# data[].attributes.body
The no.1 sight in Brighton. The white cliffs are beautiful and surrounded by green space. It's an essential visit for anyone who is visiting Brighton.

# data[].attributes.body
It's an italian restaurant 30 minutes away from seven sisters. You can go there after visiting the clifts with your friends and family

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Pomodoro e Mozzarella, we provide exceptional Italian food. Contact our Italian restaurant today, in Eastbourne, Sussex, to make a reservation.

# data[].attributes.body
The Highclere Castle is the location of the movie and the series of Downton Abby. Its a beautiful castle to look at, even if you are not a fan oft Downton Abby. The little village nearby is also a place to visit.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Castle, Exhibition and Gardens are now open Sunday to Thursday (closed Fridays and Saturdays). All pre-booked tickets are now sold out. Walk up tickets are available on each day. These tickets cannot be pre-booked/reserved but instead must be purchased on your arrival at the gate. Our quieter periods are between 9:00am-10:00am or after 2:00pm. Last admission is 4pm. Please see our opening times page for more information.

Vintage Garden Party at "The Real Downton Abbey" on September 9th and 10th: Immerse yourself in all that the Real Downton Abbey has to offer: embark on tours of the Castle, perhaps enjoy a traditional fairground game or two on the lawn, before indulging in a delicious picnic lunch. Click here for details!

Charity Champagne Reception on October 17th: The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon are delighted to take you on tours and share the stories of their home, the Real Downton Abbey. Lady Carnarvon is thrilled that Dr Clarkson (the actor David Robb) from the Downton cast is joining us for the evening at the Real Downton Abbey! Enjoy Champagne and Canapes and help to raise funds and awareness for The Rosemary Appeal. Click here for details!

Autumn Special Tours: Guided tours available for limited dates in September, October and November. Click here for details!

Lady Carnarvon's latest book 'At Home at Highclere: Entertaining at The Real Downton Abbey' is now available. Click here to buy your copy!

You can enjoy over an hour of HD video, photos and conversations from behind the scenes in the Highclere App narrated by Jim Carter (who plays Carson in Downton Abbey)

Absolutely loved being here. The castle was amazing. Kept expecting 'Carson' to appear through the door. The gardens were lovely too.

My experience at Highclere Castle was incredible. Not only was the outside of the castle beautiful, but the interior as well!

The interior is just as it is in Downton Abbey and I loved it. I will certainly return when I next go to England from Australia.

Great venue for a wedding. Lovely gardens and amazing architecture.

Visit our Facebook page

Follow us on Twitter

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." AA Milne. Lady Carnarvons latest blog post is now available!... https://t.co/ghDY39tDRf

Upcoming Events:

Summer Public Opening Dates Sunday 9th July - Wednesday 6th September (Sunday to Thursday only).The Read more

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Castle, Exhibition and Gardens are now open Sunday to Thursday (closed Fridays and Saturdays). All pre-booked tickets are now sold out. Walk up tickets are available on each day. These tickets cannot be pre-booked/reserved but instead must be purchased on your arrival at the gate.

# data[].attributes.body
It is the home stadium of Brighton & Hove Albion F, C that is the football club in the Premier League.
Sometime, we can get opportunities to watch football matches by EF activity

# data[].attributes.body
It’s a former royal residence which you can visit. It was built in the Indo-Saracenic style in 1787. The Pavilion originally belonged to the Prince Regent George IV.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Experience a fantasy palace fit for a king. Bask in Regency splendour, inside and out.

# data[].attributes.body
Great staff members and vibes! And they have happy hours service; It runs Sunday to Friday 12 until 9pm!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Twisted Lemon, The Lanes Brighton - Free online booking, information & reviews. 41 Middle Street BN1 1AL.

# data[].attributes.body
Eastbourne is the perfect place to have a peaceful holidays. Eastbourne is the sunniest place in the UK, with many beaches and local attractions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Eastbourne is bursting with so many things to see and do; you might want to extend your visit to fit more of the activities in.

There are plenty of attractions and fun things to do for all ages. From theme parks and zoos to exploring the area's history, discover 1066 castles, museums and art galleries. Relax and enjoy the views of Beachy Head or our parks and gardens, sample the local produce from our vineyards and farmers markets, enjoy fun filled trips to the seaside or South Downs National Park, spend the day shopping, then soak up the local atmosphere in one of our many restaurants, wine bars or traditional pubs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Eastbourne is bursting with so many things to see and do; you might want to extend your visit to fit more of the activities in. There are plenty of attractions and fun things to do for all ages. From theme parks and zoos to exploring the area's history, discover 1066 castles, museums and art galleries.

# data[].attributes.body
This commands a fine view of whole city in Brighton, whether permitting. It’s worth visiting there once.

# data[].attributes.body
My favourite theatre in Brighton. They host musicals plays opera and ballet throughout the year.  It opened the following year on 27th June 1807 and the opening performance was Shakespeare’s hamlet. I really like this history and the gorgeous inside.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Theatre Royal Brighton is a historic Grade II listed theatre in Brighton, Sussex. The theater hosts musicals, plays, opera and ballet throughout the year, as well as Creative Learning events, workshops and courses. The venue has a capacity of 952 seats over four levels and features a wonderful Proscenium.

One of the oldest theatres in the country, Brighton's Theatre Royal has a history that began over two hundreds years ago in 1806 when The Prince of Wales, George Augustus Frederick who later became Prince Regent and then King (George IV), approved the building of the theatre. It opened the following year on 27th June 1807. The opening performance for was Shakespeare's Hamlet.

For it's first fifty years the theatre struggled until it was bought and redeveloped by the actor Henry John Nye Chart in 1854. He hired the famous architect Charles James Phipps and soon the theatre became more financially successful and gained a respected reputation. When Henry died in 1876, his wife Ellen Elizabeth Nye Chart (also a thespian) took over and was one of the first female theatre managers. Ellen further built upon the success and reputation of the theatre.

In recent years the theater has hosted popular shows such as Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Rocky Horror Show and Spamalot in order to appeal to a wider audience. The theatre was bought by the Ambassador Theatre Group in 1999 who have developed the infrastructure of the theatre, as well as investing in new productions and creating alliances with arts organizations.

In 2007 the theatre celebrated it's 200th anniversary with a year of special events including a visit by Queen Elizabeth II when Her Majesty renamed a box in the theater The Queen Elizabeth II Box.

Please note the following when attending the Theatre Royal Brighton:

The theatre can be reached from outside the city by train and is only a short 10 to 15 minute walk from Brighton train station.

By car use the M23 using the signs to reach the city centre.

There are 3,000 parking spaces in the city, with the nearest to the theatre being NCP on Church Street which is only £5 between 5:50 pm and midnight (Monday to Sunday).

There are four wheelchair spaces available at the stalls. The first Box Office counter is at a suitable height for wheelchair users.

There are bars at every levels that can take orders from drinks during the intervals.

The Parlour, a new cafe on New Road serves coffee, pastries and savoury snacks.

Rooms are available for hire for conferences and meetings.

There is no cloakroom.

The theater uses a Sennheiser infra-red sound amplification system. Make sure to ask for a compatible seat when booking. Headsets are available for access to the infra-red system. The first counter in the box office is fitted with an induction system for the hard of hearing.

Guide dogs are welcome.

An accessible toilet is available on the ground floor.

Box Office opening hours are 10am-8pm on show days and 10am-6pm on non-show days.

You can find the address here, get contact details here and take a look at the seating plan here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Theatre Royal Brighton is a historic Grade II listed theatre in Brighton, Sussex. The theater hosts musicals, plays, opera and ballet throughout the year, as well as Creative Learning events, workshops and courses. The venue has a capacity of 952 seats over four levels and features a wonderful Proscenium.

# data[].attributes.body
Experience marine life in the oldest operating aquarium in the world. See sharks and take a ride on the bottom boat.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Book Online & Guarantee Entry

Guarantee entry online

Reschedule your tickets for free

Under 3's go free

Guarantee entry online

Reschedule your tickets for free

Under 3's go free

Which sea creatures do you love the most? Colourful clownfish, magical seahorse or captivating jellyfish? Maybe you simply can't decide! Here at SEA LIFE Brighton you can make up your mind and see them all, over 5,000 of them!

Did you know?

Brighton Aquarium was conceived and designed by Eugenius Birch, the architect responsible for the West Pier. Work began in 1869 and the aquarium opened in 1872 making us the oldest continually operating aquarium in the world!

