Lewes History Group

Lewes History Group: Bulletin 28, (9 November 2012)

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Admin

1.   Next meeting, Monday 12 November 2012: ‘Yes, the Nevill Estate does have a History!’
2. 1930s Aerial View of the Downs (Nevill) Estate
3.   Lewes History Group Inaugural AGM (by Ian McClelland)
4.   Lewes Postcards: South Street, Cliffe (by Ali Harris)
5. Ballard’s Brewery (by John Davey)
6. The Southover Gallery (by Margaret Pokorny)
7.   Lewes Bonfire (by Ann Holmes)
8. Bonfire Postcards from 1910

1. Monday 12 November, 7.30 p.m. at the King’s Church Building, Brooks Road
Ann Holmes & Sarah Hitchings ‘Yes, the Nevill Estate does have a History!’ including the Nevill memories of Brian Beck

Although the Nevill is the past or present home to quite a proportion of our members, it was not obvious in advance that one of the most productive of our Lewes Street Stories projects has been the investigation of the history of the Nevill Estate. This is an excellent time to record this, while there are still at least a few people who have lived on the estate since its earliest days. This will be a team presentation, and contributions from the floor will also be welcome.

As usual all will be welcome, and we shall be serving coffee and biscuits prior to the talk.

2. 1930s Aerial View of the Downs (Nevill) Estate

The ‘Downs Estate’ under construction in the mid-1930s. Image supplied by Robert Cheesman.

3. Lewes History Group Inaugural AGM by Ian McClelland

At the October meeting I summarised the work of the ‘Terms of Reference’ working group. There was general agreement that the group should be organised in a more formal way than currently, as this would qualify us for grant support, and that we should move ahead with implementation. To this end the Terms of Reference group has drawn up a preliminary ‘constitution’. A copy of the Version 1.0 is attached for comment. Printed copies will also be made available at the November meeting. Consequently the inaugural Annual General Meeting of the Lewes History Group will be held as part of the December meeting. There are three key issues that will need to be agreed.

(i)           Approve the Terms of Reference.
(ii)         Appoint officers for 2013, for which some additional volunteers will be needed. I have already mentioned to John that I am happy to volunteer myself for the position of Chair.
(iii)          Approve the membership subscription(s) and meeting entry fee.

If you are interested in offering yourself for one of the officer positions please contact John Kay.

We look forward to your continued support and your participation in the AGM.

4. Lewes Postcards: South Street, Cliffe by Ali Harris

Image courtesy of Linda Weller

This lovely view of South Street is taken from outside No. 5/6 South Street, looking south. The Fountain Inn is on the left, next to a shop advertising ‘Nectar Tea’ (now the chippy). Opposite is a butchers advertising ‘home killed meat’. On the side of the cottages at the entrance to Timberyard Lane there is an advertising board showing ‘For Sale / To Let’ but I can’t make out any more details. Underneath the board is some signwriting for ‘G Newington’, who were Lime Manufacturers in Glynde.

5. Ballard’s Brewery by John Davey

Detail of the image courtesy of Linda Weller shown to us by Ali Harris in Bulletin no.27

The ‘General View of Lewes’ postcard in Bulletin no.27 is an interesting one because of its clarity – even with a 500% enlargement!

I think that the building you’re looking at immediately below the left of the three windmills on the track to Kingston is part of Ballard’s Brewery that stood in Bell Lane, behind the line of properties on the North side of Southover High Street. In my youth, I can recall seeing a building very similar to the one in the postcard – it was by then part of the Scent Factory.

6. The Southover Gallery by Margaret Pokorny

I have bought a drawing by Duncan Grant that has on the back a cover of a catalogue saying it was from an exhibition held at the Southover Gallery, 7 Southover High Street, in February 1975. The exhibition was held to celebrate the 90th birthday of Duncan Grant, who was a member of the Bloomsbury Group based at Charleston, and the father of one of Vanessa Bell’s children.

