Promoting tourism is good for Lewes and is a means of celebrating our heritage. To this end, we continue to call for improved pedestrian signing and a dedicated visitor coach park.
The Friends of Lewes has played a key part in ensuring the success of the Heritage Open Days each September, taking on the lead role since 2011.
In addition, we have funded or contributed to a wide range of projects, for example:
- Tourist information boards displaying pictorial maps which assist visitors to discover what Lewes has to offer.
- Friends of Lewes helps to fund and produce illustrated Heritage Information Boards situated at sites around Lewes. These explore the history of the sites, and explain their features of interest to our visitors. There are examples of interpretation boards at Offham Chalk Pits, Pipe Passage, and the Garden of Peace.
- Cast iron commemorative plaques, provided in conjunction with Lewes Town Council, have been put up on various buildings and structures around the town. They are intended to inform visitors and residents of historic points of interest around our town and to help bring history to life. Information Boards have also been put up in Pipe Passage and in the Garden of Peace in the Castle Precincts.
- For the 750th anniversary of the Battle of Lewes in 2014, we supported the initiative by the Priory Trust to restore the memorial (a sculpture in the form of a helmet) in the Priory Park, which had been erected 50 years previously. We also combined with several other groups, including Bonfire Societies, to develop suitable banners on approach roads to the town. These banners were created by prisoners in Lewes prison and are shown below in the prison on completion, but before installation.
The Friends of Lewes 