01273 302170 www.staubynsschoolbrighton.co.uk - Viva Lewes

inside LeFT
AERIAL pERSpECTIVE
We were sent this aerial shot of Lewes, taken in 1957, by Kingsley Roger-Jones, who has worked at Clifford
Dann for over forty years. He assumes the company must have acquired the picture, taken by an RAF reconnaissance
plane, to research a planning development they were involved in. Comparing the photograph with
the 1957 Kelly’s Directory, it’s interesting to see what’s there, and what’s not, though we’d advise anyone
keen to look closely to use a magnifying glass. Pre-Phoenix Causeway, you can see how Cliffe is joined to the
rest of Lewes only via Cliffe Bridge; also how the old Tunbridge Wells railway line passes over what is now
Cliffe Precinct before crossing the river south of what is now Malling Field. The eagle-eyed will also be able
to spot the following: the cattle market, Brack Mount, the Pells Pool, the South Street gasworks. Companies
trading when the photograph was taken, apart from Clifford Dann (listed, interestingly as Dann Clifford in
Kelly’s) are WE Clark (jeweller’s), Wyborns (chemist’s), Reeves (photography) and Richard’s (butcher’s).
But the similarities are outweighed by the differences: there were no fewer than three brewers in Lewes at the
time, as well as 11 butchers, 7 fishmongers, 16 greengrocers and 32 public houses. RIP The Bell, The Blacksmith’s,
The Castle, The Dolphin, The Fountain, The Fruiterer’s, The Jolly Friars, The King’s Arms, The
New Station Inn, The Prince of Wales, The Railway, The Red, White and Blue, The Rifleman, The Thatched
House, The Wheatsheaf and The Windmill. Anyone remember them?
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