Number 7 is on the section of Southover High Street that turns sharply north at the roundabout, heading towards Southover Grange, two or three houses north of the ‘King’s Head’. Does anyone have any memories or this gallery or, better still, know anything about the exhibition? If so please contact me at mpok384[at]verizon.net.

7. Lewes Bonfire by Ann Holmes

Source: 1 November 1935 Sussex Express

Lewes will have its usual invasion of sightseers for the “Fifth” next Tuesday. It is not possible, of course, to see all the sights, but by strenuous walking at least two of the principal bonfires and fireworks displays can be seen. Walking is the only way to get about the town on that night, for so dense are the crowds that it is quite hopeless to go sightseeing by car. There are some Lewes bonfire boys who have never seen any display but that of their own society. A member of the Commercial-square Society said the other day that he joined the society when he came to the town 30 years ago and as he has always taken part in his society’s celebrations he has never seen anything of the others. He expressed the view that the younger generation have not the same keenness for “Bonfire” as the old hands. Surely the young people are not going to let “Fifth” gradually die out in Lewes?

8. Bonfire Postcards from 1910

The two postcards below, offered for sale on ebay last summer, both illustrate the 1910 Bonfire celebrations. The first, unused but dated in the caption, shows the Cliffe tableau titled “Popery on the rocks”, with a banner reading ‘NOT WANTED “EVICTED MONKS” ‘

The second postcard was posted from Lewes on 11 November 1910, with a message indicating that the event shown is the Lewes bonfire wheelbarrow race.

John Kay

–

Posted in Cultural History, Lewes, Local History, Urban Studies | Comments Off

Meeting – Monday 12 November 2012, 7:30pm

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Admin

Sarah Hitchings, Jenny Stewart, Anne Holmes: Yes, the Nevill Estate does have a History!

An illustrated talk on the development of the Nevill Estate. This is a work-in-progress report from one of the Lewes Streets Stories projects, presented by three History Group members. This is a timely attempt to capture memories of the Nevill in its earliest days, so contributions from the floor will be much appreciated.

As usual all are welcome, and we will be serving coffee and biscuits before the meeting.

Venue: The new King’s Church building on Brooks Road, Lewes. (Between Tesco car park and Homebase)

See the Meetings page for a list of forthcoming monthly talks organised by the Lewes History Group.

–

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Lewes History Group: Bulletin 27, (7 October 2012)

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Admin

1.   Next meeting, Monday 8 October 2012: ‘Anne of Cleves & her house in Lewes’
2.   Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street
3.   Lewes History Group Organisation (by Ian McClelland)
4.   ‘Lewes Streets’ project (by Ian McClelland)
5. Lewes Postcards: A General View of Lewes ( by Ali Harris)
6.   Street Driving (by Ann Holmes)
7.   Under Starter’s Orders at Lewes Racecourse in 1913
8.   A Bird’s Eye View of Lewes

1. Monday 8 October, 7.30 p.m. at the King’s Church Building, Brooks Road

Joanna Wilkins ‘Anne of Cleves and her house in Lewes’

Anne of Cleves House, in Southover High Street, is now a museum owned by the Sussex Archaeological Society, and one of the town’s tourist landmarks, drawing visitors away from the High Street to the historic suburb of Southover. It is a remarkable house in its own right, quite apart from its association with its best known owner, the fourth of Henry VIII’s six queens. Joanna is an Education Officer with the S.A.S., and will be talking to us both about the house itself and the Queen who owned it – a very different figure from the cartoon image you might get from ‘Our Island Story’ or ‘Horrible Histories’.

As usual all will be welcome, and we shall be serving coffee and biscuits prior to the talk.

2. Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street

This coloured postcard of Southover High Street (publisher unidentified) features Anne of Cleves House in the left foreground, and Southover Church in the middle distance. It is remarkable how many Edwardian cards feature policemen – they seem to have been everywhere.

