Day 4 Lewes and Michelham Priory

Day 4 Lewes and Michelham Priory

Michelham Priory near Hailsham in East Sussex has the distinction of having the longest moat in England. It survived the dissolution because when Thomas Cromwell turned up he rather liked the place so he paid the King a peppercorn rent for it. Yes just a single peppercorn! When he lost his head it, was given to Anne of Cleves as part of the divorce settlement and she got the proper rental income from it. The place is charming and tranquil, except that is one of the most haunted places in England and they have many Halloween events there. There is a working floor mill and you can walk around the gardens and meadows at peace with the world. It was a Crystal clear day when we climbed to the top of Lewes castle Keep, you could see for miles. The Downs looked so impressive and the chalk cliffs were bright white in the sunshine. Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about them and likened them to giant whales and they do too. Walking around Lewes you are never far from History, the Castle saw real action as a result of the Battle of Lewes in 1264. Right in the middle of town there is a memorial to the 10 Lewes martyrs burnt at the stake in one fire by Bloody Mary. They are remembered every November 5th at the annual Bonfire celebrations, each one has their name on a fiery cross that is paraded through the town. Tomas Paine’s house is in the High street and just down a narrow Twitten is Virginia Wolfe’s house. Lewes Priory was particularly singled out by Cromwell for destruction and its present ruins are but a quarter of what it once was. Anne of Cleves house is the only one of her houses remaining intact and open to the public that is not a place for something else such as a pub and it is now a museum, the list of historic sites goes on.

We had a wonderfully engaging talk by Hands on History where members of the group got to handle weapons of the period and got to try on the armour and helmets too!. Not only that artefacts from the period and items that were in everyday use such as leather, fox fur cow horn bowls and drinking vessels. The evening was finished off with a pint of Sussex ale at the White Hart hotel.