It is housed in the Lewes Combined Court Centre which it shares with Lewes County Court in the Lewes High Street...
(1808–12, by John Johnson
John Johnson (architect)
John Johnson was an English architect and Surveyor to the County of Essex. He is best known for designing the Shire Hall, Chelmsford.-Life:...
), the brick Market Tower and florid War Memorial mark the historic centre, although trade has tended to concentrate on the lower land in modern times. At the lowest part of the town, by the river, Harvey & Son's Brewery, 'The Cathedral of Lewes' is an unspoilt nineteenth century tower brewery and is the only one of the town's five original major breweries still in use. The railway station is the other important monument of the industrial era.
Lewes Priory
The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and had one of the largest monastic churches in the country. It was set within an extensive walled and gated precinct laid out in a commanding location fronting the tidal shore-line at the head of the Ouse valley to the south of Lewes...
and is used as a nursery school and as a location for weddings and exhibitions. The gardens are open to the public for most of the light hours of every day of the year. The north wing of the building is home to a craft shop and The Window café (open in spring and summer). The Grange has a strict and lengthy list of rules controlling its visitors and the Winterbourne stream runs through it. A tulip tree was planted there by Queen Elizabeth II and a mulberry tree dating perhaps to the seventeenth century is now enclosed by steel fencing. The history of these significant, historic gardens is under researched.
Pelham House dates back to the sixteenth century and features architecture of all subsequent eras and a private landscaped garden facing the Downs. It now serves as an independent hotel. Shelleys Hotel is likewise of some antiquity with a private garden and family associations with Percy Shelley.
The centre of Lewes is notable for a consistently high calibre of regional vernacular architecture and variety of historic construction materials and techniques.
Transport
A27 road
The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 at Whiteparish in the county of Wiltshire. It closely parallels the south coast, where it passes through West Sussex and terminates at Pevensey in East Sussex.Between Portsmouth and Lewes, it is one of the busiest trunk...
taking traffic along the south coast between Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
passes to the south of the town. The A26
A26 road
For the road in Northern Ireland see A26 road The A26 road is one of the three cross-country two-digit numbered roads in the southeast of England, the others being the A25 road and A27 road. It carries traffic from Maidstone in Kent in a generally south-westerly direction to Tunbridge Wells and...
from Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
to Newhaven; and the A275 (the London road) both come in from the north. The Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company operates almost all bus services in the city of Brighton and Hove in southern England. The company was established in 1884 as Brighton, Hove and Preston United Omnibus Company and has been part of the Go-Ahead Group since 1993.The company currently operates a...
serve the town. The Bus Station was closed for a while but reopened in late 2008.
Lewes railway station
Lewes railway station
Lewes railway station serves the town of Lewes in East Sussex, England. It has five platforms and is on the East Coastway Line. Train services are provided by Southern.The station has a café and a newsagent, and there is a taxi office on the main forecourt...
was originally the junction for six routes. The town still enjoys hourly fast trains from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The two erstwhile rural rail routes to the north, linking to East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
and Uckfield
Uckfield
-Development:The local Tesco has proposed the redevelopment of the central town area as has the town council. The Hub has recently been completed, having been acquired for an unknown figure, presumed to be about half a million pounds...
respectively, are both now closed, but the East Coastway Line
East Coastway Line
East Coastway is the name used by the train operating company, Southern , for the routes it operates along the south coast of Sussex and Kent to the east of Brighton, England. Those to the West of Brighton are named the West Coastway Line...
, connecting Brighton with Eastbourne and Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, and the branch to Seaford
Seaford, East Sussex
Seaford is a coastal town in the county of East Sussex, on the south coast of England. Lying east of Newhaven and Brighton and west of Eastbourne, it is the largest town in Lewes district, with a population of about 23,000....
remain.
The Vanguard Way
Vanguard Way
The Vanguard Way is a long distance walk of around 66 miles from East Croydon in outer London to Newhaven on the south coast of England. It passes through the counties of Surrey, Kent and East Sussex, between Croydon and Newhaven, East Sussex...
, a long-distance footpath
Long-distance trail
Long-distance trails are the longer recreational trails mainly through rural areas, used for non-motorised recreational travelling ....
from London to Newhaven, passes through countryside east of the town.
Primary schools
There are many primary schools including- Southover School
- Western Road School
- Morley House (Lewes Old Grammar SchoolLewes Old Grammar SchoolLewes Old Grammar School in Lewes, East Sussex, is an independent co-educational day school accredited by the Independent Schools Council. Its current headmaster is Robert Blewitt....
