Viva Lewes Issue #161 February 2020

BITS AND TWITTENS
LEWES HISTORY GROUP
It is ten years ago this
month that the Lewes
History Group hosted
its first formal monthly
talk: Jim Etherington
spoke about ‘The
History of Bonfire’.
Today, typically, close
to 200 people attend
each one, held on the
second Monday of 11 months in the year (they
break for August); and last January a staggering
286 people swelled the room.
Clearly there is a real appetite for Lewes History.
So, I asked LHG’s publicity & comms
person Jane Lee, and founder John Kay why they
think that might be.
“I think learning about history can be reassuring,”
suggests Jane, “especially in these crazy times.
It’s like a blanket: the security of knowing about
your roots.” “And,” adds John, “you see all these
unexplained things left over in a place like Lewes.
People are curious. They look at things and they
want to understand – if they have time.”
So, every month someone with a story to tell
about the history of Lewes (“Every speaker has
to speak on Lewes”, says Jane) does so, at the
LHG public meeting. And there’s more. “These
levels of attendance mean we make a surplus,”
says John, “which we plough back into our
research and other projects…”
John started the group. He was already running
(and still does) the Ringmer equivalent, (he’s
lived in Ringmer for 50 years), and said he was
surprised such a group didn’t already exist in
Lewes. “The town was and is great on individual
historians. Colin Brent. Graham Mayhew. John
Bleach. And, of course, the Sussex Archaeological
Society is based in Lewes. But that’s so professional
it can seem intimidating for amateurs
pursuing their own
individual interests.”
So LHG offers an
alternative: the kind of
history, as John puts it,
that “ordinary people
are interested in –
perhaps, for instance,
about their own street.
We provide a forum
for people to talk, and we teach them how to
research.”
The Sun Street project – one of the Lewes History
Group’s ‘Lewes Street Stories’ – is an excellent
example. “This was conducted by a team of four,”
says John: “including a builder – who brought his
own perspective.” The project resulted in a book,
the History Group’s first publication, which sold
out its print run of 300 copies.
“Researching the street where you live is fascinating,”
says Jane, who’s just finished doing so
for the Pells history – destined to be the group’s
third book – which it plans to publish to mark
the Pells Pool’s Centenary next year. Church
Row is that idiosyncratic row of cottages which
face out onto the wall of St John sub Castro.
“The smallest of the cottages, at the end,” says
Jane, “according to the 1841 census housed
TEN people (including the lodgers’ two-month
old baby). In three rooms…”
Lewes History Group welcomes anyone who’s
curious. “And we’d especially welcome,” says
Jane, “anyone who’d like to actively help – from
putting a poster in your window, to organising
ad hoc outings – which, incidentally, don’t need
to be in Lewes.” Charlotte Gann
Next meeting is 10 Feb, King’s Church Hall,
Brooks Road, 7-9pm. Dan Swift will be speaking
about ‘Lewes Between the Twittens’.
leweshistory.org.uk
Photo of Dusart’s fire, Lewes High Street, 1904; from John Kay’s postcard collection
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