insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 08 - October 2015 | Page 71
TOWNSPOTLIGHT
S P OT L I G H T
O N
LEWES
Lewes, county town of East Sussex, is a busy, bustling hub of local government, farming, local
produce, and is a magnet for tourists who love history and beautiful surroundings. Lewes may
only be 4.4 square miles, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in beauty.
History in Brief
The area in and around Worthing was first
inhabited around 60,000 years ago. Stone Age
settlers found that the land was ri
Lewes has been occupied for hundreds of
thousands of years; prehistoric artefacts have
been found here dating back 400,000 years.
But it was after the Roman invasion of 43 AD
that the area really came into its own with
a market, Roman villas, and the beginnings
of the road network we still use today. The
settlement was known as Mutuantonis, and
was an important Roman town. When the
Saxons came they built a castle to keep
themselves protected and Mutuantonis
became Lewes. The Normans also felt that
Lewes should be protected, and it was William
71
de Warenne (first earl of Surrey) who, after
William the Conqueror awarded him land that
included Lewes, built Lewes Castle that can
still be visited today.
Lewes has had its fair share of war and
death over the years; it was the site of the
Battle of Lewes in 1264, as well as being the
place where seventeen Protestant martyrs
were burned at the stake during the Marian
Persecutions (1555-1557). In 1901 a memorial
to the martyrs was erected as a pardon.
Once the railway came to Lewes in 1846,
allowing travel from all directions as well as into
London, the town became an important hub of
production, as well as a country escape for city
dwellers.