Lewes ( /ˈluːɨs/) is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town. At the 2001 census it had a population of 15,988.
Archaeological evidence points to prehistoric dwellers in the area. Scholars think that the R...
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Lewes ( /ˈluːɨs/) is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town. At the 2001 census it had a population of 15,988.
Archaeological evidence points to prehistoric dwellers in the area. Scholars think that the Roman settlement of Mutuantonis was here, as quantities of artifacts have been discovered in the area. The Saxons built a castle, having first constructed its motte as a defensive point over the river; they gave the town its name.
After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror gave Lewes to William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey. He built Lewes Castle on the Saxon site; and he and his wife, Gundred also founded the Priory of St Pancras, a Cluniac priory, in about 1081. Lewes was the site of a mint during the Late Anglo-Saxon period and...
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