Lewes

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is situated in a gap in the South Downs where the river Ouse runs. It also serves as the administrative capital of the Lewes district.

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To the east of the town the downs rise sharply forming a large chalk cliff that can be seen for many miles. The adjacent part of the town is known as Cliffe. The southern part of the town is known as Southover.

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The name Lewes comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "Hlew", which means "Hill". The town is indeed largely built on a hill.

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The town was the site of the Battle of Lewes in 1264. It is the location of several historic buildings, including Lewes Castle, the remains of Lewes Priory and the so-called Anne of Cleves House (which was owned, but never lived in, by the divorced queen). Lewes is also the headquarters of the Sussex Archaeological Society.

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In 1768 Thomas Paine moved to Lewes to take up a post as an excise officer. He had previously apprenticed as an exciseman in Grantham in Lincolnshire from December 1762 before serving as exciseman for Alford from August 1764. He was sacked for claiming to have inspected goods when in fact he had only seen the documentation. His appeal to be re-instated was successful and he was appointed to a position in Grampound in Cornwall on 15 May 1767. He asked for leave to await another vacancy and was appointed to Lewes on 19 February 1768. It was in Lewes that he first began to take an active role in politics. He served on the town council and joined the local debating society called the Headstrong Club, which met at the White Hart Inn. Upon demanding a higher salary he was sacked as an excise officer for a second time. He responded by publishing a pamphlet entitled The Case of the Officers of Excise.

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On December 27, 1836, an avalanche occurred in Lewes, the worst ever recorded in England. It was caused by a large build-up of snow on the nearby cliff slipping down onto a row of cottages called Boulder Row (now part of South Street). About fifteen people were buried, and eight of these died. A pub in South Street is named The Snowdrop in memory of the event.

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East Sussex: East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex and, to the south, by the English Channel....

England: :For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology)....

South Downs: The South Downs is one of the two areas of chalk downland in southern England. The North & South Downs run parallel to each other, and would once have formed part of the same dome-shaped chalk outcrop. (See Southern England Chalk Formation.) Erosion, however, has removed the chalk between the two ...

Lewes related Images and Photos (experimental)

Figure on a Pathway Leading Up a Hill in the South Downs Near Lewes Sussex England UK