's junior department) - St. Pancras School
- Wallands School
- Pells School
- South Malling School
Western Road and Southover School, despite being separate schools, are housed in linked buildings. The original Southover buildings are of red brick in the Queen Anne style, dating back to the early 20th century. The additions to it now forming the Western Road buildings date from after 1945. The two schools share a field.
Secondary schools
There are two secondary schools in the town- Lewes Priory SchoolLewes Priory SchoolLewes Priory School is a British co-educational school for 11 to 16 year-olds located on Mountfield Road in the East Sussex town of Lewes. It is a specialist school as an Arts College, Language College, and Science College.-History:...
, specialist in the Arts, Language and Science - Lewes Old Grammar SchoolLewes Old Grammar SchoolLewes Old Grammar School in Lewes, East Sussex, is an independent co-educational day school accredited by the Independent Schools Council. Its current headmaster is Robert Blewitt....
, an independent school which also has a sixth form.
Further education
Sussex Downs CollegeSussex Downs College
Sussex Downs College is a further education college in East Sussex, England, that was established in 2001 through a merger of Lewes Tertiary College and Eastbourne College of Arts and Technology, with Park Sixth Form College in Eastbourne added in 2003...
provides a range of courses including A levels, GCSEs and vocational qualifications such as NVQs and BTECs.
Culture
Located four miles (6 km) outside of Lewes is GlyndebourneGlyndebourne
Glyndebourne is a country house, thought to be about six hundred years old, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England. It is also the site of an opera house which, with the exception of its closing during the Second World War, for a few immediate post-war years, and in 1993 during the...
opera house. Founded in 1934, the venue draws large audiences for its Summer Festival and has attracted a host of international talent throughout its history.
A number of local classical music series operate in the town, including the Nicolas Yonge Society; the Westgate Series based at the Westgate Chapel; and the baroque and early classical Workshop Series. The Lewes Concert Orchestra was founded in 1993.
The principal town museum is Barbican House Museum at Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle
Lewes Castle stands at the highest point of Lewes, East Sussex, England on an artificial mound constructed with chalk blocks. It was originally called Bray Castle.-History:...
, which hosts the Lewes Town Model as well as four galleries of Sussex archaeology. Anne of Cleves House
Anne of Cleves House
Anne of Cleves House is a 15th century timber-framed Wealden hall house on Southover High Street in Lewes, East Sussex, England. It formed part of Queen Anne's annulment settlement from King Henry VIII in 1541, although she never visited the property...
has various collections relating to the history of Lewes.
There is also the Hop Gallery in the former Star Brewery in Market Street; St Anne's Gallery in the High Street and occasional art exhibitions mounted at the Town Hall. The Foundry Gallery was converted by Artemis Arts from the former Market Lane Garage in 2006 for use for art events.
The Lewes Film Club, which also produces short movies (including the recent adaptation of George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's Animal Farm
Animal Farm
Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...
), and Lewes Cinema show films based in the All Saints Centre, a former church.
Local dance schools and clubs include Lewes Dance Club, East Sussex Dance and ballet groups. Starfish Youth Music is based at Priory School and the young bands who take part regularly perform in local venues such as the Paddock and the All Saints' Centre.
Popular music gigs take place at a number of venues and pubs across the town including the Lewes Con Club, the Snowdrop Inn, the Volunteer Pub, the Lewes Arms, The John Harvey Tavern, The Pelham Arms. The Royal Oak hosts a regular Thursday night folk sessions which attracts leading musicians.
A monthly comedy club based at the Con Club was created in 2010.
Annual arts events include ArtWave and the children's Patina Moving On Parade. An annual Lewes Guitar Festival which started in 1999 has not operated since the late 2000s.
Lewes has been influenced by its close proximity to the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
and Brighton University in terms of significant numbers of academics and students living in the town.
The Headstrong Club
Headstrong Club
The Headstrong Club was an 18th century debating society operating out of an upstairs room at The White Hart in Lewes whose notable members included Thomas Paine and Thomas 'Clio' Rickman.- Modern Re-launch :...
whose notable members include Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
was relaunched in 1987 and continues to operate.
A branch of the popular Skeptics in the Pub movement was created in 2011 in Lewes, based at the Elephant and Castle.
Media
The Sussex Express newspaper, based in Lewes, was established in 1837 and serves much of East Sussex. It has four editions and includes extensive coverage of the local sports scene. It is part of the Johnston PressJohnston Press
Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
network of newspapers.
Viva Lewes was founded as a weekly web magazine in January 2006 and also as a monthly print handbook in October 2006 covering events and activities in and around the Lewes area.
