A live talk at King’s Church

Chris Grove : The battle for a railway to Lewes and eastwards, 1838 to 1844

Much has been written about the discovery by the railway navvies, of the graves of the founders of St Pancras Priory in 1845. Little has been written about the years leading up to this, when supporters of the current coastal railway were battling four alternative routes, for Government approval.

Two of these, preferred by residents in the far east of the county, would have avoided Lewes altogether. The other two, passing further north through Lewes, would have saved the Priory site from the damage inflicted by the construction.

This talk covers the remarkable events that were reported in the press at the time.

Aerial view of the railway at Lewes. Drone photograph by Mark Dobson

Venue: The King’s Church building on Brooks Road, Lewes, BN7 2BY. (Between Tesco car park and Homebase). Please don’t park in Homebase’s car park: they take deliveries in the evenings.

Entry: Entry is FREE for LHG members, and £4 for non-members. Due to limited seating, admission will be by advance ticketing only – no payments on the door. Please book in advance at https://ticketsource.co.uk/lhg. Tickets available until 5:30pm of the day of the talk. We will have lists of ticket-holders at the door and will check you in.

Covid precautions: Limited seating to allow for some spacing; no refreshments.

Please see the Talks page for a list of  forthcoming monthly events organised by the Lewes History Group.