The Round House

A cold damp and blustery walk in Lewes this morning. At one end of Pipe Passage sits the so-called Round House (its actually octagonal). It lies just outside the castle walls with a commanding view over the south western part of the town. It was built in the early 19th century as the base of a windmill. The mill was subsequently moved out of the town and the remaining brick base was converted into a house. Its claim to fame is that it was briefly (in 1919) owned by Virginia and Leonard Woolf before they bought Monk's House in nearby Rodmell. Pipe Passage itself is a steep narrow pedestrian way that leads up from the High Street. It still contains the remains of the clay pipe kiln that the name refers to.