Two more plaques have been added to the many around Lewes which tell the hidden history of the town.

Funded by the Town Council and based on research by the Friends of Lewes, these plaques point to centuries long stories of the varied uses of two buildings in the middle of town – the recently converted Crown Hotel by the war memorial, and No. 1 Keere Street.

The Crown was a coaching Inn known as the Black Lion from 1633, then The Crown Inn from about 1790. It was converted to residential use in 2021.

1 Keere Street was built around 1430, and over the centuries it has housed a butcher, a bucket maker, and from 1780 until 1946, a bakery.

The Lewes Town Council and the Friends of Lewes have installed more than 70 plaques across the town to highlight the histories of buildings that may be unknown to visitors or residents. See the full list at our Historical Plaques web page.

The Crown hotel plaque – click to enlarge

1 Keere Street plaque – click to enlarge

Become a Friend of Lewes

Brian Courage, our Town Ranger has just reported that the Battle of Lewes Plaque has gone missing from its plinth on Castle Bank.

If anyone happens to see it somewhere, please would you take it to Lewes Town Hall, or email TownRanger@lewes-tc.gov.uk if you have any information on its whereabouts.

Brian restored this plaque only last year, and took this picture before working on it:

Battle of Lewes Plaque

This plaque has now been found and returned, Nov 2021

  Play the Lewes District Lottery and support the Friends of Lewes

Early this year Lewes Town Council and the Friends of Lewes arranged for three new cast-iron plaques to be put on buildings in the town that have an interesting connection or history: sometimes this is fairly obvious, sometimes totally hidden. These are the latest in a series that began about 40 years ago.

Lewes House, School Hill

Lewes House, 32 High Street

In the case of 32, High Street – Lewes House on School Hill – it is perhaps remarkable that this significant building had not had its history noted before. Though there has been a house on this site since 1609, the present house dates from the 18^th century, with a new front added in 1812. The main story here relates to the years 1890 to 1928 when it was owned by Edward Perry Warren, an American antiquarian and art buyer. His purchase of Rodin’s statue The Kiss caused a furore when he wanted it to be shown.

It is quite hard to capture even the outline of this in the 45 or so words, which is all that space on a plaque allows!  The permission of the owner is always a pre-condition and the District Council were happy to agree. The plaque was put on the wall outside, rather than on the listed building to ensure maximum visibility to passers-by.

Grace Kimmins and 43 Cliffe High Street

Grace Kimmins and the new plaque on 43 Cliffe High Street

Sometimes it is the invisible connection with a person that is the story. 43 Cliffe High Street is now Louis Potts’ shop and the owner was unaware that the house had once been the childhood home of Grace Kimmins, who founded Chailey Heritage in 1903: a very special Hospital and School only a few miles away. In this case the connection was first drawn to the attention of Friends of Lewes by the Heritage in 2017.

Architect Rowland Hawke Halls and 4 Fisher Street

Rowland Hawke Halls building on Fisher Street

The third plaque was suggested by a grandson of the architect, Rowland Hawke Halls. He lived in Lewes and designed many building in the area, including several of the first houses on the Avenue and Kingston Village Hall.  No 4 Fisher Street is also owned by the District Council and served as Council Finance Offices until a few years ago. The timbered front with plaster relief panels of rural life by a local artist and the carved heads by the doorways are best viewed from across the street. Background information was plentiful in this case, but restricting the story to so few words was again a challenge.

Suggestions are welcome for additional plaques which will bring parts of the town’s past into focus and which are on frequently-used routes, where they can inform local residents and visitors to the town alike of our rich heritage.

Marcus Taylor – Email Marcus Taylor

Three new historic plaques went up in Lewes recently to highlight buildings of historical interest, thanks to Lewes Town Council and the Friends of Lewes.

The three can be found on Lewes House (on School Hill), the former council offices on Fisher Street, and on 43 Cliffe High Street. The first two buildings were designed by the Lewes architect Rowland Hawke Halls, and the third marks where Dame Grace Kimmins, founder of what is now the Chailey Heritage Foundation lived as a child in the 1870s.

The Lewes Town Council and the Friends of Lewes have installed more than 70 plaques across the town to highlight the histories of buildings that may be unknown to visitors or residents.

For the full list, see our Historical Plaques web page.

Grace Kimmins and the new plaque on 43 Cliffe High Street

If you have suggestions for other locations where a plaque should be installed, please contact the Friends of Lewes at enquiries@friends-of-lewes.org.uk

Two new historic plaques went up in Lewes last week – one relates to the Maltings in the castle precincts and the other on the deservedly garlanded Depot.

The Town Council started this scheme a good number of years ago and, in cooperation with research by Friends of Lewes, there are now 49 of them.

For the full list of these and others, see our Historical Plaques web page.

–

There are many plaques around Lewes, commemorating events, buildings and individuals.

These have been erected by the Town Council, Friends of Lewes and others over the years.

Audrey Jarvis of the Friends of Lewes completed a survey of the plaques in June 2013, and has updated it periodically, most recently in April 2018.

The most recent plaques listing is on our Lewes Historical Plaques webpage

Plaque for Greyfriars, on the wall of the new Premier Inn, Lewes

–

The Friends of Lewes and the Lewes Town Council collaborated to install four new plaques in Lewes in December 2016. These four have been added to the Friends of Lewes list of plaques in December 2016, and are:

• the old Red, White and Blue public house on Friars Walk, which is now a house (listed as number 61);
• the Nunnery Stables on Irelands Lane (number 6);
• the Dripping Pan on Mountfield Road (65);
• the old slaughterhouse on St Martin’s Lane, now a house (20)

New Plaque on St Martin’s Lane, Lewes

The most recent listing of Lewes plaques is on our Lewes Historical Plaques webpage

Members of the public who have suggestions for other locations where a plaque should be installed are encouraged to send these to enquiries@friends-of-lewes.org.uk

–

Five more plaques have recently been put up around Lewes, marking buildings with a particularly interesting history or sites where a former use has disappeared. This brings the number of these plaques to 33. These have mostly been a joint venture between the Town Council and the Friends of Lewes, who have undertaken the research.

The new ones can be found at the sites of the Odeon Cinema in Cliffe High Street and the Cinema de Luxe on School Hill, on Southover Forge (see below), the sculptural panels above the entrance to County Hall by William Mitchell and one to celebrate the many clockmakers in Lewes in the 18^th century.

The January 2015 list of plaques has now been superseded.
The most recent listing is on our Lewes Plaques webpage

It is planned to identify more suitable locations for similar plaques in Lewes in the coming year. Please send any suggestions you may have for consideration to enquiries@friends-of-lewes.org.uk

–