Lewes History Group

A Zoom Webinar

Chris Taylor: Lewes Street Stories – Mill Road, Malling

The story of Mill Road, Malling is about the development of its industries and buildings alongside meeting the people who have lived and worked there since the 16th Century. In this talk Chris Taylor will present the findings of his recent investigation into the history of Mill Road, the latest in Lewes History Group’s ‘Street Stories’ series.

The street got its name from an imposing windmill that was present from at least the late 16th Century until it was destroyed by fire in 1908. A laundry overlapped with the mill and flourished for 40 years at the bottom of the road, where the flats now stand. It too burnt to the ground in 1941.

Generations of families have lived in Malling Hill Villas, an Edwardian terrace, built on the mill land. Facing them, a street of mixed council-built and private housing was developed in the 1920s and 1930s. Chris Taylor comments, “Over the years Mill Road has been home to millers on the fiddle, at least one Mayor of Lewes, wartime evacuees and a troupe of travelling players. I hope the audience will enjoy finding out about this small street’s past as I have.”

Malling Windmill and Mill House from the Wallands, c. 1858-1868
Cropped image reproduced with permission of Sussex Archaeological
Society Ltd.

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 7:20pm.

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.

Online via Facebook and YouTube

Those of you who caught Chris Horlock’s talk for the Lewes History Group on 21 December will have heard about a Ditchling Mummers performance of 1926, which was a skit put on by the Ditchling Players.

The current team of Ditchling Mummers will be putting on their 35^th Boxing Day performance this year. They will be joined by Ditchling Morris, and the event will be in support of St. Peter and St. James Hospice.

See the performance via facebook.com/ditchlingmummers

Donate via their JustGiving page

This talk was rescheduled from Monday 14 December 2020 due to technical difficulties

A Zoom Webinar

Chris Horlock: A Sussex Christmas

Lewes History Group’s December talk on Zoom by local historian Chris Horlock reveals how the people of Sussex celebrated Christmas in the past. Even those who know Sussex well will discover some new and surprising things in his talk.

Many of the customs of the traditional twelve days of Christmas are detailed, including putting up the decorations, bringing in the yule log, preparing the Christmas day feast, plus the curious ‘Mummer’s Play’ entertainment. There’s a Christmas tale or two along the way, including a mysterious incident during the great snowstorm of 1881, plus how in 1939, the snow at Burwash was not the usual colour!

Chris Horlock is an expert on Sussex folklore and folk history, and a collector of old photographs. He writes regularly for Sussex Life, has published a number of books and is an accomplished speaker.

Skating on Falmer pond c.1908

To access this talk, you need to register your intention some days in advance: Click to Register

There is no charge for this talk.

After registering and well before the talk, we will send you a confirmation email containing information about how to join the webinar itself.

Please join the webinar at 7:20pm.

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.