145-574: Hamsey is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex , England. The parish covers a large area (1,144 hectares (2,830 acres)) and also consists of the villages Offham and Cooksbridge. The main centres of population in the parish are now Offham and Cooksbridge. Around the main settlements are enlarged fields, isolated old cottages and farms. The winding and undulating parish lanes between banks, old hedge rows, trees, flowery verges and ditches are popular with cyclists and give good views of
290-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
435-417: A civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in
580-686: A 16th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House . Other notable features of the area include the Glyndebourne festival, the Lewes Bonfire celebrations and the Lewes Pound . 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. The addition of the <-s> suffix seems to have been part of
725-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
870-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
1015-522: 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 ). The traditional derivation of Læwe , first posited by the Tudor antiquarian Laurence Nowell , derives it from the Old English word hlæw , meaning "hill" or " barrow ", presumably referring to School Hill (on which
1160-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1305-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1450-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
1595-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
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#17327985419911740-590: 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
1885-439: A large pond which is home to tufted duck and great crested grebe , with many mayflies in summer dancing above it - and feeding the swallows that skim the water to eat them. To the south of the pond, "flaming gorse" separates the brickworks from Kiln Wood. Recently the area has been approved for redevelopment into housing, [REDACTED] Media related to Hamsey at Wikimedia Commons Civil parish In England,
2030-711: A major port. 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. 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. 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
2175-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
2320-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
2465-712: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Lewes Lewes ( / ˈ l uː ɪ s / )
2610-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
2755-469: 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
2900-525: A place of rich biodiversity with many rare species and were used by local people for recreation and wild camping. More recently the chalk pits appear to have been left unmanaged and much of the grasslands have turned to scrub. Now the scrub is heavily encroaching on the Offham double-bostal on the north west side of the spur, which is extremely biodiverse. The northern chalk pit has signs threatening £20,000 fines to be issued by Natural England for wild camping on
3045-431: A population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of
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#17327985419913190-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
3335-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
3480-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
3625-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
3770-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
3915-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
4060-529: Is Ringmer , to its south it borders Lewes and St Ann Without and to its west is the St John Without parish. The farmland is largely owned by the Conyboro Estate. The soil is very rich. Fine crops grow on its superficial deposits of Alluvium , River Terrace Deposits and Chalk Head, over Lower Chalk , Gault , Lower Greensand , or Wealden Clay. Nearly all the meadowland around Hamsey
4205-462: Is a site of biological interest, an isolated area of the South Downs. 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. Southerham Works Pit is of geological interest, a disused chalk pit displaying a wide variety of fossilised fish remains. The Railway Land nature reserve
4350-588: Is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate ). 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. 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
4495-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
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4640-504: Is due in 2027. Since 2010, the town has been included within the South Downs National Park . The National Park Authority has therefore taken over some functions from the local councils, notably relating to town planning . There are also a number of local political groups without council representation. The far-left group Lewes Maoist Action has operated in the town since 2013, frequently handing out leaflets at
4785-656: 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. 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. The Lewes Pound can be exchanged for
4930-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
5075-526: Is last parish (or first) of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment which is a ten kilometre stretch of north-facing scarp that has been designed a Site of Special Scientific Interest . There is a chain of disused chalk pits along the Ouse river cliff and around the spur of Offham Hill ( TQ 400 116 ). The areas is prized by mountain bikers, picnickers, walkers and all those who like flowers, sun and peace. Most of
5220-675: Is no shortage in the Lewes area). This unusual word was borrowed into Old English from Old Welsh , the Modern Welsh spelling being llechwedd . 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
5365-428: Is no sign of it above ground now. The chalk pit dug away the rest. There are also three surviving barrows between the camp and the covered reservoir, but they are becoming difficult to see under tangled vegetation. The covered reservoir, like so many, had a good Down pasture flora with rockrose , cistus forester moth, and old anthills. Offham Down ( TQ 392 117 ) is a special place known locally as "Happy Valley" at