Visit our beautifully restored Victorian Arcade

Our seawater tanks are fed from a large tank under the building which in turn, is fed from the nearby sea twice a day!

Explore Rockpools and stroke a starfish plus many more hands-on experiences

Explore what's inside

Visited with a friend last week and had a brilliant time. We also did the glass bottom boat experience with Rio which was great. She was very knowledgeable and told us loads about the types of fish that live in the tank which made it really worthwhile.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Visit SEA LIFE Brighton - The World's Oldest Aquarium!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Book Online & Guarantee Entry Guarantee entry online Reschedule your tickets for free Under 3's go free Guarantee entry online Reschedule your tickets for free Under 3's go free Which sea creatures do you love the most? Colourful clownfish, magical seahorse or captivating jellyfish? Maybe you simply can't decide!

# data[].attributes.body
Pryzm Brighton is a chain nightclub located not only in Brighton but in a lot of cities in England. its a nice place to connect and meet with new people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know this is a difficult rule to set, which is why we try and keep it as simple as we can. We ask that our customers arrive smartly dressed and keep it stylish, fashionable and fresh but we do decide on an individual basis. We work hard to make sure PRYZM looks ready for you to party, so we ask that you do the same. We advise against wearing sports or gym style trainers; however, we do accept some pumps like Converse and Vans. We can't make promises over the phone or by email - it's just too tricky, so come down on the night and if you look the part then you shouldn't have a problem. Remember: Dress to impress and ready to party!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know this is a difficult rule to set, which is why we try and keep it as simple as we can. We ask that our customers arrive smartly dressed and keep it stylish, fashionable and fresh but we do decide on an individual basis.

# data[].attributes.body
Lewes
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewes

Its a small Town in England. It’s maybe 30min by bus from Brighton. I like it its very beautiful and you can hike on a small mountain and have a good view over the town.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England.[note 1] It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of the Lewes local government district and the seat of East Sussex County Council at East Sussex County Hall.

The place-name 'Lewes' is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter circa 961 AD, where it appears as Læwe. It appears as Lewes in the Domesday Book of 1086.[7] The addition of the <-s> suffix seems to have been part of a broader trend of Anglo-Norman scribes pluralising Anglo-Saxon place-names (a famous example being their rendering of Lunden as Londres, hence the modern French name for London[8]).

The traditional derivation of Læwe, first posited by the Tudor antiquarian Laurence Nowell, derives it from the Old English language word hlæw, meaning 'hill' or ' barrow', presumably referring to School Hill (on which the historic centre of Lewes stands) or to one of the five ancient burial mounds, all now levelled, in the vicinity of St John sub Castro.[9][10]

However, this etymology has been challenged by the Swedish philologist Rune Forsberg on the grounds that the loss of the initial ⟨h⟩ in hlæw would be unlikely phonologically in this context. He suggested that the name Læwe instead derives from the rare Old English word lǣw ('wound, incision'), and reflects the fact that from the top of School Hill Lewes overlooks the narrow, steep-sided 'gash' where the River Ouse cuts through the line of the South Downs.[11] This theory was endorsed in 2011 by A Dictionary of British Place Names.[12]

A third possibility has been advanced by Richard Coates, who has argued that Læwe derives from lexowia, an Old English word meaning 'hillside, slope' (of which there is no shortage in the Lewes area). This unusual word was borrowed into Old English from Old Welsh, the Modern Welsh spelling being llechwedd.[13]

Lewes is located at the point where the River Ouse flows through a narrow gap in the east-west line of the South Downs. The immense strategic value of the site, which is able to command traffic between the Channel coast and the Sussex interior, was recognised as early as the Iron Age, when a hill-fort was built on Mount Caburn, the steep-sided hill that overlooks the Ouse (and the modern town of Lewes) from the east.

During the Roman period there was an aristocratic villa at Beddingham,[14] at the foot of Mount Caburn, and there have been several finds of Roman coins and pottery sherds in Lewes itself. The Victorian historian Thomas Walker Horsfield therefore reckoned that there must have been a Roman settlement on the site, and he identified it with the otherwise unlocatable town of Mutuantonis.[15] Another antiquarian, John Elliot, even suggested that central Lewes's distinctive network of twittens was based on the layout of a Roman legionary fortress; however modern historians are rather more cautious about the possibility of a Roman Lewes, as there is as yet no archaeological evidence for a built-up area dating back to the Roman period.[16]

The earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement in Sussex was concentrated between the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere,[17] and Anglo-Saxon finds begin to appear in Lewes from the sixth century.[18] The town of Lewes was probably founded around this time, and it may have been one of the most important settlements in the Kingdom of Sussex, along with Chichester and Hastings, though the evidence for this early period is very sketchy.[19]

By the ninth century, the Kingdom of Sussex had been annexed to the Kingdom of Wessex, and in 838 Ecgberht, King of Wessex donated the estate of Malling, on the opposite side of the Ouse from Lewes, to the Archbishop of Canterbury. As a result the Parish of Malling became a ' peculiar', which means that the parish was directly subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury rather than the Bishop of Chichester like every other parish in Sussex. Malling would retain this anomalous status until as late as 1845.[20]

Information about Lewes becomes much more plentiful from the reign of Alfred the Great onward, as it was one of the towns which he fortified as part of the network of burhs he established in response to the Viking raids. The peace and stability brought by Alfred and his successors evidently stimulated economic activity in the area, for in the late Anglo-Saxon period Lewes seems to have been a thriving boom town - during the reign of Alfred's grandson Æthelstan it was assigned two royal moneyers, more than any other mint in Sussex, and according to Domesday Book it generated £26 of revenue for the crown in 1065, almost twice the amount of any other town in the county.[21]

After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror rewarded his retainer William de Warenne by making him Earl of Surrey and granting him the Rape of Lewes, a strip of land stretching along the Ouse valley from the coast to the Surrey boundary. De Warenne constructed Lewes Castle within the walls of the Saxon burh, while his wife Gundreda founded the Priory of St Pancras, a Cluniac monastic house, in about 1081.

During the Second Barons' War, King Henry III was ambushed at Lewes by a force of rebel barons led by Simon de Montfort. Henry marched out to fight de Montfort, leading to a pitched battle on the hills above the town (roughly in the area of modern Landport Bottom). The king's son Prince Edward, commanding the right wing of the royal army, succeeded in driving off some of the baronial forces, but he got carried away with the pursuit, which took him as far as Offham. In Edward's absence the remainder of the royal army was attacked by de Montfort and Gilbert de Clare and decisively defeated. The king's brother Richard of Cornwall was captured, and the king himself was forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, a document which does not survive but was probably aimed at forcing Henry to uphold the Provisions of Oxford. Despite this uncertainty about its consequences, the battle is often seen as an important milestone in the development of English democracy.[22][23]

The de Warenne family died out with Earl John in 1347, whereupon lordship of the Rape of Lewes passed to his sororal nephew Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel. Fitzalan preferred to reside at Arundel Castle rather than at Lewes, and the town therefore lost the prestige and economic advantages associated with being the seat of an important magnate. This was only the beginning of a series of misfortunes that struck Lewes, for in 1348 the Black Death arrived in England and later on in the century the Hundred Years War led to a series of French raids on Sussex, which badly disrupted trade. On one occasion in 1377 the Prior of St Pancras, John de Charlieu, was abducted by the raiders and held to ransom. Furthermore, after the main branch of the Fitzalan family died out in 1439, the Rape of Lewes was subsequently partitioned between the three sororal nephews of the last earl, namely John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny, and Edmund Lenthall. As a result of this dismemberment the district became even more neglected by its lords, although feudal politics was starting to become less important anyway due to the centralising reforms of the Yorkist and Tudor kings.[24]

The English Reformation was begun by one of these Tudor monarchs, Henry VIII, and as part of this process the monasteries of England were dissolved; Lewes Priory was consequently demolished in 1538 and its property seized by the crown. Henry's daughter Mary I reversed the religious policy of England, and during the resulting Marian Persecutions of 1555-1557, Lewes was the site of the execution of seventeen Protestant martyrs, most of them actually from the Weald rather than Lewes itself, who were burned at the stake in front of the Star Inn (now the site of Lewes Town Hall). Commemoration of the martyrs is one of the main purposes of Lewes Bonfire, and a stone memorial to the martyrs was unveiled on Cliffe Hill in 1901.[25]

Lewesian politics was dominated by a strongly Puritan faction in the reign of Charles I, and during the English Civil War it was one of the most important Parliamentarian strongholds in Sussex. As such it became the target of a royalist attack in December 1642, but the royalist army was intercepted and defeated at the Battle of Muster Green by Parliamentarian forces commanded by Herbert Morley, one of the two Members of Parliament (MPs) for Lewes.[26]

Lewes recovered relatively quickly after the Civil War, and prospered during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It had always been one of the principal market towns of Sussex, as well as an important port, and by the end of the Georgian era it also had well-developed textiles, iron, brewing, and ship-building industries.[26]

The severe winter of 1836-7 led to a large build-up of snow on Cliffe Hill, whose sheer western face directly overlooks the town. On Tuesday 27 December 1836 this snow cornice collapsed, and the resulting Lewes avalanche was the deadliest ever recorded in Britain. The avalanche struck the cottages on Boulters Row (now part of South Street), burying fifteen people, of whom eight died. A pub in South Street is named The Snowdrop in memory of the event.

