Day 9 Lewes

Day 9 Anne of Cleves House Lewes East Sussex
Lewes is the county town of east Sussex where we spent the whole day. There are many historical sites around the town especially the Tudor period. A monument to the 17 Protestant martyrs burned at the stake by Mary Tudor is on the hillside, and a plaque right in the middle of town in the High street is where 10 people were burned in one fire is the first to be found. They are all remembered on the 5th November every year with torchlight processions through the town in a huge bonfire festival, where thousands of marchers dress in some fantastic costumes. Lewes grammar school was established in the reign of Henry VIII. Thomas Paine lived here and his house still exists as the headquarters of the Sussex Archaeological society.
Lewes castle, right in the middle of town, saw real action at the battle of Lewes in 1264. Simon De Montfort beat King Henry III and we had the beginnings of democratic rule, for a while.
Anne of Cleves house is on the edge of town, a small weald hall type house that was given to her as part of the divorce settlement. It is one of a few Anne of Cleves houses that remain but it’s the only one that is a dedicated museum.
Lewes Priory was huge and very prosperous in the Tudor period before Thomas Cromwell turned up in 1538 and gave it special attention to destroy it. The Church was huge, larger than Peterborough and the stones from the ruins were used to construct Southover Manor in 1575. The Manor is now a wedding and conference centre.
3 miles outside of town is Firle place and Church, the ancestral home of the Gage family. In the church lie members of the gage family, John gage was the Constable of the Tower of London and was responsible to organise the execution of Catherine Howard. His son was responsible to organise the burning of the Protestant heretics in Lewes. Dark deeds indeed in the Tudor century!