5510-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
5655-469: Is now improved or cultivated, which is good for growing one crop but not for biodiversity or local species. However, there are still small areas of archaic meadow, such as the banks of the Hamsey Loop, which can host the rare corky-fruited water dropwort (recorded in 2012) and other colourful flowers. More archaic meadows can be found in Offham and Hamsey churchyards, along The Drove north side bank, on
5800-572: 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 . 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
5945-541: 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. 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
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6090-529: Is the county town of East Sussex , England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider district of the same name . It lies on the River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the South Downs . A traditional market town and centre of communications, in 1264 it was the site of the Battle of Lewes . The town's landmarks include Lewes Castle , Lewes Priory , Bull House (the former home of Thomas Paine ), Southover Grange and public gardens, and
6235-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
6380-788: 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. Information about Lewes becomes much more plentiful from
6525-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
6670-529: 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
6815-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
6960-514: 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. The English Reformation was begun by one of these Tudor monarchs, Henry VIII , and as part of this process
7105-595: The lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
7250-403: The monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of a civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if
7395-470: 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
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#17327985419917540-465: 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. One Lewes Pound
7685-475: The "new" St. Peter's Church built to replace the Church of Old St. Peter in 1840s. Offham hosts two Sites of Special Scientific Interest , Clayton to Offham Escarpment and Offham Marshes . To the west Offham has two chalk pits with a new scrub woodland surrounding them. Historically the artisanal chalk pits would have been grazed and past owners have made an effort to manage the area. The managed chalk pits were
7830-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
7975-403: The 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with
8120-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
8265-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
8410-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
8555-621: The Bottom, principally to stop soil erosion from irresponsible winter ploughing. At Landport Fork ( TQ 401 110 ) there are three fine barrows. Often considered to be in South Chailey, Hamsey Brickworks, is in the very north of the parish. It worked the Wealden Clay to make bricks until the late 1980s. After working ceased an almost complete fossil of a bony fish was found there, which 130 million years old. The landfilled quarry has
8700-532: The Chalk Pit Inn pit, may be one of the oldest, for it has the indicator species bastard toadflax , horseshoe vetch and rockrose . The thin open sward enables blue fleabane and autumn gentian to thrive and many chalkland butterflies benefit. Despite the biodiverse richness of the chalk pits, the lack of grazing means that that richness is year by year disappearing. Seas of cotoneaster , privet , sycamore, ash , and other scrub species are already over
8845-573: The Downs. In 2011 the parish had a population of 632. Hamsey village itself is located three miles (5 km) north of Lewes on the Prime Meridian . It lies just off the A275 which runs between Lewes and Forest Row , although the road passes through Hamsey parish at Offham and Cooksbridge. The fine medieval ex-parish Church of Old St. Peter's (now a Chapel of Ease) sits on a promontory amongst
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#17327985419918990-570: The English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007 the right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by
9135-538: The Hamsey Loop, but much of the natural beauty of the water land corridor created by the Ouse would be under threat from such a development. A main line railway from Lewes to Uckfield is also obstructed by the Phoenix Causeway road and development. The extent of the modern Hamsey meadows is similar to that of the manor's 200 acre meadow recorded in the Domesday book but much of its wildness has been lost. In
9280-530: 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. As a result of the devastation,
9425-553: The Lewes Flood Action group formed, to press for better flood protection measures. There are three tiers of local government covering Lewes, at parish (town), district and county level: Lewes Town Council, Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council . The town council is based at Lewes Town Hall on the High Street. The county council has its headquarters at County Hall on St Anne's Crescent in
9570-548: The Offham Chalk pits. The Upper Ouse Navigation was opened in 1812 and the Chalkpit Cut took barges from Offham chalk pit to the River Ouse , and two railway lines were built across the brooks. Up until that point wild Salmon and Sea Trout were plentiful in the river but the canalisation seems to have impacted the young Salmons' ability to use the river. After the collapse of the navigation in 1870 Salmon recolonised
9715-453: The Ouse (and the modern town of Lewes) from the east. During the Roman period, there was an aristocratic villa at Beddingham , 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
