L E W E S - H I S T O R I C C O U N T Y T O W N

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17 martyrsburnt in 1557

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ROYAL MAIL DELIVERY SERVICE

Grid reference in text

Information Centre (E5)

Taxi rank

Parking

Rail (F6) and Bus Sta. (D6)

Public House / Hotel

Lewes Town Council

Lewes District Council

East Sussex County Council

Police Station (D6)

Hospital (C1)

Post Office (D7)

Toilet

Toilet-disabled (radar key)

Library (E7)

Museum

Children’s playground

Mathematical tiles

Swimming (C5 + G7)

Footpath

Petrol Station

Charging point

Supermarket

HISTORIC LEWESTwittens. (1-11)These parallel lanes and pedestrianalleys, dropping steeply from the HighStreet to the town’s southern defences,probably date from the planning of Lewesas a Saxon stronghold by King Alfred theGreat in c879. Some have now beenwidened into roads, but originally wouldhave looked much as Walwers Lane andChurch Twitten (E6) do today.

The Castle (D3) Laid out by William deWarenne after the battle of Hastings toreinforce his control of Lewes Rape.Early Norman shell keep with 13thCturrets and early 14thC barbican (outergateway) with arrow loops and portcullisgrooves. From the keep there are splen-did views of the South Downs, the Ouseestuary and the wooded Weald.

The Tilting-ground (castle bailey) (D4)became a bowling green by 1639 andbowls are still played here with uniquelyshaped 200-year-old woods.

Brack Mount (D5) Perhaps pre-Norman indate? No other Norman castle exceptLincoln has a second motte like this.

Barbican House Museum (E4) This finehouse near the castle entrance has amid- 18thC facade, 16thC and late 17thCinterior and houses prehistoric, Romanand medieval artefacts. See also theLewes Town Model, a scale model withaudio-visual show tracing the town’s his-tory.

Lewes Priory Parks (G4+5) A Cluniachouse founded in c1077 by William andGundrada de Warenne, dedicated to StPancras, and largely destroyed byThomas Cromwell in 1538. Fragments ofthe great gatehouse and domestic build-ings remain.

Anne of Cleves House and Museum (F2)Early 16thC timber-framed Wealden hall-house, once owned by Anne of Cleves.Porch dated 1599. Tudor-style garden and

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YOU ARE HERE

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Lewes Town Council

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Design and artwork: Andy Gammon Lewes © 1998, revised 2018

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VISIT THE TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE

for information on accommodation,attractions, places to eat and places tosee in Lewes and the surrounding area.The office also stocks a wide range ofliterature including the illustrated TownGuide, the official Town Guidebook. Radarkeys for the disabled toilets are availablehere.

ENJOY YOUR VISITThis map has been provided by theFriends of Lewes in conjunction withLewes District Council and Lewes TownCouncil.

Pelham House (E5) Just off the HighStreet with fine Renaissance panellingand elegant Georgian staircase, was builtfor an Elizabethan courtier in 1579.

Lewes Crown Court (E5)(once the County Hall)

The Town Hall (E5) was called the StarInn until 1893. Its medieval cellar, splen-did Renaissance staircase and Georgianassembly-room remain behind thegauged brickwork of the Victorianfacade.

Market Tower (D6) was once the mainentrance to the provision market, nowholds a painting of Tom Paine by JulianBell. Above the arch are the BoroughArms, and the town bell, ‘Gabriel’, is aloft.

Lewes House (D7) is owned by LewesDistrict Council, with austere lateGeorgian grey brick at the front, charm-ing early Georgian red brick at the back.Wealthy aesthete and collector EdwardWarren lived here and commissionedRodin’s The Kiss in 1900. The statue leftLewes for the Tate Gallery in 1933.

Fitzroy House (D6) at the bottom of thehill, was built in 1862 on the site of theFranciscan Friary by the architect SirGeorge Gilbert Scott in Venetian Gothicstyle as a library and memorial to LewesMP, Henry Fitzroy. The other formerLewes library in Albion Street (D6), nowan architects’ office, was designed as aSchool of Art. The lamps date from theDiamond Jubilee in 1897.

Eastgate House (D6) built in 1823, has aGeorgian facade with an Art Nouveauextension. It was formerly a stonema-son’s office and yard.

All Saints Arts Centre (E6) Now a thrivingcentre for theatre, cinema, music and art.The former church has a 16thC tower andgalleried Georgian nave. Fine restoredGeorgian box tombs in the churchyard.

Cliffe Bridge (D7) over the Ouse. Itswooden arch was replaced by stone in1727. Railway Lane (D7) On the westbank of the Ouse is a collection of river-side buildings once included A the TownWharf, B the former Tabernacle SundaySchool, C the Viper Store with its wingedserpent, and D Stricklands granary(c1850). Now converted into riversideappartments.

