Lewes History Group

The third edition of this book is now available!

First published on 1 September 2020, this book was updated and reprinted in October 2020. We have now reprinted it again, and this January 2023 version contains a small update regarding the St John sub Castro Church Hall.

As part of the Lewes History Group’s Street Stories series about our town, this book  documents with maps, artwork, documents and photographs, how the uses of this area changed over time. It looks at long-gone features such as sacred springs, medieval swanneries, a river navigation lock and a paper mill – and how these have contributed to the current landscape and natural history.

It also tells the story of the 19th century ‘pleasure grounds’, swimming pool, and recreation ground – remarkable achievements for a small market town.

The story includes the history of the former farmhouse, the oldest dwelling in the Pells, once part of the Shelley family’s domain, and reveals how the Lewes Cattle Market Company, which bought the farm as a site for a cattle market, became an accidental housing developer to help pay its bills.

Click on image for a sample page

The richly-illustrated, 160-page book covers many other intriguing elements of the Pells and is available from the Lewes Tourist Information Centre at £12.50, or by mail order. There are also copies for sale at the Pells Pool kiosk.

Press coverage, and readers’ comments.

Marcus Taylor looks at two streams in Lewes which, though very short, have had a significant effects on the town over the centuries.

One made possible the building of Lewes Priory and supplied its advanced drainage systems and ponds with water. The other, with its seasonal flow and thus a dry channel for much of the year, has brought disruptive flooding to Southover on many occasions.

This online article is based on Marcus’s talk to the Friends of Lewes in May 2022.

This article was first published on the Friends of Lewes website in July 2022. Since then, Marcus has been given additional photos and has added them to this updated version, along with some new text.

Winterbourne and Cockshut – the streams of Western Lewes

Flooding in Lewes, 1960

South Street is a long street with a mix of housing and industry. It has a long history, with houses from the 17^th century (and possibly earlier), and had a union workhouse, a pest house, shops, pubs, many small cottages, a long-established Rowing Club, and a Bonfire Society.

Industries included timber, boat building, gas, chalk and cement works, and the river provided the transport for these with barges, wharfs and warehouses.

South Street was the site of Britain’s worst avalanche, has suffered from flooding and had terrible traffic problems when, prior to the building of the tunnel, South Street was the main road from Lewes to the east.

Heather Downie and her team have researched the histories of the houses and industries on the street, the lives led by its residents, and shows how all this has changed over time.

Read all about it at Lewes Street Stories: South Street

Postcard showing South Street, supplied by Linda Weller