The Sussex Archaeological Society is an organisation dedicated to researching and preserving the history and archaeology of the English counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. It manages six historic sites, including Lewes Castle and Fishbourne Roman Palace. [1]
The discovery in 1845 of remains of Lewes Priory during the construction of the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway sparked interest in the county's history and in the formation of an archaeological society. On 18 June 1846 a meeting was convened by Mark Antony Lower, William Henry Blaauw and William Figg at County Hall in Lewes at which the Sussex Archaeological Society was formally established. [1]
In 1864 the Society appointed its first curator and librarian, and in 1866 the first museum catalogue was compiled. Having rented space in Castle Lodge, the Society later acquired Barbican House, which continues to house its museum and library. [1]
The Sussex Archaeological Society organises excavations, talks and conferences on the archaeology and history of Sussex and offers research facilities at its library. [1]
As well as supervising excavations in Sussex, it also publishes the Sussex Archaeological Collections and an annual report, and administers the Long Man of Wilmington. It manages six historic properties and museums, which are open to the public:
In 2006 the Society began an archeological investigation in the Tide Mills area, [2] which, according to the Newhaven Local & Maritime Museum, would include not only the tide mill but also a record of the entire East Beach site, comprising the mills, railway station, nurses home, Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital, Newhaven Seaplane Base, holiday homes and the Newhaven Marconi Radio Station.
In 2020 the society received a £250,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to cover costs during the Covid-19 pandemic. [3] It also received £323,800 from the British government's Culture Recovery Fund in 2021. [4]
The Society has published an official journal, Sussex Archaeological Collections, annually since 1848 with a few gaps. The current editor is Jaime Kaminski. [6] [7]
The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made him the "uncrowned King of England". Henry III left the safety of Lewes Castle and St. Pancras Priory to engage the barons in battle and was initially successful, his son Prince Edward routing part of the baronial army with a cavalry charge. However, Edward pursued his quarry off the battlefield and left Henry's men exposed. Henry was forced to launch an infantry attack up Offham Hill where he was defeated by the barons' men defending the hilltop. The royalists fled back to the castle and priory and the King was forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, ceding many of his powers to de Montfort.
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider district of the same name and the location of East Sussex County Council at the county hall.
The Ouse is a 35 miles long river in the English counties of West and East Sussex. It rises near Lower Beeding in West Sussex, and flows eastwards and then southwards to reach the sea at Newhaven. It skirts Haywards Heath and passes through Lewes. It forms the main spine of an extensive network of smaller streams, of which the River Uck is the main tributary. As it nears the coast it passes through the Lewes and Laughton Levels, an area of flat, low-lying land that borders the river and another tributary, the Glynde Reach. It was a large tidal inlet at the time of the Domesday book in 1086, but over the following centuries, some attempts were made to reclaim some of the valley floor for agriculture, by building embankments, but the drainage was hampered by the buildup of a large shingle bar which formed across the mouth of the river by longshore drift.
Newhaven is a port town in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, lying at the mouth of the River Ouse.
Lewes Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Lewes in East Sussex, England. Originally called Bray Castle, it occupies a commanding position guarding the gap in the South Downs cut by the River Ouse and occupied by the towns of Lewes and Cliffe. It stands on a man-made mount just to the north of the high street in Lewes, and is constructed from local limestone and flint blocks.
Lewes is a constituency in East Sussex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Maria Caulfield, a Conservative.
Frederick Spurrell was an Anglican priest and archaeologist.
Tide Mills is a derelict village in East Sussex, England. It lies about two kilometres (1.2 miles) south-east of Newhaven and four kilometres (2.5 miles) north-west of Seaford and is near both Bishopstone and East Blatchington. The village was condemned as unfit for habitation in 1936 and abandoned in 1939.
Lewes Priory is a part-demolished medieval Cluniac priory in Lewes, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. The ruins have been designated a Grade I listed building.
Dr Margaret Helen Rule, was a British archaeologist. She is most notable for her involvement with the project that excavated and raised the Tudor warship Mary Rose in 1982.
Michelham Priory is the site of a former Augustinian Priory in Upper Dicker, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. The surviving buildings are owned and administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society and are Grade I and Grade II listed.
Walter Hindes Godfrey, CBE, FSA, FRIBA (1881–1961), was an English architect, antiquary, and architectural and topographical historian. He was also a landscape architect and designer, and an accomplished draftsman and illustrator. He was (1941–60) the first director and the inspiration behind the foundation of the National Buildings Record, the basis of today's Historic England Archive, and edited or contributed to numerous volumes of the Survey of London. He devised a system of Service Heraldry for recording service in the European War.
Sussex Archaeological Collections is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering archaeological topics. The journal is published by the Sussex Archaeological Society and was established in 1848.
Marlipins Museum, is a 12th to early-13th century Grade II* listed building on the High Street in Shoreham-by-Sea, a town in Adur district in West Sussex, England. It is distinguished by the chequerboard pattern of limestone and flint on its front façade.
Mark Antony Lower F.S.A. M.A. was a Sussex historian and schoolteacher who founded the Sussex Archaeological Society. An anti-Catholic propagandist, Lower is believed to have started the "cult of the Sussex Martyrs", although he was against the excesses of the "Bonfire Boys".
The Novium is a museum in Chichester, West Sussex, southern England. The name comes from the Roman name for the city, Noviomagus Reginorum.
Archaeology South-East (ASE) is a large contracts division in southern England which provides professional archaeological services for public and private sector clients. Clients include commercial developers and environment agencies and private house owners who require historic building recording services. ASE is based in offices in Portslade, near Brighton with additional offices in London and Braintree and specialises in work in Southeast England including Greater London.
William Henry Blaauw (1793–1870) was an English antiquarian and historian, particularly active in Sussex.
The Essex Society for Archaeology and History is an organization that collects, studies and publishes information on the archaeology and history of the English county of Essex, including areas that since 1965 have belonged to the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.
Barbican House is a sixteenth century house next to Lewes Castle. It is now used as a museum, and is the headquarters of the Sussex Archaeological Society. The house is a Grade II* listed building.
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