Lewes History Group

A fund-raising event for Lewes Priory Trust

Lewes Priory Trust’s summer evening get-together with a short Summer Concert within the ruins of the medieval Priory of St Pancras.

The concert features The Ashdown Singers, under the Musical Direction of Sam Barton. The programme will include works by William Byrd, Edward Elgar, amongst others.

Venue:  Priory Park, Southover, Lewes

Entry:  Adults £10, Children £1

Book now at: www.ticketsource.us/Lewes-Priory-Trust

Bring a rug and a picnic!

Click on image to enlarge

Tom Reeves: An Evening of Photographs from the Archives of Edward Reeves

Always a popular event, this talk will include newly researched material from the Edward Reeves Archive.

Venue: Priory School, Mountfield Road, Lewes

Entry: Tickets £5 (under 18s £3) Book online at www.trybooking.co.uk/BPGS

Also available from Edward Reeves, 159 High Street, Lewes, and from www.friendsofpriory.org

A bar and refreshments will be provided by Friends of Priory School.

All proceeds go to the Friends of Priory School, Lewes

Guided walking tours of one of England’s largest and most successful monasteries

At 2.30pm on Sunday 22^nd May, Lewes Priory Trust is offering the first in a series of guided walking tours of the Lewes Priory Park and the Gundrada Chapel at Southover church.

Over a period of 450 years between c.1080 and 1538, Lewes Priory became the richest religious house in Sussex and the most important of the English Cluniac foundations – in architecture, influence, art and learning.

The tour aims to bring to life the history, splendour and colour of the Priory during a walk through the remains of its massive buildings. Then, at the Gundrada Chapel, visitors will see the bones of the priory founders, Gundrada and William de Warenne, discovered in two lead boxes (‘cists’) in 1845 when the railway was dug through the remains of the Great Church.

William had fought alongside The Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Also on show is his wife Gundrada’s tomb slab; its Tournai marble top, blackened with wax or resin, is one of the finest Romanesque carvings to survive in England or even in Europe. It was brought back from Isfield church in 1775 to Southover and is thus reunited with her bones.

Tour dates:

All at 2.30pm

Sunday 22 May
Saturday 4 June
Sunday 17 July
Sunday 21 August
Sunday 18 September

Booking is essential:

£5 (children under 12 free)

Buy in person or by phone with credit/debit card, from:
Lewes Tourist Information Centre
187 High Street, Lewes, BN7 2DE
Tel 01273 483448

Sorry, no refunds, all income to Lewes Priory Trust

Assemble at 2.30pm prompt at Mountfield Road Car Park (limited spaces), Lewes BN7 2XA.

Tour duration approx 2 hours. Sturdy walking shoes advised. Wheelchair access on paved slopes. No public toilets. Bring umbrella if wet. Dogs on leads.

 Enquiries: peter@varlow.org.uk