In 1846 the town became a railway junction, with lines constructed from the north, south and east to two railway stations. The development of Newhaven ended Lewes's period as a major port.[27] During the Crimean War, some 300 Finns who had served in the Russian army during the Åland War and been captured at Bomarsund were imprisoned in the naval prison at Lewes.[28] Lewes became a borough in 1881. Lewes Town Hall opened in 1893 in premises converted from the former Star Inn and in 1913 Council Offices were added in Arts-and-Crafts style.[29]

Lewes Victoria Hospital opened in 1909 in its current premises, as Victoria Hospital and Infirmary, having previously been on School Hill where it opened as the Lewes Dispensary and Infirmary in 1855.

In October 2000 the town suffered major flooding during an intense period of severe weather throughout the United Kingdom. The commercial centre of the town and many residential areas were devastated. In a government report into the nationwide flooding, Lewes was officially noted the most severely affected location.[30] As a result of the devastation, the Lewes Flood Action group formed, to press for better flood protection measures.[31]

The name Lewes is also the name of the parliamentary constituency and the local district council as well as Lewes Town Council.[32] Lewes is also where the East Sussex County Council has its main offices, located at County Hall in St Anne's Crescent. Lewes District Council is administered from offices in Southover House on Southover Road.[33] Lewes Town Council is based in Lewes Town Hall on Lewes High Street.[34]

The Town Council comprises Liberal Democrats, Greens and Independents.

For many years, Lewes was dominated by the Conservatives at local level. In 1991, however, the Liberal Democrats won the District Council for the first time, and the constituency returned a Liberal Democrat MP for the first time in 1997.[35] The Conservatives won back control of the District Council in 2011, and strengthened this position in 2015. The elections in May 2019 made the Conservatives the largest party but without overall control of the Council. A Co-operative Alliance of Greens, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Independents succeeded in ousting the Conservative Leader in July 2019 and electing the first Green Leader of the Council, Zoe Nicholson who appointed a Cabinet of Co-operative Alliance Members. The Chair of the Council is Stephen Gauntlett, Liberal Democrat.

The Parliamentary constituency Lewes (UK Parliament constituency) has also been held the Conservatives since the 1870s, with the exception of the period from 1997 to 2015 when Liberal Democrat Norman Baker held the seat for 18 years, before being defeated by Maria Caulfield who retained her seat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

In organisational terms, Lewes became one of the non-county boroughs within the then Sussex, East county under the Local Government Act 1933. In 1974, Lewes District Council was formed on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the former borough of Lewes along with Newhaven and Seaford urban districts and Chailey Rural District.[36] The election in 2015 was the first time in which Green Councillors had been elected to the Lewes District Council, all from the wards in the town of Lewes.

The town of Lewes became a civil parish with the title of town;[37] there are four wards, Bridge - 5 Councillors, Castle - 4, Central - 1 and Priory - 8.

The representation from Lewes wards at local government levels, as at the latest elections (2019 for the Town and District Councils and 2017 for the County Council), is as follows.

Ward

Lib Dem

Green

Independent

Total

Ward

Green

Independent

Total

Lewes Bridge

2

0

2

Lewes Castle

2

0

2

Lewes Priory

2

1

3

Total

6

1

7

Ward

Green

Total

Ringmer and Lewes Bridge

1

1

On 31 March 2009 Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced his decision to confirm the designation of the South Downs National Park, which came into being exactly one year later and includes the town of Lewes within its boundaries.

You can see Lewes lying like a box of toys under a great amphitheatre of chalk hills ... on the whole it is set down better than any town I have seen in England.

Lewes is situated on the Greenwich or Prime Meridian,[41] in a gap in the South Downs, cut through by the River Ouse, and near its confluence with the Winterbourne Stream. It is approximately seven miles north of Newhaven, and an equal distance north-east of Brighton.

The South Downs rise above the river on both banks. The High Street, and earliest settlement, occupies the west bank, climbing steeply up from the bridge taking its ancient route along the ridge; the summit on that side, 2.5 miles (4 km) distant is known as Mount Harry. On the east bank there is a large chalk cliff, Cliffe Hill that can be seen for many miles, part of the group of hills including Mount Caburn, Malling Down (where there are a few houses in a wooded area on the hillside, in a development known as Cuilfail) and Golf Hill (home to the Lewes Golf Club). The two banks of the river are joined by Willey's Bridge (a footbridge), the Phoenix Causeway (a recent concrete road bridge, named after the old Phoenix Ironworks) and Cliffe Bridge (an 18th-century replacement of the mediaeval crossing, widened in the 1930s and now semi-pedestrianised).

The High Street runs from Eastgate to West-Out, forming the spine of the ancient town. Cliffe Hill gives its name to the one-time village of Cliffe, now part of the town. The southern part of the town, Southover, came into being as a village adjacent to the Priory, south of the Winterbourne Stream. At the north of the town's original wall boundary is the St. John's or Pells area, home to several 19th-century streets and the Pells Pond. The Pells Pool, built in 1860, is the oldest freshwater lido in England. The Phoenix Industrial Estate lies along the west bank of the river and contains a number of light industrial and creative industry uses, as well as car parks and a fire station. A potential regeneration project (formerly "The North Street Quarter", renamed "The Phoenix Project" by the Lewes-based eco-development company Human Nature which took on ownership of the land in December 2020) for the area would be the largest in Lewes since the South Malling residential area was developed in the 1950s and 1960s and in the South Downs since it became a National Park.[42]

Malling lies to the east of the river and had 18th- and 19th-century houses and two notable breweries. Road engineering and local planning policy in the 1970s cleared many older buildings here to allow the flow of traffic; the main road route east from the town now goes along Little East Street, across the Phoenix Bridge and through the Cuilfail Tunnel to join the A27.

The town boundaries were enlarged twice (from the original town walls), in 1881 and 1934. They now include the more modern housing estates of Wallands, South Malling (the west part of which is a previously separate village with a church dedicated to St. Michael), Nevill, Lansdown and Cranedown on the Kingston Road.[43]

Countryside walks can be taken starting from several points in Lewes.[44] One can walk over Mount Caburn to the village of Glynde starting in Cliffe, traverse the Lewes Brooks (an RSPB reserve) from Southover, walk to Kingston near Lewes also from Southover, head up Landport Bottom to Mount Harry and Black Cap along the edge of the old Lewes Racecourse, or wander up along the Ouse to Hamsey Place from the Pells. The South Downs Way crosses the Ouse just south of Lewes at Southease and hikers often stop off at the town. A new route reaching the town at the Railway Land - the Egrets Way - initially conceived in 2011 by the Ouse Valley Cycle Network, has been designed as a network of walking and cycling paths linking Lewes and Newhaven with the villages in between.[45]

Three Sites of Special Scientific Interest lie within the parish: Lewes Downs, Lewes Brooks and Southerham Works Pit. Lewes Downs is a site of biological interest, an isolated area of the South Downs.[46] Lewes Brooks, also of biological importance, is part of the floodplain of the River Ouse, providing a habitat for many invertebrates such as water beetles and snails.[47] Southerham Works Pit is of geological interest, a disused chalk pit displaying a wide variety of fossilised fish remains.[48] The Railway Land nature reserve is on the east side of the town next to the Ouse, and contains an area of woodland and marshes, which now includes the Heart of Reeds, a sculpted reed bed designed by local land artist Chris Drury.[49] The Winterbourne stream, a tributary of the Ouse, flows through it. This stream flows most winters and dries up in the summer, hence its name. It continues through Lewes going through the Grange Gardens and often travelling underground. The Heart of Reeds is one of the sites in East Sussex and Kent home to the marsh frog, an introduced species. It is popular with pond-dippers and walkers. A centre for the study of environmental change is due to be built at the entrance to the nature reserve.[50]

On 21 August 1864, Lewes experienced an earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter magnitude scale.

Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate).[51]

Climate data for Lewes, UK

Month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Year

Average high °C (°F)

8
(46)

8
(46)

9
(48)

11
(52)

15
(59)

17
(63)

19
(66)

20
(68)

18
(64)

14
(57)

11
(52)

8
(46)

9
(48)

Average low °C (°F)

5
(41)

4
(39)

6
(43)

7
(45)

10
(50)

12
(54)

15
(59)

15
(59)

13
(55)

10
(50)

7
(45)

5
(41)

9
(48)

Average precipitation days

17

13

14

13

9

11

9

9

13

14

15

17

154

Source: Weatherbase [52]

St. Michael's is located at the top of the High Street and like St. Peter's in nearby Southease it has a round tower (with a shingled spire). Its length runs along the street rather than away from it and the cemetery is separated from the High Street by stone walls with iron railings on top. Next to it is a building which is used upstairs as a Sunday school.

Further west is St. Anne's,[53] a quiet church surrounded by its graveyard, which gives its name to the street it is on.

St John sub Castro (Latin for St. John-under-the-Castle) is the northernmost church in the old town. The surrounding town quarter is called St. John's. The church's boundaries are actually protected on one side by the Town Walls, although originally St. John's was a small Saxon building. It was destroyed in the 19th century but the main door was kept and used as an east door for the large new church, built in 1839 by George Cheeseman[54] in flint and brick. In the graveyard there is a memorial to the Finnish prisoners kept in the old naval prison in the 19th century. St. John's Church Hall is a couple of streets away in Talbot Terrace.

In Cliffe there is St. Thomas à Becket's, where the Orthodox Community also worship.

In Southover, St John the Baptist's is located on Southover High Street. The nave incorporates the hospitium of the Priory of St Pancras.[55] Neighbouring it is Church End and down the road at St. James Street cul-de-sac, the Church Hall. In its grounds is the Southover War Memorial, which is distinct from the main Lewes War Memorial.

St. Michael, South Malling, dates from 1628 and was once in a village of its own. The development of the suburbs has connected South Malling to Lewes although the church maintains its village setting by the River Ouse, with the neighbouring rectory.

Deconsecrated Edit

All Saints' is next to the site of a Priory of Grey Friars (Franciscan friars) the only relic of which is an archway at the end of the church boundary wall, which is on the line of the town wall. The medieval tower survives, abutting a later brick nave by Amon Wilds (1806)[54] and 19th-century Gothic-style chancel. This church is now deconsecrated and serves as a community arts space, managed by the Town Council.[56]

The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to St. Pancras in memory of the Priory and is a red-brick building over the street from St. Anne's.

The Religious Society of Friends (finished 1784) is a Quaker meeting house next to the former All Saints' Church (now an arts centre) on Friar's Walk.

The Jireh Chapel, off Malling Street, is a Grade I listed building,[57] being a rare survivor of its type dating from 1805. It now houses the Lewes Free Presbyterian Church.

Westgate Chapel is a 16th-century building located in a yard at the top of the High Street (Grade 2 listed). So called because of its position at the old West Gate of the town wall, the Chapel first officially opened for worship as Westgate Meeting in 1700 as English Presbyterian but soon joined by an Independent congregation. Its liberal stance allowed it to become a Unitarian church by 1820 (when the congregation of Southover General Baptist Chapel joined) and is still a Unitarian chapel today.

Eastgate Chapel is a very different building; a neo-Norman design of 1843 in dark flint, it originally had a pepper-pot dome but this was removed in favour of a traditional spire in case traffic vibrations below made it fall off. A modern extension has been added to the church.

Christ Church, a modern (1953) building, serves a united congregation of United Reformed Church and Methodist worshippers.

Southover General Baptist Chapel was built in Eastport Lane in 1741. The congregation's views moved towards Unitarianism, and in the 19th century they joined Westgate Chapel. The building has been a house since 1972, but had various religious and secular uses before that.

In 2001 the service industries were by far the biggest employers in Lewes: over 60% of the population working in that sector. A little over 10% are employed in manufacturing, mostly in the smaller industrial units.

The town is a net daytime exporter of employees with a significant community working in London and Brighton whilst it draws in employees of the numerous local government and public service functions on which its local economy is strongly dependent.

An important part of the town's economy is based on tourism,[58] because of the town's many historic attractions and its location.

As referenced in the governance section, the town is also where three tiers of local government have their headquarters, and the head office of Sussex Police is also in Lewes.[59]

The town's most important annual event is the Lewes Bonfire celebrations on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Night. In Lewes this event not only marks the date of the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, but also commemorates the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs burnt at the stake for their faith during the Marian Persecutions. The celebrations, which controversially involve burning an effigy of Pope Paul V, who was pope during the Gunpowder Plot, are the largest and most famous Bonfire Night celebrations in the country.[60][61]

The Lewes Chamber of Commerce represents the traders and businesses of the town.[62] The town has been identified as unusually diversified with numerous specialist, independent retailers, counter to national trends toward 'chain' retailers and large corporate retail outlets.

Lewes Farmers' Market, one of the first in the UK, was started in the 1990s by Common Cause Co-operative Ltd[63] and is a popular re-invention of Lewes as a market town. The Farmers' Market takes place in pedestrianised Cliffe High Street on the first and third Saturdays of every month, with local food producers coming to sell their wares under covered market stalls. A weekly food market in the Lewes Market Tower was established in July 2010 by Transition Town Lewes to allow traders to sell local produce. Occasionally French traders from the Twin Town of Blois attend, vending on Cliffe Bridge.

From 1794 beers, wines and spirits were distributed from Lewes under the Harveys name, and the town is today the site of Harvey & Son's brewery celebrated as one of the finest ale producers in England.

In September 2008, Lewes launched its own currency, the Lewes Pound, in an effort to increase trade within the town.[64][65] One Lewes Pound is equal to £1. Like the similar local currency in Totnes, the initiative is part of the Transition Towns movement. The Lewes Pound and the Transition Towns movement have received criticism for a failure to address the needs of the wider Lewes population, especially lower socio-economic groups.[66] Such local currency initiatives have been more widely criticised in light of limited success stimulating new spending in local economies and as an unrealistic strategy to reduce carbon emissions.[67] The Lewes Pound can be exchanged for the same amount of pounds sterling in several shops in Lewes and can be spent in a wide range of local businesses. Many of the notes were sold on eBay at a higher amount. Early numbers and sequenced notes fetched very high prices from foreign collectors.

The steep and cobbled Keere Street is home to many historic buildings, including a timber framed antiquarian bookshop. The gardens of the buildings on the east side of the street border the old Town Walls. The Prince Regent once drove his carriage down the street, and a sign at the bottom commemorates this event.

The ancient street pattern survives extensively as do a high proportion of the medieval building plots and oak framed houses, albeit often masked with later facades. The 18th-century frontages are notable and include several, like Bartholomew House at the Castle Gate, that are clad in mathematical tiles which mimic fine brick construction. Numerous streets of 18th- and 19th-century cottages have survived cycles of slum clearance as models of attractive town housing.

At the highest point of the old town the Portland stone and Coade stone facade of the Crown Court (1808-12, by John Johnson), the brick Market Tower and florid Lewes War Memorial mark the historic centre, although trade has tended to concentrate on the lower land in modern times. At the lowest part of the town, by the river, Harvey & Son's Brewery, 'The Cathedral of Lewes' is an unspoilt 19th-century tower brewery and is the only one of the town's five original major breweries still in use. Nearby Fitzroy House[68] is a George Gilbert Scott designed building, constructed as a library in memory of Lewes MP Henry Fitzroy (statesman) in 1862 and now a private residence. The railway station is the other important monument of the industrial era.