Bright 106.4 FM
Bright 106.4 FM
Bright FM is a United Kingdom radio station, based in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, and operated by Media Sound Holdings Ltd. The station plays a selection of hit songs from the last forty years, and offers regular updates on local news, sport, travel and events...
radio station, based in Burgess Hill
Burgess Hill
Burgess Hill is a civil parish and a town primarily located in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park...
, broadcasts to an area which extends to Lewes.
Lewes has its own RSL
Restricted Service Licence
A UK Restricted Service Licence , is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event...
radio station, Rocket FM, which broadcasts via FM and the Internet for three weeks in October/November each year, covering the Bonfire period.
Sport
Lewes Priory Cricket Club are based at the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road. The club were Sussex League champions in 1986 and 1990 and Division 2 winners in 1999, 2006 and 2008. They will play in Division 3 (east) of the Sussex League in 2012.Lewes Rugby Football Club, founded in 1930, runs several rugby teams at various competitive levels, including the senior men's sides, the women's, girls' and junior teams. Lewes RFC's home turf is the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road.
The local football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team is Lewes F.C.
Lewes F.C.
Lewes Football Club is an English football team based in Lewes, East Sussex. The club are currently members of the Isthmian League Premier Division and play at the Dripping Pan.-History:...
(home ground "The Dripping Pan
The Dripping Pan
The Dripping Pan is a football stadium in Lewes, England. It has been home to Lewes F.C. since their incarnation in 1885. It had previously been used by Lewes Priory Cricket Club, though the ground itself had been used by the people of Lewes as a centre for recreation as far back as records exist,...
") founded in 1885 who currently play in the Conference South
Conference South
Conference South is one of the second divisions of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National...
. The town is also home to Lewes Bridge View F.C. which has adult teams competing in the Mid Sussex Football League and Lewes and District Sunday League in addition to a number of junior teams across age groups.
Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club
Cycling club
A cycling club is a society for cyclists. It can be local or national, general or specialised. The Cyclists' Touring Club, CTC) in the United Kingdom is a national association; i-Team and are internet clubs; the Tricycle Association, Tandem Club and the Veterans Time Trial Association, for those...
was reconstituted in 1950. The club organises regular time trials throughout the summer.
Lewes Racecourse, located immediately to the west of the town on the slopes of the Downs, operated for 200 years until closed in 1964. It is still used as a training course, and there are several stables nearby. Race days are held at nearby Plumpton Race Course.
Lewes Athletic Club caters for junior and senior athletes. The club trains at the all weather 400m track at the end of Mountfield Road, and other locations in the area.
There are a number of Service Clubs in Lewes of which one is the Lewes Lions Club which is a member of Lions Clubs International
Lions Clubs International
Lions Clubs International is a secular service organization with over 44,500 clubs and more than 1,368,683 members in 191 countries around the world founded by Melvin Jones Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, the organization aims to meet the needs of communities on a local and...
, the largest Service Organisation in the world. The club runs various events including the Christmas Concert in December each year with the LGB Brass and the annual "International 'Toad-In-The-Hole' Competition" and holds street collections to raise funds so as to assist people and organisations in and around Lewes.
Notable people
Among the many notable former residents of Lewes is Thomas PaineThomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
(1737–1809), who was employed as an excise officer in the town for a time from 1768 to 1774 when he emigrated to the American colonies. The Paine association sits at the centre of a radical tradition that is represented today by writers working in the town.
The sciences and natural enquiry are represented by Gideon Mantell
Gideon Mantell
Gideon Algernon Mantell MRCS FRS was an English obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist...
who is credited with the first discovery and identification of fossilised dinosaur (iguanodon
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
) teeth. Lewes doctor, Richard Russell
Richard Russell (doctor)
Richard Russell was an 18th century British Physician who encouraged his patients to use a form of water therapy that involved the submersion or bathing in, and drinking of, seawater...
, popularised the resort of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
.
Lewes is the birthplace of sixteenth century madrigalist Nicholas Yonge
Nicholas Yonge
Nicholas Yonge was an English singer and publisher. He is most famous for publishing the Musica transalpina , a collection of Italian madrigals with their words translated into English...
and more recently home in the 1960s to Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
of the Rolling Stones as it is now to other musicians, notably Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers
Herbie Flowers is an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double-bass and tuba. He is noted as a member of Blue Mink, T...
, Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown (musician)
Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...
and Tim Rice-Oxley
Tim Rice-Oxley
Timothy James Rice-Oxley , is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as co-founder, the principal composer and pianist, backing vocalist of piano rock band Keane.-Life and career:...
from Keane.
