About Lewes, our home town.

A town in a gap in the Downs

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, built where the River Ouse cuts through the South Downs on its way to Newhaven and the sea. The old town climbs steeply from the river up to the castle, with narrow lanes, known locally as twittens, dropping away on either side of the High Street.

Castle and priory

After 1066, William de Warenne, one of the Conqueror's closest allies, was given the land around Lewes and built the castle that still dominates the skyline. It is unusual in having two mounds rather than one, and you can still climb the keep for a view right across the Downs. The museum beside it tells the story of Sussex from the Stone Age on.

De Warenne and his wife Gundrada also founded the great Priory of St Pancras in Southover. It was pulled down at the Dissolution under Henry VIII, but the ruins are open to wander round, next to the Priory Park and the Battle of Lewes memorial.

The Battle of Lewes

In May 1264 the barons under Simon de Montfort beat Henry III's army on the Downs just outside the town. The parliament de Montfort called the next year is often seen as an early step towards elected government in England.

Rebels and radicals

Thomas Paine lived in Lewes in the 1760s and 1770s, working as an excise officer and arguing politics in the White Hart. A few years later he was writing Common Sense in America. Lewes has kept a contrary streak ever since: it even had its own local currency, the Lewes Pound.

Bonfire Night

Lewes is famous for the biggest Bonfire Night celebrations in the country. Several bonfire societies march through the streets with flaming torches, remembering the seventeen Protestant martyrs burned in the town in the 1550s as well as the Gunpowder Plot. Tens of thousands of people come, the town centre closes to traffic, and trains are restricted. If you need a taxi that night, book early and expect to be picked up outside the closures.

Beer, books and the river

Harvey's Brewery has been brewing beside the Ouse in Cliffe since the 18th century, and on a brewing day you can smell it across town. Cliffe High Street is full of independent shops, the Depot cinema sits by the station, and in summer the Pells Pool, one of the oldest outdoor pools in the country, is the place to be.