Southover Grange is a grade II* listed Tudor manor house built in 1572 with Caen limestone taken from the ruins of Lewes Priory.[69] The house and its gardens were bought by Lewes District Council and opened to the public in 1945. The house is now owned by East Sussex County Council, and it is currently being refurbished into a wedding venue, registry office and community facility. The east wing is leased to an art shop and the Window café (open in spring and summer). The Grange gardens are divided by the Winterbourne stream and contain formal bedding displays, a wildflower area, a knot garden and some notable trees, including a large Magnolia grandiflora, a mulberry tree dating perhaps to the 17th century and a tulip tree planted by Queen Elizabeth II. The gardens are open to the public during daylight hours all year round.

Pelham House dates back to the 16th century and features architecture of all subsequent eras and a private landscaped garden facing the Downs. It now serves as an independent hotel. The Shelleys, also now a hotel, is likewise of some antiquity with a private garden and family associations with Percy Shelley.

The centre of Lewes is notable for a consistently high calibre of regional vernacular architecture and variety of historic construction materials and techniques. A comprehensive survey of all historical plaques was conducted in 2013 by a local civic society, the Friends of Lewes.[70]

A distinctive feature of the centre of Lewes is the network of alleyways or 'twittens' which run north-south on either side of the High Street and date back to Anglo-Saxon times. According to the Dictionary of the Sussex dialect and collection of provincialisms in use in the county of Sussex published in Lewes in 1875. "Twitten is a narrow path between two walls or hedges, especially on hills. For example, small passageways leading between two buildings to courtyards, streets, or open areas behind". Some twittens (e.g. Broomans Lane, Church Twitten, Green Lane, Paine's Twitten) remain flint-wall-lined pedestrian thoroughfares, others (e.g. Watergate Lane, St Andrew's Lane and renamed Station Street (formerly St Mary's Lane)) are now narrow usually one-way roads. The most notable of all Lewes' twittens is Keere Street. A weekly Sunday morning run up and down all the twittens on the south side of the High Street - the so-called Twitten Run - has operated in the town since November 2015.[71]

With Eric Gill's move to Ditchling, the artistic community there gave rise to other sculptors in the Lewes district such as his nephew John Skelton and Joseph Cribb. Skelton's studio in Streat has continued as an educational and artist's workshop since his death in 1999.[72] Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein conceived a great scheme for doing some colossal figures together around 1910 for a modern Stonehenge on 6 acres of land at Asheham House, Beddingham, south-east of Lewes. William Rothenstein agreed to buy the lease but the scheme failed.[73]

Edward Perry Warren first saw Lewes House in 1889 and with his partner John Marshall they were prodigious collectors of fine antique sculpture there. Eric Gill was introduced to Warren by Roger Fry and the stone carving Ecstasy purchased, which is now in the Tate Gallery collection. William Rothenstein suggested that Warren might like to acquire Rodin's new sculpture The Kiss and after several visits, in 1904 the Lewes Kiss arrived at Lewes House. In 1906 Rodin requested that Warren lend The Kiss to an important exhibition in Regent Street, London. This made it famous in Britain for the first time. The Kiss was returned to the stables at Lewes House, where it remained until 1914 until offered to Lewes Town Council. It was placed in the Town Hall, at the South End of the Assembly Room on 2 December 1914. Early in 1915, The Kiss was wrapped in canvas and marked off with a guard rail. The Town Council returned the statue, saying only that the room did 'not lend itself to such a noble piece of statuary.' On 26 February 1917, The Kiss was once more taken to the stable block where it was to remain until Warren's death in 1928. After a short period on loan to Cheltenham, The Kiss was purchased in 1953 by public subscription and is now one of the Tate's most popular attractions.

It returned on loan to Lewes in 1999 for the exhibition Rodin in Lewes.[74]

The Helmet (1964), by Enzo Plazzotta, stands in the grounds of Lewes Priory.[75] The Cuilfail Spiral (1983) by Peter Randall-Page sits on the roundabout at the north end of the Cuilfail Tunnel; made of 7 pieces of Portland limestone. The Magnus Inscription (c. 1200) sits in the East wall of St John Sub Castro on the Junction of Abinger Place and Lancaster Street.[76] The Janus Head (1997) by John Skelton and Lewes Group (2010) by Jon Edgar[77] sit in Southover Grange Gardens. Sculpture to Thomas Paine by Marcus Cornish commissioned as a private donation was unveiled in July 2010 outside the new Lewes Library in Styles Field.[78]

Lewes, from its inception, has been an important transport hub.[79] Its site as a bridging point was probably originally a ford: today the main routes avoid the town centre. The A27 trunk road taking traffic along the south coast between Eastbourne and Southampton passes to the south of the town. The A26 from Maidstone to Newhaven; and the A275 (the London road) both come in from the north. The Brighton & Hove bus company and Compass Travel serve the town. The bus station was closed for a while but reopened in late 2008.

Lewes railway station was originally the junction for six routes. The town still enjoys hourly fast trains from London. The two erstwhile rural rail routes to the north, linking to East Grinstead and Uckfield respectively, are both now closed, but the East Coastway Line, connecting Brighton with Eastbourne and Hastings, and the branch to Seaford remain.

The Vanguard Way, a long-distance footpath from London to Newhaven, passes through countryside east of the town. The South Downs Way also passes close to Lewes, crossing the Ouse at Southease, some four miles south of the town. The Greenwich Meridian Trail, a long-distance path that follows the Greenwich Meridian from Peacehaven in East Sussex to Sand le Mere in East Yorkshire passes through the middle of the town. A festival celebrating and encouraging walking and cycling, the Lewes Hike and Bike Festival, was created in 2012 but only ran for three years.[80] The Eastbourne and Lewes Walking Festival was created in 2018 to promote walking in the local urban and rural South Downs area.[81]

There are many primary schools including:

Western Road and Southover School, despite being separate schools, are housed in linked buildings. The original Southover buildings are of red brick in the Queen Anne style, dating back to the early 20th century. The additions to it now forming the Western Road buildings date from after 1945. The two schools share a field. Pells Primary School closed in 2017.[85] The alternative independent primary school, Lewes New School, closed in 2018.

There are two secondary schools in the town and one nearby:

East Sussex College, formerly Sussex Downs College, has one of its campuses in Lewes, and provides a range of courses including A Levels, GCSEs, Functional Skills and Access courses and vocational qualifications such as NVQs and BTECs.[89]

Located four miles (6 km) outside of Lewes is Glyndebourne opera house. Founded in 1934, the venue draws large audiences for its Summer Festival and has attracted a host of international talent throughout its history. Lewes Operatic Society (founded 1911)[90] and New Sussex Opera[91] are also based in the town of Lewes.

A number of other local classical music series operate in the town, including the Nicholas Yonge Society;[92] and the baroque and early classical Workshop Series.[93] The Musicians of All Saints is a Lewes-based chamber orchestra founded in 1987 who perform both new works and standard repertoire.[94] A new annual music series, the Lewes Chamber Music Festival,[95] was created in summer 2012. The Lewes Festival of Song was created in 2015[96] and the Lewes BaroqueFest in 2019.[97] Other local music groups include the Lewes Concert Orchestra[98] founded in 1993; and the Lewes, Glynde & Beddingham Brass Band,[99] founded in 1922.

The East Sussex Bach choir[100] is based in Lewes, as well as a number of other active amateur choirs, including Pro Musica Chamber Choir,[101] the Everyman Ensemble,[102] the Paddock Singers,[103] Lewes Vox[104] and East Sussex Community Choir.[105]

Orlando Gough's opera The Finnish Prisoner is set in Lewes, telling the story of the Finnish prisoners of war held in Lewes after the Crimean War.

The principal town museum is Barbican House Museum at Lewes Castle, which hosts the Lewes Town Model[106] as well as four galleries of Sussex archaeology. Anne of Cleves House has various collections relating to the history of Lewes. There are several independent art galleries in the town including the Star Brewery Gallery[107] in a former brewery in Market Street; the artist-run Chalk Gallery[108] in North Street and occasional art exhibitions at the Town Hall. Other galleries are listed in Gallery Guide Lewes and Art Map Lewes.[109][110]

Lewes Little Theatre was created in 1939 and is based in dedicated premises on Lancaster Street. It puts on half a dozen or more productions each year. Supporters of the creation of the Theatre include John Maynard Keynes.[111]

A new independent three-screen cinema, the Lewes Depot, opened in May 2017 in a multimillion-pound redevelopment of a former Harvey's brewery depot close to Lewes station.[112] The architects were Burrell Foley Fischer and the work was given a Friends of Lewes award, and highly commended in the South Downs National Park design awards.[113] The Lewes Film Club, which also produces short movies (including the recent adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm), and Film at All Saints' (the Film Club in collaboration with Lewes Town Council), show films based in the All Saints' Centre, a former church.

