Lewes History Group

You can now access digital copies of the Sussex poll books and electoral registers by using Ancestry. The registers include more than eight million East Sussex records from 1705-1963.

Electoral rolls were taken more regularly than censuses, often every year. They usually reveal names and addresses, making them a great research tool.

This follows the release of the Sussex parish registers which went live in 2022.

The collection has been digitised for the first time and brought online through a collaboration between the East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office, the West Sussex Record Office, and Ancestry.

You can find Ancestry online at www.ancestry.co.uk. You can access this at Lewes Library, and The Keep.

Lewes Priory was once one of the largest and wealthiest monasteries in the kingdom with as many as a hundred monks devoting their lives to prayer, while many of the townspeople of Lewes were employed by the Priory to grow and cook their food, tend their livestock, mill their flour, build and maintain their fine buildings and much else besides.

Following the success of last year’s sell-out tours, Lewes Priory Trust is once again running walking tours of the Priory ruins, and Southover Church, which houses the bones of William and Gundrada de Warenne who founded the Priory in the 11th century, and was once the guest house of the Priory.

The tours, led by a member of Lewes Priory Trust who is a professional guide, tells the story of the rise and fall of this magnificent Priory, which was such an important part of Lewes life for 450 years.

Booking is essential. Tickets are available from the Tourist Information Centre, 187 High Street, Lewes, BN7 2DE. Tel 01273 483448.

Please click to enlarge the poster for more details, or visit the Priory Trust’s website

The Lewes History Group has become a well-respected and valued local institution, and good publicity and communications has been a key factor in this.

This role aims to build and maintain awareness of LHG and its events in order to grow membership and increase talk audiences. This is done by publicising talks, walks, books and exhibitions in web and printed/online local press media. The Publicity Officer plays the lead role in this by obtaining event information and submitting it to various media outlets, and also to the LHG Website and Social Media Manager.

Experience in the PR or marketing industry would be helpful, but not essential – more important is being organised and methodical.

Further details are at Reach Volunteering