9860-740: The Ouse until the hot summer of 1976 and the new weir at Buxted eliminated the last breeding group. The Northend Stream is on the north-south border of the Hamsey and Barcombe parishes and the Bevern Stream is on the north-south border of the Hamsey and Chailey parishes. Between the Ouse and Offham Hill is the Offham Marsh ( TQ 403 118 ), also known as the Pells. It is a 39.1-hectare (97-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest to
10005-634: 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
10150-734: 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. Countryside walks can be taken starting from several points in Lewes. One can walk on Mount Caburn to
10295-685: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
10440-501: The cavalry over-reached themselves and De Montfort's other troops battled down into Lewes and victory. Things could be very different on Offham Down if it were not for the action of conservationists at the turn of the twentieth century. Although it is part of an SSSI , in 1997 the farmer wished to plough much of the tractor accessible ground to grow flax , which was then attracting hefty European Union subsidies even on such protected sites. English Nature did not to use their powers and
10585-629: The century the Hundred Years War led to a series of French and Castilian 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
10730-508: The chalk pits are pre-industrial in origin and fine sheep fescue sward has grown over them, giving them distinct qualities and richness. In contrast, the pit above the Chalk Pit Inn was active in the nineteenth century. The Offham Road, outside the Inn, goes over a steep chute which took chalk from the Pit down to barges moored on the Chalkpit Cut. This late Georgian pit is very different in character to
10875-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
11020-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
11165-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
11310-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
11455-525: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
11600-485: The crown of Offham Hill for which it gained it the nickname ‘Little Scotland’ in Victorian times. It is secondary woodland, now. The area has a long history too. There is an evocative group of ten Saxon barrows on the short turfed, flatter ground of the spur, and further barrows up the hill but there are either destroyed or sunk in tangled scrub. There is a peculiar and attractive two-track ancient bostal which rises up
11745-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
11890-508: The east and west end. River Wood ( TQ 398 162 ) is on the southern bank of the Bevern stream and is sprawling with Ramsons (wild garlic) and Kiln Wood ( TQ 399 160 ) is to the east of Hamsey Brickworks and has a magnificent bluebell display in Spring. Running along the eastern boundary of the county is the River Ouse . The river was used extensively in the 19th century to import chalk from
12035-703: The east side of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment SSSI . The valley sides are rich in biodiversity in all seasons. In spring they have milkwort , cowslip and lesser dandelion . At midsummer there are glow-worms and bastard toadflax . In high summer there is pride of Sussex rampion and, later, sheets of devil's-bit scabious . There are areas of acidic soils, and in these areas heathy plants, rare on chalk grassland, may still be present, such as heath dog-violet and mosses like Bryum rubens and Pleurochaete squarrosa. In autumn there are still old meadow fungi, including many species of waxcaps , earth tongues , coral fungi and pink gill . There used to be purple heather on
12180-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
12325-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
12470-529: The farmer commenced ploughing. Nature conservationists attempted to block the plough, but the farmer returned at night. The struggle then escalated and conservationists demonstrated, set up camp on the land and started to organize its ‘unploughing’ by turning over and refitting the sods. Local people also turned out in force. Luckily the battle took place during the general election, so the Conservatives and Labour competed to show their conservation mettle and
12615-678: The first in the UK, was started in the 1990s by Common Cause Co-operative Ltd 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
12760-467: 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. 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
12905-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
13050-465: 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 . 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
13195-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
13340-495: The lower boundary, although many were blown down in the 1987 and 1992 gales, particularly at its eastern end. The fallen beech carcasses are home to many fungi including green stain , turkey tail , lemon disco , jelly rot , porcelain fungus and dryad's saddle . Collared earthstar is here amongst the leaf litter. The spring flowers are most plentiful at the base of slope. Elsewhere things like bluebells are scarce, although there are swarms of early purple orchids upslope. In
13485-472: The meadows of the River Ouse . On the neck of the promontory, by the Hamsey Cut (part of the old Ouse Navigation) the fine old barns of the prosperous farmstead of Hamsey Place have been converted to a number of dwellings, and a large new pond created, with Canada geese . From here there is a lane that ends with Old St. Peter's church. There is a group of fairly large houses on the edge of the floodplain to
13630-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
13775-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
13920-518: The north west, including the large country house Hamsey House. Internal shifts in population and in the central focus of the then largest estate (Coombe Place) drove a decision (1859) to build a new replacement church in the hamlet of Offham (this one was also dedicated to St. Peter). Pronounced "Oaf-um", this village is on the A275 just north of Lewes It has a pub, the Blacksmiths Arms and