Several scenes in the 1962 film Jigsaw, which was loosely based on the Hillary Waugh novel 'Sleep Long, My Love' and the real-life Brighton trunk murders, were set and filmed in Lewes.

Local dance schools and clubs include Lewes Dance Club,[114] East Sussex Dance and ballet groups. Starfish Youth Music[115] is based at Priory School and the young bands who take part regularly perform in local venues such as the Paddock and the All Saints' Centre.

Popular music gigs take place at a number of venues and pubs across the town including the Lewes Con Club, the Snowdrop Inn, the Volunteer pub, the Lewes Arms, the John Harvey Tavern, the Pelham Arms, and the Lansdown. The Elephant and Castle hosts the Saturday Folk Club. Union Music Store based in Lewes has become a centre for modern folk, country and Americana, both promoting and hosting live gigs, and recording and producing local musicians. A monthly comedy club based at the Con Club was created in 2010. A new organisation to support local music and musicians, Lewes Ripple, was created in 2018 and as well as online platforms is looking to create live concerts in 2021.[116]

A regular local music festival, Lewes Live (previously Rock in the Bog), takes place in the summer.[117] The town of Lewes was also the UK location for the Mumford and Sons' Gentlemen of the Road tour stopover in 2013.[118] A large jazz festival, Love Supreme Festival was founded in 2013 at nearby Glynde Place. Other local festivals include the Brainchild Festival, based just north of Lewes in the grounds of Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum[119]

Art, photography, and festivals Edit

Annual arts events include ArtWave[120] and the children's Patina Moving on Parade.[121] An annual Lewes Guitar Festival which started in 1999 has not operated since the late 2000s. The annual Charleston Festival is hosted at nearby Charleston Farmhouse near the village of Firle some 6 miles east of Lewes.

An annual festival of light - Lewes Light - was created in 2015 during the UNESCO Year of Light and has run since then as an annual art installation and environmental awareness project.[122]

The Reeves Studio, which is thought to be the oldest continuously operated photographic studio in the world, has been running from the same premises in Lewes since 1855.[123]

Lewes has been influenced by its close proximity to the University of Sussex and Brighton University in terms of significant numbers of academics and students living in the town.

The Headstrong Club[124] whose notable members include Thomas Paine was relaunched in 1987[125] and continues to operate. A branch of the popular Skeptics in the Pub[126] movement was created in 2011 in Lewes, based at the Elephant and Castle.

The Lewes Literary Society (until 2015 the Monday Literary Society)[127] was founded in Lewes in 1948 by authors Barbara Willard and Frances Howell, chaired by Leonard Woolf from 1954 to 1969, and currently by the poets John Agard and Grace Nichols, who live in the town. The Needlewriters is a co-operative of poets and writers which hosts a quarterly evening of poetry and prose at the Needlemakers Cafe, showcasing writers from across Sussex and Kent.[128] The poetry imprint Frogmore Press, founded in Folkestone in 1983, moved to Lewes in 2010.[129] Lewes Live Literature (LLL) was founded 1995 as a promoter of art and literature events, with an autumn festival which ran 2001-2007 bringing together spoken word with performance, music, film and visual art. Since 2007, LLL has concentrated on live literature production work.[130]

Lewes History Group was founded in 2009 and supports an active programme of talks, information and research into the history of the town and surrounding areas.[131] The Lewes Speakers Festival was created in the mid-2010s and brings a range of national speakers to the town each year, on a range of political, literary and historical topics.[132]

Lewes is home to a number of small craft breweries, alongside the renowned Harvey & Son's brewery in the heart of Lewes. These include Abyss Brewing[133] which started life in the Pelham Arms and opened a new brewing base and taproom in 2021 in Daveys Lane in the middle of Lewes inside the old maltings building previously part of the South Downs Brewery, and Beak Brewery, which began as a so-called "gypsy" or nomad brewery before setting up in the town.[134] The renowned craft brewery Burning Sky[135] is based in nearby Firle.

Lewes also has a strong tradition of distinctive local pub games, including Toad in the hole (game) (a local pub league[136] and international competition[137] are held in the town), Dwyle Flunking[138] (the local spelling of Dwile flonking), and the World Pea Throwing Championships.[139]

With a number of authors having lived in or near Lewes, it features, explicitly or disguised, in a number of books.

Possibly the earliest substantial reference in fiction is in The Wanderer: Or, Female Difficulties, an 1814 novel by Fanny Burney, in which the heroine spends time in Lewes and Brighton.

Eve Garnett lived in Lewes and her The Family from One End Street series of children's stories are set in 'Otwell-on-the-Ouse'. Matthew de Abaitua's dystopian novel If Then is set in a fictionalised Lewes. There are strong parallels with Lewes in the setting of Cliffe House which appears in a story called Bloody Baudelaire, by R.B. Russell.

The Collector by John Fowles is set near Lewes with the characters visiting the town, and the Roy Grace crime series by Peter James (writer) based in Brighton has scenes set in Sussex Police HQ based in Lewes. Graham Greene's first novel The Man Within has scenes set in Lewes at the Lewes assizes.

Three novels by William Nicholson (writer) - The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life, All the Hopeful Lovers and Golden Hour - are based in Lewes and surrounding villages. Three Round Towers and Retribution by Beverley Elphick are set in and around Lewes at the end of the 18th century.[140] Hope Cottage by Julian Fane is about a family who swap their flat in London for their friends' cottage in Lewes for twelve months.[141]

Other writers to have set works of fiction in Lewes include Andrew Soutar, Judith Glover, and primatologist Alison Jolly who wrote a series of books for children.[142]

The personal diaries of Lewes-based writer Alice Dudeney who wrote popular fiction in the first half of the 20th century were published in 1998 as A Lewes Diary: 1916-1944 describing her life in Lewes with Henry Dudeney before and during the interwar years.

Lewes also features in a range of works of other non-fiction, but notable examples would include To The River by Olivia Laing which follows her walk along the River Ouse and The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane (writer) features walks on the South Downs close to Lewes.

In 2015, American writer Joseph Cannizzo Jr. published a collection of poetry about Lewes entitled When in Lewes, ( ISBN 1517222680) following a brief stay in the town.[143]

The Sussex Express newspaper (formally the Sussex Express and County Herald) was established in 1837 in Lewes as the Sussex Agricultural Express and merged with the Sussex County Herald in 1938.[144] Now headquartered in Horsham, it serves Lewes and much of East Sussex. It has four editions and includes extensive coverage of the local sports scene. It is part of the Johnston Press network of newspapers.[145]

Viva Lewes was founded as a weekly web magazine in January 2006 and also as a monthly print handbook in October 2006 covering events and activities in and around the Lewes area. It ceased publication in 2020.[146]

In December 2018 a monthly lifestyle publication Town & County Magazine was launched, with coverage of local life, history, and culture, and celebrity interviews, across Lewes district as well as Alfriston & Ditchling.

Bright 106.4 FM radio station, based in Burgess Hill, broadcasts to an area which extends to Lewes.

Lewes has its own RSL radio station, Rocket FM,[147] which broadcasts via FM and the Internet for three weeks in October/November each year, covering the Bonfire period.

In November 2012, EE launched a series of advertisements promoting its 4G mobile service. All of the adverts, which featured actor Kevin Bacon, were filmed in Lewes.[148]

In 1694, accounts of Sir John Pelham record 2s 6d paid for a wager concerning a cricket match at Lewes, one of the sport's earliest references.[149]

Lewes Priory Cricket Club is based at the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road. The club were Sussex League champions in 1986 and 1990 and Division 2 winners in 1999, 2006 and 2008. The club has active senior, junior and social sections

Lewes Rugby Football Club, founded in 1930, runs several rugby teams at various competitive levels, including the senior men's sides, the women's, girls' and junior teams. Lewes RFC's home turf is the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston Road.

Lewes Hockey Club, based at Southdown Sports Club on Cockshut Road, was founded in 1903 and is one of the oldest and largest hockey clubs in Sussex. It is home to 5 men's and 5 women's sides and a wide range of junior sides. Lewes Men won the National HA trophy in 2013 beating Guernsey 3-2 in the final and currently reside in South Premier League, the third tier of national hockey structure.

