Quantcast
Channel: Lois Elsden » Queen Mary
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3

We visited Lewes

0
0

We visited Lewes while we were on our family holiday; I once had a friend who moved there from Cambridge when we were eleven, and we kept in touch for many years from the age of eleven. Unfortunately we lost touch before the internet…

Lewes is in Sussex, a pretty little town, and like many places along the southern part of the county there is evidence that there were people living here from earliest times, followed by the Romans. However, it may well have been the Saxons who gave the town its name. The castle was built in 1067, the year after the Norman Conquest, and it was built by King William’s brother Odo – obviously Odo wasn’t there actually constructing the castle with his own hands, he was Bishop of Bayeux and he no doubt planned and supervised the building. Maybe he didn’t do very well, because the King himself took over. It is an unusual castle as it has two mottes, and strategically it was very important to the King, securing a route to the coast.

KENT 2015 (83)

I have written before about the  Battle of Lewes which was fought 750 years ago on 14 May 1264, between King Henry III and Simon de Montfort. Henry lost the battle and for a while de Montfort was in effect the ruler of England. Another terrible incident was the burning of seventeen Protestant martyrs during the reign of Queen Mary – known as Bloody Mary, and for good reason!

KENT 2015 (80)An attractive little town which I’d love to go back to and explore some more!

KENT 2015 (81)


Filed under: Places Tagged: Battle of Lewes, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Bloody Mary, Lewes, Protestant Martyrs, Queen Mary, Simon de Montfort, Sussex, William the Conqueror

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images