14065-530: The older quarries. Unlike the alpine cragginess of this pit the older pits meld into the adjacent Downland at their northern end. In the past they were grazed as part of those Down pastures and bee , pyramidal , spotted and even musk orchids can be found there, with viper’s bugloss , devil’s-bit and small-flowered sweet-briar. The turf is very mossy and scarce mosses and lichen such as Pleurochaete squarrosa and Cladonia pocillum can be found. The southern-most of these older quarries ( TQ 400 113 ) south of
14210-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
14355-512: The otherwise unlocatable town of Mutuantonis . 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. The earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement in Sussex
14500-448: The parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under a common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in
14645-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
14790-413: The parish, is an area of alluvial grazed marsh. Its biological interest is due to its large amphibian population and several other scarce insect life. The Wealden Line railway from Lewes to Uckfield via Hamsey along the west bank of the River Ouse intended to use the Hamsey Loop but work was abandoned and the loop never opened. A proposal to reinstate services between the two stations intends to use
14935-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
15080-474: The parish. These woodland have many ancient woodland indicator species. Beachy Wood ( TQ 404 161 ) is the best of them. It is a gill wood along the western-side of the Bevern stream with wild service , sessile oak and crab apple trees. The wood has been described as "dignified, shady, and silent but for the tops of the tall oaks sighing in the breeze". Folly Wood ( TQ 399 153 ) has many Bluebells under hazel coppice, with some Hornbeam and much scots pine at
15225-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
15370-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
15515-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
15660-466: 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 shipbuilding industries. 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
15805-527: 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. This theory was endorsed in 2011 by A Dictionary of British Place Names . 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
15950-524: 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
16095-483: The ridge; the summit on that side, 2.5 miles (4.0 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
16240-594: 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
16385-437: 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
16530-537: The seat for 18 years until defeated in 2015 by Conservative Maria Caulfield , who retained her seat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. As of July 2024, Liberal Democrat James MacCleary is the MP. 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 , in
16675-757: The seventeen Lewes Martyrs , Protestants 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. The Lewes Chamber of Commerce represents the traders and businesses of the town. 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
16820-546: The shadier parts, such as along the bostal, there are profuse growths of hart's tongue fern . At the top of the scarp top is Mount Harry. At 194 metres (636 ft), the hill falls within the National Trust Blackcap nature reserve. This area retains some rich ancient grassland fragments, especially where the slope begins to tip northwards. There have been frog , bee and even birds-nest orchids and there are tiny fragments of heathy grassland. In autumn
16965-498: The site. They have become a running sore with local people and conservationists, although they are still very beautiful and spotted orchids and glowworms can still be found there. Cooksbridge is centred on its railway station and has a primary school and a pub, the Rainbow. The name Cooksbridge is first recorded in 1590 and is likely to have come from a family of that name who were recorded in Hamsey in 1543. However, in folklore
17110-434: The slope beneath Coombe Plantation and between the plantation and Coombe Place. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest that fall within the parish, Clayton to Offham Escarpment and Offham Marshes . Clayton to Offham Escarpment lies on the South Downs and stretches across many parishes. Its chalk grassland, woodland and scrub supporting a wide variety of breeding birds. Offham Marshes , fully contained within
17255-429: 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, because of the town's many historic attractions and its location. As referenced in
17400-419: The south of the parish is very little woodland left, although the parish had a relic common at Hamsey until modern times. Despite hedge clearances, some of which are now being put back, there are a number of notable Oaks to the east of Tulleys Wells farm. The area north of Cooksbridge, although nearer South Chailey , is still in the Hamsey parish. It has four ancient woods which is rare in the southern part of
17545-494: The special downland scarp was saved. The Coombe Plantation ( TQ 386 122 ) is to the west of Offham Down. It is a relatively young wood, planted around 1800 which runs up the scarp slope of the Downs. Above the south west corner of the woodland are the Blackcap and Mount Harry peaks. The plantation has a cool and lofty interior of tall ash , sycamore, surviving beech and occasional horse chestnut . The biggest trees are along
17690-569: 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. 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
17835-457: 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. Lewes recovered relatively quickly after the Civil War, and prospered during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It had always been one of