The local football team is Lewes FC The club was founded in 1885 and play at the Dripping Pan. In July 2017, the club became the first in the world to introduce equal pay to the men's and women's teams.[150] The Lewes FC Women's team were appointed to the second tier of the Women's Super League in May 2018.[151]

The town is also home to Lewes Bridge View which has adult teams competing in the Mid Sussex Football League and Lewes and District Sunday League. In 2016 Lewes Bridge View Juniors joined in partnership with Lewes FC to form Lewes FC Juniors - running Under 8s to Under 16s, with boys and girls teams.

Lewes Athletic Club caters for junior and senior athletes. The club trains at the all-weather 400m track at the end of Mountfield Road, and other locations in the area. Lewes Swimming Club was reconstituted in 1975 by Commonwealth gold medal-winning swimmer Christine Parfect (née Gosden) and others. The club has 300+ members and organises swimming sessions at Lewes, Ringmer, Newlands School, Newhaven and Seaford Head pools during term-time. Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club was reconstituted in 1950. The club organises regular time trials throughout the summer.

Lewes Tennis/Hockey Club (Southdown Sports Club) has 16 tennis courts, four squash courts, two netball courts and a floodlit astro/hockey pitch. Lewes Bowls Club situated behind the Mount on Mountfield Road was founded in 1922. It is affiliated to Bowls England and members play in the Meridian League and the Brighton League, as well as in informal games for pleasure. Between April and September members play on a flat lawn green with six rinks and inside the clubhouse on short mat for the winter season. Lewes Golf Club is set on downland above Cliffe Hill on the east-side of Lewes, where the sport has been played since 1896.[152]

The Moyleman, an off-road marathon event over the hills around Lewes, starting and finishing in the town, was created in 2014 and first run in 2015.[153]

Lewes Racecourse, located immediately to the west of the town on the slopes of the Downs, operated for 200 years until closed in 1964. It is still used as a training course, and there are several stables nearby.[154] Race days are held at nearby Plumpton Race Course.

There are a number of Service Clubs in Lewes, including Lewes Lions Club which is a member of Lions Clubs International. The club runs various events including the Christmas Concert in December each year with the LGB Brass and the annual 'International 'Toad-in-the-Hole' Competition' and holds street collections to raise funds so as to assist people and organisations in and around Lewes.[155] Since the 1960s, the Lewes Rotary Club has hosted its distinctive annual skittles tournament in the gardens of Southover Grange in June each year.[156]

Among the many notable former residents of Lewes is Thomas Paine (1737-1809), who was employed as an excise officer in the town for a time from 1768 to 1774 when he emigrated to the American colonies. The Paine association sits at the centre of a radical tradition that is represented today by writers working in the town.[citation needed ]

The sciences and natural enquiry are represented by Gideon Mantell who is credited with the first discovery and identification of fossilised dinosaur ( iguanodon) teeth. Lewes doctor Richard Russell popularised the resort of Brighton.

Lewes is the birthplace of 16th-century madrigalist Nicholas Yonge. In the 1960s it was home to Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, as it is now to other musicians, notably Herbie Flowers, Arthur Brown and Tim Rice-Oxley from Keane.

Daisy Ashford lived from 1889 to 1896 at Southdown House, 44 St Anne's Crescent, where she wrote The Young Visiters. Edward Perry Warren, an eccentric American collector, lived in Lewes House. In 1919 Virginia Woolf briefly owned - but never lived in - the Round House, a windmill in Pipe Passage, before moving to her final home, Monk's House in Rodmell. Diarist John Evelyn spent his boyhood at Southover Grange.

Locally

Nationally

Lewes is twinned with Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany, since 1974 and with Blois, France, since 1963, although informal links between these two towns began in 1947.[158]

^ Chichester was traditionally described as the capital city of Sussex and Lewes its county town.[3][4][5] Horsham was occasionally described as the county town of Sussex due to the presence of the county gaol and the periodic holding of the county assizes and quarter sessions in the town. The last assizes were held there in 1830, while the gaol was closed in 1845.[6]

1. ^ General history of Horsham - The town as county centre, Victoria County History of Sussex, Volume VI British History Online Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine

2. ^ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.297.

3. ^ Whynne-Hammond, Charles (2007). English Place-names Explained. Countryside Books. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-85306-911-6.

4. ^ Coates, Richard (1990). "'The name of Lewes: some problems and possibilities'". The English Place-Name Society Journal. 23: 5-15. Coates, Richard (1997). "'The name of Lewes'". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 135: 141-2. Coates, Richard (1998). "'Review of Forsberg (1997)'". Locus Focus. 2: 18-20.

5. ^ "Battle of Lewes: England's first fight for democracy?". BBC News. 14 May 2014.

6. ^ "Simon de Montfort, the Battles of Lewes and Evesham, and the birth of parliamentary democracy". Military History Matters. 15 June 2017.

7. ^ a b

8. ^ "The flooded railway station featured on the cover of that week's [[Private Eye (magazine)|Private Eye]] with the caption "Your Rains Tonight"". Archived from the original on 26 September 2007.

9. ^ Historic England. "Town Hall (1353072)". National Heritage List for England.

10. ^ Council, Lewes District. "Armorial Bearings (Coat of Arms)". www.lewes.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015.

11. ^ "The borough of Lewes: Introduction and history" Archived 25 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7 (1940), pp. 7-19, Accessed: 19 May 2008

12. ^

13. ^

14. ^

15. ^ Details of Church of St. Anne, Lewes from Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland

16. ^ a The Buildings of England: Sussex - Ian Nairn, Nikolaus Pevsner b

17. ^

18. "^ Non-emergency enquiries." (Archive) Sussex Police. Retrieved on 13 February 2011. "Sussex Police Headquarters Church Lane, Lewes East Sussex, BN7 2DZ."

19. ^ The Times: Town's pound note bucks the downturn

20. ^ Historic England. "SOUTHOVER GRANGE (1192300)". National Heritage List for England.

21. ^ "Closure of Pells Church of England Primary School". Eastsussex.gov.uk. 19 August 2016.

22. ^ Ringmer Community College and Sixth Form http://www.ringmeracademy.org.uk/ Archived 3 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine

23. ^ "Sherlock Star Martin Freeman Opens Lewes Depot Cinema". 26 May 2017.

24. ^ "Lewes Ripple".

25. ^ Daisy Wyatt (6 February 2013). "Mumford & Sons announce 2013 summer 'Gentlemen of the Road Stopover'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.

26. ^ "Brainchild Festival".

27. ^ "Headstrong Club".

28. ^ Archived copy. ASIN 178306420X.

29. ^ Jr, Joseph Cannizzo (14 September 2015). When in Lewes. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781517222680.

30. ^ Croydon, Emily (8 September 2018). "Lewes FC: The football club with same budget for men's & women's teams". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018.

31. ^ Wrack, Suzanne (29 May 2018). "From Manchester United to Lewes, newcomers benefit from WSL revamp". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018.

32. ^ https://www.lewes-rotary.org/skittles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England.[note 1] It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes.

# data[].attributes.body
It is a very good bar-restaurante, the food es cheap and very good, they have a nice decoration and a really good enviorment. A very good plase to go with your friends

# data[].attributes.body
On Brigthon beach you can witness an incredible experience. You can enjoy bathing in its clear crystal water or watcher a wonderful sunset.

# data[].attributes.body
On the Brighton Pier, there are a lots of things to do. There are Rides and Attractions and a lot of diffrent things to eat and drink. You can go there in the afternoon and enjoy with your friends.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By clicking "Allow all cookies", you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, and increase your user experience. Essential Cookies cannot be disabled, however you can opt-out of your data being stored. Click here to read our Cookie policy.

Allow only necessary cookies Allow all cookies

Brighton Palace Pier is so much more than just breath-taking views, rides & attractions.
Whether you are looking to succumb to that sweet tooth or wanting something savoury,
the pier has a great variety. From Fish & Chips to fruit filled crepes we have something for everyone.

Please click here to view our COVID-19 Health & Safety Measures

Restaurants/Bars

Sweet kiosks

Savoury kiosks

Reset filters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By clicking "Allow all cookies", you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, and increase your user experience. Essential Cookies cannot be disabled, however you can opt-out of your data being stored. Click here to read our Cookie policy.

# data[].attributes.body
It is an area of amazing natural beauty. It is perfect for spending a wonderful afternoon with friends or family with a relaxing environment, breath-taking views and a pub restaurant. There are several activities available such as model airplane flying or hang-gliding

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover the legendary beauty spot on the South Downs at the National Trust's Devil's Dyke in West Sussex.

