Lewes Castle Barbican
Why I love…
Lewes
and stand and watch the men playing wooden bowls at the Castle Bowling Green (believed to be the only one in the country). My brother Alan has won two summer trophies and a winter trophy there so it’s of added interest to me. Close by is Pipe Passage just off the High Street and I like to look at The Round House – a secluded former windmill which was once owned by Virginia Woolf although she never actually lived there. I love the quirky shops we have in the town, selling all sorts of unusual gifts that sit alongside the many designer shops. You could spend a whole day looking around the flea market or the many second-hand shops. We have our own currency – the Lewes Pound – which can be spent in many shops. It was set up as a creative yet practical way for local people to make money work for Lewes. The Lewes Pound is essentially a voucher or token that can be traded locally as a complementary currency and used alongside Pounds Sterling. The monthly award-winng farmers’ market, with its huge variety of produce, is just one place to spend the local currency.
My mum told me the name Lewes came from the Saxon word “hluews” which means slopes and hills – which is appropriate, as there are plenty of them in the town. In fact, you won’t be able to get too far without having to walk up a hill. I was born and bred in Lewes and I still live here now – I’m a true Lewesian but I never take this beautiful and historic town for granted. Every day of the week, I am lucky enough to walk down memory lane. Starting from the top of the High Street, very little has changed. Of course some retailers have been and gone but the buildings are very much the same.
Lewes Castle Gateway There’s the magnificent castle – one of the oldest Norman fortresses in England standing proud on a hill looking across the town. I suppose I didn’t appreciate it when I was growing up but my friends and I often went to play there and I remember my dear brother Michael locking me in the stocks and running off. Of course, when I was older, I appreciated what the castle meant and how the battles were fought in Lewes. Visitors to the town will find a wealth of information in Barbican House which homes the fascinating Museum of Sussex Archaeology. Some people get married there now and it makes for a very romantic setting. I often walk through the Barbican Gate
72