17980-414: The town hall, including a new frontage to High Street, which was completed in 1893. The municipal borough of Lewes was abolished in 1974 when the larger Lewes District was established. A successor parish was created covering the area of the former borough, with the parish council taking the name Lewes Town Council. Following the 2023 election the composition of the town council was: The next election
18125-471: The town was made a municipal borough . The town was then run by a corporate body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Lewes", informally known as the corporation or town council. The last constable became the first mayor. In 1890, the town council acquired the former Star Inn at 189 High Street, parts of which date back to the fourteenth century, and the adjoining corn exchange. The buildings were converted and extended to become
18270-419: The town's administration were recognised in 1806 when separate improvement commissioners were established to pave, light and repair the streets and provide a watch . When local government in towns was reformed across the country in the 1830s, Lewes was one of the boroughs left unreformed , and so it continued to be run by its jury and improvement commissioners. The situation was finally regularised in 1881 when
18415-541: The town, which is also used by Lewes District Council as its meeting place. Lewes was an ancient borough , although the structure of its early government is obscure. For much of the Middle Ages the town was run by a closed aristocratic organisation known as the "Fellowship of the Twelve", which was gradually eclipsed by a body known as the jury in the seventeenth century, presided over by a constable. The limitations of
18560-598: 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. Three Sites of Special Scientific Interest lie within the parish: Lewes Downs , Lewes Brooks and Southerham Works Pit . Lewes Downs
18705-526: 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
18850-429: The train station and running a cake stall at weekends outside Lewes Castle . In 2020, the group claims to have infiltrated the council and Harvey's brewery, although they have never contested a local or parliamentary election. Lewes gives its name to the Lewes parliamentary constituency . The constituency was held by the Conservatives from the 1870s until 1997, when it was won by Liberal Democrat Norman Baker . He held
18995-408: The troops of Simon de Montfort in 1264 at the Battle of Lewes . This seems less likely though. The original name of Blackcap appears to have been Mount Harry, while the hill now known as Mount Harry was called Lewes Beacon. Landport Bottom ( TQ 397 110 ), near Lewes but in the Hamsey parish, was a Medieval river crossing according to records in 1296. Lewes Council bought 110 acres of ex-arable in
19140-464: The trustees, no doubt concerned by the increase in traffic that the station might generate, agreed to establish a turnpike (toll road) at Cooksbridge at its meeting in Lewes on the 12 Oct 1847. It was erected adjacent to Friendly Hall. Conyboro Park, Cooksbridge, is actually in the parish of Barcombe . The parish of Hamsey is large. To its north are the Chailey and Barcombe parishes, to its east
19285-414: The valley side from Offham. It is thought that after marching from Fletching, the London troops under Simon De Montfort walked up this bostal on the dawn of the day of the Battle of Lewes . They will have risen to the spur, which Coombe Plantation now partly covers, and formed the left flank of the rebel army. Poorly armed and trained they were swept away back down the scarp by the royalist cavalry, before
19430-427: The village got its name from the cooks who fed the soldiers of Simon de Montfort from the bridge on their way to the Battle of Lewes in 1264. The troops came from nearby Fletching where they spent the night in prayer on their way to the defeat of Henry III . In the 18th and 19th century, the road was under the control of the Offham to Wych Cross Turnpike Trust. With the coming of the railway to Cooksbridge in 1847
19575-533: 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
19720-404: The waxcap fungal flora and as many as twenty one old meadow fungal species have been counted here. Mount Harry’s name probably indicates that it was used as a pagan shrine, or hearg, in early Saxon times, like the although the name was first recorded only in 1610. Others have speculated that Mount Harry, then Mountharry, was named after King Henry III as it was here that Henry III was defeated by
19865-666: The way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe
20010-574: The west of the Ouse. It includes the Pellbrook Cut, an area to the north of it called The Pells and the marshland to the south of the Cut and east of the railway track. It was designated SSSI status in 1989 because of its huge Common Toad population. The toads migrated in huge numbers every spring from the overhanging woods. To the south of the parish, the land rises into the Sussex Downs. It
20155-408: The whole of the river cliffs and the brow of Offham Hill, which were open turf before the second world war. When this process finishes this area that is enjoyed by so many for its beautiful views over the Ouse valley and special wildlife will be gone, yet if it were just grazed, it could be saved. There is half of a Neolithic causewayed camp ( TQ 398 117 ) on the spur of Offham Hill , although there
20300-535: 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. After the Norman Conquest , 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
20445-518: 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. The de Warenne family died out with Earl John in 1347, whereupon lordship of
20590-554: Was concentrated between the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere , and Anglo-Saxon finds begin to appear in Lewes from the sixth century. 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. By the ninth century, the Kingdom of Sussex had been annexed to
20735-400: Was developed in the 1950s and 1960s and in the South Downs since it became a National Park. 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
20880-434: Was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of
21025-533: 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
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