Daisy Ashford
Daisy Ashford
Daisy Ashford, full name Margaret Mary Julia Ashford was an English writer who is most famous for writing The Young Visiters, a novella concerning the upper class society of late 19th century England, when she was just nine years old. The novella was published in 1919, preserving her juvenile...
lived at Southdown House, 44 St Anne’s Crescent from 1889 to 1896 where she wrote The Young Visiters. Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
briefly owned - but never lived in - the Round House, a windmill in Pipe Passage, in 1919 before moving to her final home, Monk's House
Monk's House
Monk's House is an 18th century weatherboarded cottage located in the village of Rodmell, three miles south-east of Lewes, East Sussex, England. The writer Virginia Woolf and her husband, the political activist, journalist and editor Leonard Woolf, purchased the house in 1919, and received many...
in Rodmell
Rodmell
Rodmell is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located three miles south-west of Lewes, on the Lewes to Newhaven road and is situated by the west banks of the River Ouse...
. Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
resided in Castle Banks House for some time. Diarist John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
spent his boyhood at Southover Grange.
Crime
The fact that Lewes has a Crown CourtLewes Crown Court
Lewes Crown Court is a Crown Court in Lewes, East Sussex, England. It is housed in the Lewes Combined Court Centre which it shares with Lewes County Court in the Lewes High Street...
, and a prison
Lewes (HM Prison)
HM Prison Lewes is a local men's prison, located in Lewes in East Sussex, England. The term 'local' means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service....
, is reflected by the fact that many notorious people have been connected with the town. During the 1916 Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
in Ireland several prominent figures involved in it were in Lewes Prison, including Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
(1882–1975); Thomas Ashe
Thomas Ashe
Thomas Patrick Ashe born in Lispole, County Kerry, Ireland, was a member of the Gaelic League, the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers...
(1885–1917); Frank Lawless
Frank Lawless
Frank J. Lawless was Sinn Féin member of the Dáil Éireann for Dublin County North, 1919-1922. He was a farmer at Saucerstown, Swords, Co. Dublin, and a member of a widely connected North County family identified with the National movement. He was an early member of Sinn Féin and of the Gaelic...
(1871–1922); and Harry Boland
Harry Boland
Harry Boland was an Irish Republican politician and member of the First Dáil.-Early life:Boland was born in Phibsboro, Dublin on 27 April 1887. He was active in GAA circles in early life, and ultimately joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
(1887–1922). Others have included George Witton (1874–1942) involved in shooting prisoners during the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
.
Lewes assizes saw many important trials. In 1949 serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
John George Haigh
John George Haigh
John George Haigh , commonly known as the "Acid Bath Murderer" , was an English serial killer during the 1940s. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine...
was sentenced to death. In 1956 suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
had his committal hearing in Lewes before being sent to the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
, London for trial. He was subsequently tried and convicted in Lewes in 1957 for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, lying on cremation
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
forms and obstructing a police search. An early case was that of Percy Lefroy Mapleton
Percy Lefroy Mapleton
Percy Lefroy Mapleton , a journalist, was the British "railway murderer" of 1881...
(1860–1881) hanged for murder and the subject of the first composite picture on a wanted poster
Wanted poster
A wanted poster is a poster distributed to let the public know of an alleged criminal whom authorities wish to apprehend. They will generally include either a picture of the alleged criminal when a photograph is available, or of a facial composite image produced by a police artist...
.
| + Crime rates in Lewes (per 1000 population) 2005-2006 | Offence | Locally |
|---|---|---|
| Robbery | 0.17 | 1.85 |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1.67 | 4.04 |
| Theft from a motor vehicle | 4.59 | 9.56 |
| Sexual offences | 0.83 | 1.17 |
| Violence against a person | 16.75 | 19.97 |
| Burglary | 2.99 | 5.67 |
Twin towns
Lewes is twinned with:Waldshut-Tiengen
Waldshut-Tiengen
Waldshut-Tiengen is a city in southwestern Baden-Württemberg right at the Swiss border. It is the district seat and at the same time the biggest city in Waldshut district and a "middle centre" in the area of the "high centre" Lörrach/Weil am Rhein to whose middle area most towns and communities in...
, Germany, since 1974 Blois
Blois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
, France, since 30 June 1963
Etymology
The name Lewes comes from the plural form of Anglo-SaxonOld English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
"Hlaew", which means "hill". This refers to the hills of the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
or ancient burial mounds within the area.