Lewes History Group

An Uckfield and District Preservation Society event at the Bridge Cottage Heritage Centre

Dr Caroline Adams: Elizabeth I in Sussex

Every Spring and Summer of her forty-four years as queen, Elizabeth insisted that her court go “on progress”, a series of royal visits to towns and aristocratic houses, in southern England.

These trips provided the only direct contact most people had with a monarch who made popularity a cornerstone of her reign.

Caroline Adams is an independent researcher and archivist, and previously Senior Archivist at West Sussex Record Office. She will tell us about Elizabeth I’s travels through Sussex and the surrounding areas.

Image at Bridge House website

The newly refurbished Bridge Cottage Heritage Centre, Uckfield was opened on 23 April 2016. Built around 1436, this important Wealden Medieval timber-framed house now forms the local Heritage Centre. It has an events programme which can be seen on their website.

Venue: Bridge Cottage Heritage Centre, High Street, Uckfield, TN22 1AZ

Tickets: £4 (£1for UDPS members). Email education [at] bridgecottageuckfield.co.uk or call 01825 760734. Tickets also from UDPS Charity Shop, 1 Post Office Court, 75 High Street, Uckfield, TN22 1AP, 01825 766958

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Lowther’s Lambs at The Boar’s Head: a talk by Dr Chris Kempshall

On 30 June 1916 the men of the Southdowns Battalions, ‘Lowther’s Lambs’, went over the top at ‘The Boar’s Head’, near Richebourg in France. What happened next has become known as ‘The Day that Sussex Died’. This talk will tell the story of what happened that day, and how these volunteer battalions gave their lives in an attempt to ensure success for the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Dr Chris Kempshall is Associate Tutor at the University of Sussex and Associate Lecturer for the University of Kent, UK, specialising in allied relations on the Western Front and modern representations of the war. He is also Project Officer for East Sussex County Council’s First World War Centenary Project.

Venue: The Keep

Admission: £3.00 Booking is essential. Please pay on the door and arrive at least 15 minutes before the talk

 
Chris Kempshall image at The Keep

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The garden of 6 Grange Road, Lewes will be open as part of the National Garden Scheme’s gardens open for charity.

This hidden historic town garden was laid out in the 1930s by sisters Winifred and Olive Martin, and developed since the 1980s by the late Paul Millmore. Half an acre in size, the garden is laid out formally with brick paviour paths, perennial borders, pond, mature trees and topiary.

Now owned by Bridget Millmore, the garden continues to evolve, although structurally it has changed little over the years.

Access is via steps to a narrow cobbled passageway which opens out to reveal a truly secret garden.

A magical space in the midst of bustling urban life.

Location: 6 Grange Road, Lewes, BN7 1TR. Enter down steps between Nos. 2 and 3 Grange Road.

Admission: £3.50, children free

Garden at 6 Grange Road, Lewes

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