Harvey’s Brewery (D7) established in1790, is now the only survivor of sevenVictorian breweries in the town.

Cliffe High Street (D7) leads to CliffeSquare, sometimes known as LambertCorner (D8) after the painter J. Lambert.

Mathematical Tiles, which are a featureon many houses in Lewes. Red and blackmathematical tiles came into fashionlocally in the 1780s. Usually hung ontimber frames, they saved frontage spaceand imitated brick. A H on the mapdenotes especially distinctive mathe-matical tiled buildings.

ELSEWHERE IN LEWESMartyrs’ Memorial (B8) Raised ‘in lovingmemory’ of the 17 Protestant martyrsburned in Lewes High Street during thereign of Queen Mary. Still a focus for‘Bonfire’ observance.

The Russian Memorial (C5) An obelisk(1877) raised by Czar Alexander II asGrand Duke of Finland. It honours 28Finnish soldiers captured in the Balticduring the Crimean War, who died ofdisease at the old (now demolished)Lewes Naval Prison.

Battle of Lewes Memorial 1964 (G6)Given by Lord Chelwood and designed byEnzo Piazzotta. The site of the battle,fought in 1264 between Henry III andSimon de Montfort, can best be seenfrom a lectern view-point in the CastlePrecincts.

The Ammonite sculpture (C7) at the

entrance to the Cuilfail road tunnel,opened in 1981, celebrates the fossil richchalkland of the Downs.

Lewes H. M. Prison (D1) (1853) Built byD.R.Hill with ‘frowning’ towers andcramped windows.

Old Race Course (A1) Scene of an annualKing’s Plate by 1718 and later patronisedby the George IV when Prince Regent,and Edward Vll. The gallops are still usedfor training racehorses.

Malling Deanery (B5) A fine classicalcomposition in Wealden brick, built about1700, within the precinct of the medievalDeanery. Now private appartments.

Malling House (A5) owned by theArchbishop of Canterbury until theReformation. The mansion was rebuilt byJohn Spence in 1710. Now the SussexPolice Headquarters.

The Greenwich Meridian (D1) 0° longi-tude is marked by a plaque in thepavement in Western Road, and by amonument in Meridian Road (B2).

The Railway Station (F6) ServingLondon, Brighton, Newhaven, Seaford,Eastbourne and Hastings.

The Bus Station (D6) Services leave fromthis area to Brighton, Uckfield, TunbridgeWells, Ringmer and the surrounding dis-trict.

LEISURE/NATURE/SPORTS Lewes is surrounded by wonderful coun-tryside, and a network of footpaths (seemap) which lead on to the Downs, OuseValley and the Weald. There are severalnature reserves within the town where youcan observe a variety of wildlife. Sportsenthusiasts are also well catered for.

The Railway Land local Nature Reserve(F7) borders the River Ouse. Part of thereserve was originally railway sidings.The habitat now includes woodland

watermeadows, ponds, and the environ-mental sculpture ‘Heart of Reeds’. Goodfor bird watching.

Malling Down Nature Reserve (A8) Thisis a designated Site of Special ScientificInterest. Downland flora, and the veryrare Adonis Blue butterfly can be seenhere.

Landport Bottom (A1) a dry valley, oncebelieved to be the site of the Battle ofLewes, now managed to restore itsdownland turf for public access.

Juggs Road (H1) Ancient lane leading toBrighton via Newmarket Hill. Once usedby fishwives to reach Lewes market.

The Pells Area (C4) The Prior of Leweskept a swannery here. From 1802 the ‘L’shaped duckponds powered a papermill.The adjoining open air swimming pool(1860) is the oldest in England. Children’splay area nearby.

Lewes Leisure Centre (G7) Large indoorpool and flume, fitness room, steam roomand sauna.

The Mount, Dripping Pan and ConventField (G6) Adjoining the Priory Park arepossibly the remains of an Elizabethanprospect mound and a bowling green.The Dripping Pan is now home ground toLewes Football Club ‘The Rooks’, with thenew £G pitch, whilst the Convent Fieldand surrounding area provides facilitiesfor other sports as well as a playgroundfor small children.

Stanley Turner Ground (H1) Home ofLewes Rugby Club, also cricket, hockey.

Southdown Club (H4) All weather tennis,squash and hockey club.

Hangman’s Acre (D3) and Gallows Bank(D4) Macabre history but Hangman’sAcre is now allotment gardens andrecreation ground called the Paddockwith children’s play area. Nearby the

place of execution may have been thesite of the present Elephant and Castlepublic house (D4).