3. Lewes History Group Organisation by Ian McClelland

The Terms of Reference group set up to put the Lewes History Group on a more formal footing has been meeting, and we think we have got far enough to recommend implementation from next year. We will introduce an outline of what we propose to the whole group at the October meeting, after the main speaker’s talk. There will be a short presentation followed by a short Q&A session. The aim is that we become a legal entity, which will enable us to submit bids for external funding.

What I would like us to achieve next week is to establish that the group as a whole is happy with the direction we propose. If so we will plan the more formal aspects, such as an AGM in December to approve a subscription and elect officers for 2013.

4. ‘Lewes Streets’ project by Ian McClelland

We now have a good number of people signed up to study one area of the town or another. However, there are still plenty of streets, and indeed some whole areas, that have not yet attracted interest. If someone else has already put down for your street, don’t let that put you off. Two people working collaboratively, especially if they have different interests, backgrounds or approaches, will discover more than two people working in isolation.

We are planning to establish a gmail list, with a password, so that people can easily contact each other.

Cluster	Name	Street(s) of interest
Nevill	Sarah Hitchens	North Way
	Ann Holmes	South Way
Western Road	Peter Luckin	Spital Road, Leicester Road
	Rosalind Young	St Annes Crescent, Western Rd, Irelands Lane
Southover High Street	Liz Waters	Southover High Street
	David Louis	Cleve Terrace
Southover Grange	Jo Miller	Keere Street
	Arnold Goldman	Eastport Lane
Friars Walk	Dee O’Connell	Friars Walk
North/Market Street	Marion Smith	North Street
	Lewis Orchard	North Street
	Jae & Julian Parsons	Market Street
Station Street	Debby Matthews	Station Street
Pells area	Richard Mason	Pelham, Talbot & Toronto Terraces
	Ros Brewer	Toronto Terrace
	Jane Lee	Toronto Terrace
Sun/St John Street	Rosemary Page	Sun Street
	Peter Strong	Sun Street
	Flo Ashley	Sun Street
	Pat & Robin Charlton	Sun Street
	Sue Weeks	St John Street
Cliffe	Meg Griffiths	Chapel Hill
	Marietta van Dyck	English Passage
Malling	Liz Allsobrook	Malling area
	Barbara Merchant	Malling Deanery
	Geoff Isted	Dunvan Close

5. Lewes Postcards: A General View of Lewes by Ali Harris

Image courtesy of Linda Weller

This is my favourite of the views over Lewes as it gives such a good insight into the area north of the High Street. The expanse of the Phoenix Ironworks is impressive, and a glimpse of the railway arch just above the jetty where there is a barge moored adds interest. The houses and the Naval prison in North Street / Lancaster Street and adjoining roads show what a busy residential area this was.

I hadn’t realised until looking at this photo that there were three windmills on Kingston / Ashcombe Hill. Finally, where is the large house with the pointed tower (straight down from the furthest left windmill) – it appears to be bottom of Juggs Lane area?

6. Street Driving by Ann Holmes

Source: 1 November 1935 Sussex Express

The old question of the danger and inconvenience caused by the driving of cattle through the streets from the market to the railway cattle dock has cropped up again. The Borough Council have received communications on the matter from the Chief Constable and from the R.S.P.C.A. and these have been considered by the General Purposes Committee, who adjourned further consideration “until another meeting”, not, be it noted, to their next meeting.

It is unlikely that anything will be done to remedy the present state of affairs. Although all parties concerned would be only too pleased to do anything within reason, there appears to be nothing practicable that can be done. If the traffic is not sufficient to justify the railway company providing a cattle dock nearer the market, there does not appear to be any need to go further in the matter.

Cattle in the streets are dangerous, because they are apt to become excited and terrified by the traffic. But not so Southdown sheep. At cross-roads and in traffic the stolid Southdowns have a habit of getting in a bunch and going round and round. On the day of a sheep sale not so long ago it took over three quarters of an hour to drive a flock from Cliffe Corner to Library Corner, a distance of no more than a quarter of a mile.

7. Under Starter’s Orders at Lewes Racecourse in 1913