Battle Through Lewes
Starts at Lewes Train Station,
Approx. 1.5 hours (extra for detours/visits).
Terrain not suitable for wheelchairs as a number of steps, steep hills,
and a narrow path are encountered on this walk.
| Leave
the station by the main entrance and turn left down Station road then left
at the round-a-bout in to |
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| Walk through the car park and follow the signs to the Priory. You can make a small detour to The Mount (said to be the spoil heap from the Dripping Pan). |
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Follow the path right
towards the remains of St. Pancras Priory (founded in 1076 by William De
Warenne and destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1538).
Just before the remains there is an iron works of a helmet which
marks the famous battle of Lewes of 1264 (where Simon de Montford defeated
Henry III). A plaque says it
was presented to the people of Lewes to mark the 700th
anniversary and was designed by Enzo Plazzotta and unveiled by the Duke or
Walk past the remains of the Priory and the lone tower. |
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| Continue
straight ahead until you reach the Priory Cottage at |
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| You will find Anne of Cleeves House (built in 1486 and given to her by her husband King Henry VIII on their divorce in 1540) opposite. Well worth a visit (and you can get a combined ticket for Lewes Castle too). |
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| Follow Southover High Street
(with Annes of Cleeves House on your left) past the |
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| Carry on past Southover
Grange on your right (built in 1572 by William Newton and boyhood home of
Diarist and botanist John Evelyn 1620-1706), well worth a visit in the
grounds if you have time, cream teas and Ice Cream is available in the
summer. On your left is the old Lewes
County Grammar School for Girls, the original gate still stands. |
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| At the end of the street
there is Keere Street (the street of locksmiths, built in 1272, where the
Prince Regent, later to become King George IV, drove a coach and four down
the hill for a wager).
This is a steep hill,
but our walk carries on up it to The Fifteenth Century Bookshop.
Note the old mile stone with miles to Standard in Cornhill, |
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From here head down the High Street to Bull House, the home Thomas Paine (author who lived there between 1768 and 1774, played a part in the American revolution and later the French one and wrote “The Rights of Man”) and the Brewers Arms. Opposite this is Pipe Passage (named after the discovery of a pipe kiln) beside the Freemason’s Hall (erected in 1797, and standing where the West Gate was). |
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| Follow this twitten to the Round House (that was once a windmill erected in 1802 by Lewes race course). It was purchased by authors Leonard and Virginia Woolf in 1919 but never lived in by them. A nice view of Lewes castle can also be seen from this spot on your right. Work was started in 1066 by William de Warenne when the town was given to him by William the conqueror. It was completed 300 years later with the Barbican. |
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| Keep going along the twitten to the steps, and carry on along the path (looking right over the wall for another view of to Lewes castle). At the end of the path turn right and carry on along the twitten to Castle Precinct. Here you can look over the famous battle of Lewes of 1264 (where Simon de Montford defeated Henry III) from the viewing platform. |
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| Behind this is a building known as the Maltings (home to ESCC Records Centre), next to that is the Castle Bowling Green (the castle's former tilting yard, where bowls was first played there since 1640), heading towards the castle (you may wish to visit the Castle before continuing this walk, however you will need to retrace our steps back to the Maltings). |
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| Follow Castle Banks road down
to a main road opposite the Elephant and Castle Public House (built in
1838 by local brewer Tamplin). Cross
on the Zebra crossing and walk past the pub down St Johns Terrace. |
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| Walk past St John sub Castro Church (built in 1839, where the remains of a roman fort was found in the church yard, they left Lewes around 410AD), the graveyard entrance can be found down Church Row. |
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| Carry on down St Johns Hill to The Pells (Victorian leisure park). The Pells also has the oldest outdoor swimming pool in the country constructed in 1860. Continue on the path with the swimming pool on your right, where you will reach Willeys bridge (opened 20th February 1965). |
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| Cross this bridge to the
other side of the River Ouse. Turn
right and follow the path by the river side, before you do this note the
strange bridge straight ahead with a slope over the top.
This was the Lewes to Uckfield Railway which opened in 1858, and
one of the lines closed by Dr Beeching.
The final train ran on the line in 1969 (on another day you can
follow this line almost to Hamsey, where the bridge is no more). |
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| Turn right and continue on the new river path past Tesco (note the old bridge footings of where the railway crossed the Ouse) and under the road bridge. Follow the path around Harveys Brewery (where John Harvey established the Bridge Wharf Brewery in 1790). |
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| The path comes out in to Cliffe High Street, the main shopping area of Lewes. Turn right here and over the bridge (where some good views of Harveys Brewery can be found) to the precinct. |
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| Walk through the precinct to
the lights at School Hill. On
your left here is Fitzroy House (the former Memorial Library built in
1862), which stands on the site of the Grey Friars (dissolved in 1538).
Turn left in to Friars Walk and past the Magistrates Courts on your
left. |
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Go
straight ahead at the Roundabout and past an old building on your right
you and behind this is the new Lewes Library. Continue on the same road past the Meeting House (built in 1784 at a cost of £231), home of the Quaker movement in Lewes (arrived in 1655 and opened their first meeting house in 1675). |
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| Next to the Meeting House is
eighteenth century All Saints Church (now a youth centre and cinema),
where some unusual sculptures can be found in the grave yard.
Opposite the church is the only remaining archway of a road viaduct
that used to go over the Lewes to Uckfield railway line. |
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| Continue on the road to the junction to the Lansdown Arms (ex White Star Inn), turn left here and head back to the station. |
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