Lewes; Sunday, 26 September, 2021

I had a much later breakfast than the previous day, then quickly packed my bag, left my luggage with reception, checked out and headed up into town. And I do mean up. Lewes is built on quite a steep hill that provides a good lookout over the surrounding countryside, so naturally, at the very top of town was my first stop for the day – the castle.

A castle was built on the site shortly after the Norman invasion and at one time was one of only a handful of castles to have two mottes, though over time one has been lost so the castle much more closely resembles what everyone pictures a castle to be – a stone keep on top of a motte surrounded by stone walls and gatehouses.

I spent some time looking round the different parts of the castle – with exhibits in both the Barbican gatehouse and the main keep building, along with the views from the roofs of both. After descending the towers I popped next door to the Sussex Archaeological Museum which houses artefacts from the castle, as well as some of their other sites that Sussex Past own such as Fishbourne Roman Villa in West Sussex, as well as from the Priory in Lewes. The museum also houses a model of the town which in a 10 minute sound and light presentation tells some of the history of the town.

From the museum it was a 10 minute quite steep walk down hill to the bottom of town and over to another of Sussex Pasts’ sites – the Anne of Cleves house. Sadly the Tudor house was closed until at least 2022 as it isn’t possible to make social distancing work within the building – but you can still see a bit from outside. The house was part of the alimony that Henry VIII paid Anne on their divorce – which is quite surprising given the previous wife had died, the one before lost her head and the next one would also be beheaded, clearly Anne was a shrewd lady and decided not contesting the divorce request was a good move.

A short distance from the Anne of Cleves house, under the modern railway tracks, is where Lewes Priory, or the Priory of St Pancras as it was officially known, once stood. Unlike Anne, the Priory didn’t do so well under Henry VIII as he had the majority of the buildings demolished as part of the dissolution of the monasteries. Today just parts of the building remain in an open park, which you can wander round.

From the ruins of the priory I wandered back round to the station in time to catch the train south down to the coast at Seaford.

Originally a significant port on the south coast where the mouth of the Ouse was, the harbour eventually silted up and the shifting shingle of the beaches moved the mouth of the river all the way down to Newhaven. The town had a resurgence following the popularity of seaside resorts in the Regency period and into the early 20th century, but today it’s a quiet dormitory town for people working in Brighton, Eastbourne and London.

What it does still possess is it’s Martello Tower the first, or last, in the chain of fortifications stretching all the way along the coast back up to Aldeburgh in Suffolk where I’d been 78 days earlier. Where as the other end of the line is a holiday let, the Seaford Martello tower houses the town museum – an interesting collection of household appliances, Edwardian and Victorian shop fronts and some Roman and Neolithic finds chucked in for good measure, and all squeezed into the space of a Martello tower – with access to the roof for some of the best views along this bit of coast, and the stunning cliffs of Seaford Head.

After looking round the museum I walked back into town to pick up the community run bus up into the foothills of the downs and the small village of Wilmington. The village itself is home to a small priory, but it’s biggest claim to fame is on the almost perfect 45 degree slope of the rear of the Downs at the back of town. At some point in history (the archaeologists say probably no earlier than the 16th Century, folklore says cavemen) a 235ft outline of a man was carved into the chalk of the cliffs – visible for miles around. It’s about a mile walk out to the base of the Long Man of Wilmington – which today is actually made up of white painted concrete blocks on the hillside to help preserve the image.

I took in the views of the Long Man, which are actually best seen from a couple of hundred feet back from the carving, rather than up close as the angle of the slope makes it difficult to see the whole thing, and the headed back to the main road to pick up the bus on its way back in from Eastbourne to Seaford, hopped onto the waiting train back to Lewes, grabbed my bags from the hotel and made my way back home.