PLACES OF WORSHIPTHREE TRINITY CHURCHES

1. St Michael’s, South Malling (B4) Thechurch of the medieval foundation wasdemolished in the year 1550. JohnEvelyn’s grandfather built the presentchurch in 1626. John Harvard, founder ofHarvard University was married here.2. St John the Baptist, Southover (G3)Originally a hospitium (guest house) bythe Priory gate. The Norman nave arcadedivided the wards. The South Chapelcontains the superbly carved blackTournai marble tomb slab of Gundrada,which once covered her grave in thePriory Chapter House. Fine Georgianbrick tower with copper weather vane inthe form of a basking shark.3. St John sub-castro (under the castle)(D5) A doorway, and a memorial toMagnus, a medieval anchorite, survivefrom a Saxon Church, built in anentrenched enclosure within the N.W.corner of the town walls. The presentchurch (1839) has fine Victorian glass.

St Anne’s (E2) Norman tower, south door-way, font and nave arcade; 13thC chan-cel; remains of anchoress’s cell; naveroof c1538; Jacobean pulpit; gallery witharms of George IV.

St Michael’s (E3) 12thC(?) round flinttower, 14thC arcade, Georgian facade ofknapped flint with excellent Victorianstained glass windows by Henry Holland.Also a picturesque shaded churchyard.

St Thomas á Becket, Cliffe (D8) Theparish church of Cliffe. Thomas á Becket,the martyred Archbishop of Canterburyhad a palace nearby at South Malling. Ithas a 14thC nave, 15thC tower and Gothicporch.

Jireh Chapel (1805) (C7) A stronghold ofCalvinistic Independents. Red mathemat-

ical tiles, chequered brickwork and hungslates. The famous evangelist and coalheaver, William Huntington S.S. (SINNER

SAVED) is buried in the yard.

Friends Meeting House (1784) (E7) Neatlybuilt with red and black mathematicaltiles. Next-door is a Perpendicular arch-way, perhaps from the Greyfriars.

Westgate Unitarian Chapel (1700) (E3)

Eastgate Baptist Church (1843) (D6)

St Pancras Roman Catholic Church (1870)(E2)

Christ Church United Reform/Methodist(1954) (C2)

Kings Church (modern) (C6)

SHOPPING AND EATINGLewes holds a variety of traditional andspecialist shops and is an internationalcentre for antiques and antiquarianbooks, boasting major auction houses.

Shops are concentrated in the HighStreet from Westgate to Eastgate, in thePedestrian Precinct, which includes theRiverside complex, and in Cliffe HighStreet where there is general shoppingand several antique markets. Shopping isalso to be found in many side streets.

Needlemakers and Candle Factory (D6) A Victorian industrial building nowconverted to shops, offices and café,

The Star Brewery workshops (D5) nowhouse arts and crafts activities and anexhibition gallery.

The town has many pubs (see key), someof which sell Harveys, the locally brewedale. It also has several hotels with a varietyof cafés, restaurants, sandwich bars andtake-aways in the town centre.Lewes lies within the South DownsNational Park - the largest town so to do.

café. Displays of furniture, tapestry, Priorysculpture, Wealden iron work, Lambertwatercolours, Sussex pottery, Harmerterracottas and Lewes Town HistoryRoom.

Southover Grange (F4) Built in 1572 withCaen stone from the demolished Priory,John Evelyn the diarist grew up here. Nowthe Registry Office. The tranquil gardensare a pleasure to stroll through with aCrafts Gallery and a café in the summermonths.

PLACES OF INTEREST Keere Street (E3) Steep and cobbled, waspartly built on the ditch of the town wall.

The 15thC Bookshop (E3) A milestonegiving the distance from London is set inthe jettied timber framing.

Bull House (E3) remodelled about 1583with gabled porch and carved satyrs. TomPaine, lodged here between 1768 and 1774and married his landlord’s daughter. Later,in the New World, he championedAmerican independence. Susequently hewrote the great democratic text ‘TheRights of Man’ which fuelled the FrenchRevolution.

Westgate Street (E3) The twin turrettedWestgate itself was demolished in 18thC.A replica sign of the former White Lion Innremains high upon the wall.

Pipe Passage (E3) runs along the top ofthe western stretch of the town wall andwas once the site of a clay pipe factory.

The Roundhouse (E3) which was formedfrom the base of a flour mill built in 1802,was briefly owned by ‘Bloomsbury’ writerVirginia Woolf.

Castle Place (E4) Built in 1819 by thearchitect Amon Wilds for Dr. GideonMantell, features giant pilasters withammonite capitals. Mantell, an eminentgeologist, was the first to identify bones,from Tilgate Forest, of a dinosaur laternamed ‘Iguanadon’.

THE KINGS CHURCH

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