Lewes History Group Talk: Monday 10th June 2024 at 19:30 – Lewes Rowing Club 150th Anniversary – John Lamb

Posted on May 20, 2024 by EditorP

 In this talk John Lamb will explore the history of Lewes Rowing Club. 150 years after its foundation, the club is still going strong, with members taking to the water in canoes, traditional rowing boats, up-to-date motor boats and sailing yachts, venturing up and down the river and out to sea. In recent years rowing races between Lewes and Newhaven, a big feature of the early days, have been re-instated.

1874 saw Disraeli’s Conservatives win  thumping victory over Gladstone’s Liberals in the general election. It was also the year that Levi Strauss patented his jeans with copper rivets and the year that Lewes Rowing Club was born, at a meeting in the former Lamb Inn.

John Lamb, current Chair and former mayor of Lewes, traces the development of one of the oldest sporting clubs in the town. Founded at a time of increasing leisure and a quest for new ways of filling it, Lewes Rowing Club gave the citizens of the town access to one of its greatest assets, the Ouse.

LHG Members can attend our talks for free.

Non-members can buy a ticket (£4) from TicketSource.co.uk/lhg

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

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Living in Tudor and Stuart Sussex c.1500-1700 – a study day organised by the Sussex School of Archaeology and History

Posted on May 16, 2024 by EditorP

Saturday 12th October 2024. Kings Church, Brooks Road, Lewes, BN7 2BY

An exploration of how people in the Tudor and Stuart periods made a living, what they wore, where they lived and worshipped, and how they were helped if they became very poor. The associated handbook will include a brief overview of key events such as the closure of the monasteries by Henry VIII, and the emergence of England as a Protestant nation, the attempt by Spain to invade England and the failure of the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War and Commonwealth, and the restoration of the Stuarts as monarchs.

BOOKING: via website of the Sussex School of History and Archaeology – conferences. http://www.sussexarchaeology.org/tudor-stuarts-programme

Fee: £30 in person, £25 students, £15 on line.

10.00: A brief introduction to the day – Dr David Rudling

10.05: Living in a provincial town – Elizabethan Chichester

Dr Caroline Adams.  Retired Archivist – Independent palaeographer and historian specialising in Sussex and the early modern period Independent Historian specialising in the Tudor period.

10.45: Living in a new town – Brighton a  fishing and coastal carrying town 1540-1700.

 Dr Sue Berry FRHistS   Independent historian and writer.

11.25: Break with refreshments [provided]

11.45: Social attitudes in Tudor and Stuart Chichester: the evidence of the wills.

Dr James McInnes. Independent historian with a particular interest in the ‘plaine country fellow.’

12.20:  Tudor and Stuart Great Houses in an age of religious upheaval

Maurice Howard OBE, FSA, FSA (Scot), Professor Emeritus of Art History, University of Sussex

13.00: Lunch [not provided] You are welcome to bring your own lunch or there are shops and cafes where you can purchase refreshments nearby.

14.00: Vernacular buildings in Sussex: some impacts of changes in design from c1500-1700

Joe Thompson Conservator, researcher and lecturer on historic timber-framed building.

14.40:  Clothing in Seventeenth century Sussex  

Dr Danae Tankard,  FRHistS Reader in Social History University of Chichester.

15.20: Break with refreshments [provided]

15.40: The poor and the impact of the Elizabethan Poor laws 

Dr Mary Rudling, Independent Historian, expert on the Poor Law.

16.20: The impact of the Reformation on parish churches and worship

Dr Andrew Foster, FRHistS  Visiting Fellow at the Universities of Southampton and Kent.

17.00 – 17.15: Q&A

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St Thomas à Becket Church – Guided tours start 18th May 

Posted on May 4, 2024 by EditorP

A lovely and very special oak bellframe of c1400 is the highlight of guided tours beginning on Sat 18 May this summer up the tower of St Thomas a Becket Church, Cliffe. Guests get an introduction to the church interior, then climb the tower (57 fairly easy steps) to see the ancient clock (1670), then up to the belfry to see the bellframe, and bells dating from 1566.

Not many belfries survive like this, and few that are easily reached by stairs. Hear the big tenor bell strike twelve! Not to be missed – only £5, fortnightly Saturdays 11.30am, from 18 May to 7 Sept. Full info at www.st-thomas-lewes.org.uk/visiting

Tickets £5 from the Lewes Tourist Information, 01273 483 448.

The 15th century St Thomas church bell frame.
Four bells survive along with later bracing
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