Lewes History Group

A Zoom Webinar

Chris Horlock: the original Sussex Scrapbook

Chris Horlock will be regaling us with an entertaining mix of anecdotes about famous people connected to our county, details of local historic buildings and landmarks, local traditions and folklore, quaint ‘health cures’ and all sorts of legends, tales and mysteries.

What links the stories and features together is that they all reflect aspects of the mindset of the generations that preceded ours, and the attitudes and outlooks of their times.

A native of Brighton, Chris has spent a lifetime travelling round Sussex, exploring its history and heritage, and accumulating a collection of photographs, maps, historical prints and ephemera that he will use to illustrate his talk.

His ‘Sussex Scrapbook’ talks have been so popular that there are actually three different non-overlapping versions – cognoscenti may like to know that this month we will hear the original version. Chris is a regular contributor to Sussex Life, and the author of several books on Sussex history. He has appeared on radio and TV, and is a natural storyteller.

To join this talk, you need to
1) register your intention in advance
2) receive our confirmation email with a link to the talk
3) click on that link to attend the talk 10 minutes before it starts

LHG Members can attend our talks for free. We will send members emails with a link to Zoom registration. Then please follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as above. 

Non-members can buy a ticket (£4) from TicketSource. The ticket will provide a link to Zoom registration. Then please follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as above.

Please join the webinar at 7:25pm.

We would recommend a computer screen or an iPad as a minimum screen-size for viewing our webinars.

Our presenters will be speaking live, and you can ask questions by typing in the Q&A box in Zoom.

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

A Zoom talk

Steven Sparks: The Crown Inn – Evolution and Restoration of a Landmark Building

As many as 120 public houses and inns have existed in Lewes over the years, but few have had a longer unbroken history than the Crown Inn at 192 High Street.

We tend to think that old buildings have always looked more or less as they do now, but documentary evidence shows that in the 17th Century, this one was a 2-storey hostelry called the Black Lyon.

Steven Sparks, who has overseen the recent transformation of this building into 9 apartments and 3 commercial units, tells its story and gives an insight into the challenges of developing a Grade II* listed building.

Those who remember the Crown as it was a few years ago will enjoy seeing the “before and after” photographs, and will appreciate how much care has been taken in its restoration and evolution.

The Crown, Lewes, during its transformation. Image courtesy of Sparks Property

The talk will be free, and all are welcome.

Please click to Register in advance for this talk

After registering, you will receive an automated confirmation email containing your personal link for joining the meeting.

Please click on that link to attend the talk 10 minutes before it starts.

We would recommend a computer screen or an iPad as a minimum screen-size for viewing our webinars.

Our presenters will be speaking live, and you can ask questions by typing in the Q&A box in Zoom.

See the Diary page for a list of  forthcoming events organised by the Friends of Lewes

A Zoom Webinar

Kit Wedd: Building a Victorian or Edwardian House 

Speculatively built and mass-produced, the modest house for the respectable artisan or the aspiring middle class professional is the predominant built form in England’s Victorian suburbs.

Such houses were built in their hundreds of thousands, and today are admired for their architectural character and the quality of their materials and construction.

In this talk, Kit Wedd introduces the people responsible for producing them: the surveyors who laid out the new streets, the developers who raised and risked the investment, and the builders themselves – a roster of craftsmen, technicians and labourers operating in a strict hierarchy based on inherited traditions and skills, but challenged by new technologies and working practices.

Many people in Lewes own a house of this period, so this talk will help us understand how areas such as The Pells, New Road, Lancaster Street, Southover Road, St Anne’s Terrace, infills such as Cleves Terrace, and the area north of The Avenue, were built.

Kit Wedd is an expert on buildings of this period. She has published several books on the topic of house building during this period.  She is a Director of Spurstone Heritage and a trustee of the Victorian Society

Carpenter, by Whittock 1842; Kit Wedd: Victorian Housebuilding

To join this talk, you need to
1) register your intention in advance
2) receive our confirmation email with a link to the talk
3) click on that link to attend the talk 10 minutes before it starts

LHG Members can attend our talks for free. We will send members emails with a link to Zoom registration. Then please follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as above. 

Non-members can buy a ticket (£4) from TicketSource. The ticket will provide a link to Zoom registration. Then please follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as above.

Please join the webinar at 7:25pm.

We would recommend a computer screen or an iPad as a minimum screen-size for viewing our webinars.

Our presenters will be speaking live, and you can ask questions by typing in the Q&A box in Zoom.

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