# data[].attributes.body
It 's an restaurant Traditional in the heart of brighton's historic lanes. You can eat seafood there or fish.
Address: 29-31 East Street Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
English’s Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to English’s of Brighton, the best seafood restaurant in Brighton serving the finest local seafood.

# data[].attributes.body
It's a very small town but it's quiet and beautiful. You can see some old buildings and castles. Also the different and old medieval street---Mermaid Street. If you have time I recommend you go there once!

# data[].attributes.body
Hollywood Bowl

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
WE'RE OPEN

hollywood Bowl Brighton!

Let the good times roll...

Our Hollywood Bowl Brighton centre has state-of-the-art lanes, scrumptious food and drink, and guaranteed fun for everyone! A great place for family and friends, and perfect for any occasion; let the good times roll in Brighton.
NHS Covid passes are NOT required to visit our centres. Please wear a face mask.
Click here for more info.

With 26 lanes to bowl along, a hollywood themed VIP area, an american themed diner, a buzzing bar and a thrilling amusements area; what are you waiting for? Head down to our Brighton centre today!

Useful information

Monday

9:00am - 10:30pm

Tuesday

9:00am - 10:30pm

Wednesday

9:00am - 10:30pm

Thursday

9:00am - 10:30pm

Friday

9:00am - 1:00am

Saturday

10:00am - 11:00pm

Sunday

10:00am - 10:00pm

Car: We are located on Marina Way off the A259

Train: The nearest train station is London Road station which is 15 minutes away or Brighton which is 16 minutes away

Bus: Bus number 7 stops opposite the Marina Cinema, which is the closest bus stop to our centre

26 lanes

VIP lanes

Arcade

Play for Prizes

Hollywood Diner

Pool tables

NHS Covid passes are NOT required to visit our centres. Please wear a face mask.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
WE'RE OPEN Our Hollywood Bowl Brighton centre has state-of-the-art lanes, scrumptious food and drink, and guaranteed fun for everyone! A great place for family and friends, and perfect for any occasion; let the good times roll in Brighton. NHS Covid passes are NOT required to visit our centres.

# data[].attributes.body
You can enjoy English breakfast, and it’s so nice to eat outside when it’s sunny.
It’s located near the beach.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The New Club Brighton - Restaurant, Cafe, Bar Brighton

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The New Club Brighton - Brighton seafront American diner restaurant, café & bar. Brunches, cocktails, lunches and dinners in the centre of Brighton.

# data[].attributes.body
It's Italian restaurant near residence! This restaurant has a lot of kinds of pizza and pasta. My recommendation is "Otello" pasta with Tagliatelle.
http://otellorestaurant.co.uk/

# data[].attributes.body
It is not just a pier. There are an amusement park and food court on it. This Brighton Pier is an exhilarating and pleasant place for lunch. And at night, you can see the sunset from the pier.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By clicking "Allow all cookies", you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, and increase your user experience. Essential Cookies cannot be disabled, however you can opt-out of your data being stored. Click here to read our Cookie policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By clicking "Allow all cookies", you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, and increase your user experience. Essential Cookies cannot be disabled, however you can opt-out of your data being stored. Click here to read our Cookie policy.

# data[].attributes.body
A beautiful and large park with gorgeous sights in the city of Brighton. You can go for a relaxing walk, have a picnic or even join different kinds of sports. Recomended in any of the seasons of the year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Preston Park is the largest urban park in the city.

Whether you want to take part in sports or sit and enjoy a picnic on a summer's day, Preston Park is the perfect place to go. Due to its size and location the park is also used as a venue for concerts, circuses, fairs, family days and other events.

You can find out more about these, and how you can be involved with the park community, below.

Preston Park is also home to the 'Preston Twins' - widely considered the largest and oldest Elm trees in the world.

Opening Times

Park is always open.

Chalet Cafe

Open every day from 10am to 5pm

Rotunda Cafe

Monday to Friday from 9.15am to 4pm

Weekends from 9.30am to 5pm

Getting there

Preston Park can be reached from Preston Road, Preston Drove and Preston Park Avenue.

View map of the park's location.

Alternatively you can download a guide to Preston Park (PDF 2.1MB) to print off and bring with you.

Bus

The 5 and 5A buses run between Hangleton and Patcham and go straight past the park every few minutes during the day. Further information and timetables available from the Brighton & Hove Bus company.

Cycling

There are cycle lanes leading to the park from the city centre and various places to secure your bicycle to around the park. Download your city cycling map here.

For more information on cycling around the city check the Journey On site.

Car

There are parking areas at the north and south of the park, accessible from Preston Drove or the junction between Preston Road and Preston Park Avenue.

Parking restrictions will be enforced between the hours of 9am and 4pm on weekdays and between 2pm and 6pm on weekends.The pay and display costs are:

up to 1 hour - £1

up to 2 hours - £1.50

up to 4 hours - £2.50

up to 6 hours - £5

All other areas of the park, with the exception of the bays marked for Blue Badge holders disabled parking, will be pedestrian only zones.

We will publish details of the amount of money raised from the parking restrictions and what it has been spent on in the park Management and Maintenance Plan.

Events organisers may apply for special arrangements for a limited period. During events parking in the park may be difficult.

Welcome to Preston Park

Report a problem in the park

Have you found a problem at the park? Contact us using our online City Parks problem report form.

Activities at Preston Park

Preston Park Rock Garden Conservation & Gardening Group - every Wednesday. For more information, email cityparks.volunteers@brighton-hove.gov.uk, or Tel 01273 292929

Preston Park Gardening Club - every Thursday. Contact details above.

Interested in volunteering at this park?

There are many ways to become involved in the community future of Preston Park:

Facilities

Sports facilities

Services

Points of Interest

Walks

There is a friendly and popular 1.5 mile walk around Preston Park, meeting at the Rotunda Cafe at 10am on Mondays - see. Healthwalks .

Don't miss this.....

Situated on the opposite side of Preston Road to the main park, the Rockery is the largest municipal rock garden in the country. The Rockery is arguably the most bio-diverse garden in the city and also features twisting walkways, streams and waterways.

Preston Park is one of seven parks in the city that is recognised by the Green Flag award scheme.

You can also Donate a Tree at this park.

Get involved and find out more

Contact us

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Preston Park is the largest urban park in the city. Whether you want to take part in sports or sit and enjoy a picnic on a summer's day, Preston Park is the perfect place to go. Due to its size and location the park is also used as a venue for concerts, circuses, fairs, family days and other events.

# data[].attributes.body
Alcotraz Brighton is one of the most popular and different bars in Brighton.
Became a prisoner while drinking some of the best cocktails in town. There is not a specific menu, based on your smuggled liquor choices you we be able to make your specialized cocktail. Make sure you don’t get catch by the warden

# data[].attributes.body
The Cocoloco is the best place if you like reggaeton music and dance as well.
Their day is the Wednesday, so you can take a break during your week and have parties.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coalition Brighton | 10/11/2021 COCOLOCO REGGAETON SPANISH SOC PARTY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brightons biggest Reggaeton party since 2009

# data[].attributes.body
Small town that combines one thousand years of history with independent shops, contemporary art galleries, restaurants, cafes, delightful drinking spots, great attractions. It is cheap to travel by train from Brighton.

# data[].attributes.body
the London eye is a place to go if you come to the United Kingdom, it doesn't last long but you have a spectacular view over all of London, something you can't miss

# data[].attributes.body
http://pizzavip.co.uk/brighton/
I love the VIP, i tried 3 or 4 italians restaurants and VIP is the best in the city. This restaurant is near the Brighton pier and its cheap. You can eat pizza and other typical food from Italy.

# data[].attributes.body
The West Pier is a dilapidated pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be classified as Grade 1 in England and Wales, but it suffered a fire and has become increasingly abandoned since its closure to the public in. Currently, only a partial metal frame remains.

# data[].attributes.body
one of the best and most delicious restaurants that prepares burgers in a way that makes you unable to stop eating. it distinguishes itself with fried potatoes with Cajun spices. i highly recommend it and the price as it is prices are very reasonable

# data[].attributes.body
On the Brighton Pier you have lots of differents activities to do, such as, see the golden hour, eat differnts types of food and several fairground rides.
I recommend going in the afternoon and see the beautiful sunset with your friends.