Anne of Cleves house

Lewes.

We have spent the whole day in Lewes today, walking in after breakfast and as the Anne of Cleves house we wanted to visit didn’t open until 11.00, we took a wander around the remains of the old Priory of St Pancras nearby in Southover, the southern part of town. The priory was the first Cluniac priory in England set up by 3 monks from Cluny in France at the behest of its founder William de Warrene and his wife Gundrada in 1078. In time it had over 100 monks housed there.

The Anne of Cleves house formed part of her annulment settlement from Henry VIII in 1540. There are earlier parts from the late 15th century and additions up to the 17th century. Many of the local houses look similar with half cladding.  A lovely Tudor garden with an ancient Medlar tree but sadly no cafe now it’s October.

We walked up to town through Southover Grange where the cafe was open till this weekend. The Grange land was originally obtained by Thomas Cromwell, who also procured the house for Anne of Cleves,  he planned to build a house for his son there with the stone he obtained from the sacking of the aforementioned  Priory on Henry VIII orders. He was executed before that could happen but the Grange was built with Priory stone anyway!

Made our way through the main shopping area, which entailed a bit of climb,  buying a few items which then had to be carried of course. We’d hoped to visit Virgina Wolf’s Monk House this afternoon, it’s so small you have to book a slot even if you are a NT member, but when I tried I found out that it only opens on Fridays and Saturdays in October with pm time slots. Too late for us which is a shame but we headed to the Castle to see if we could use our tomorrow morning booking there today. No problem.

This castle was built by good old William de Warrene in 1068, he was busy! An important man in William the Conquerors entourage made Earl of Surrey later by William II.

The views from the Shell Tower, of course we had to go up, were amazing all round. The white chalk downs stood out and we could see all the places we’d visited already. Great roof tops and some fabulous chimneys around here. There’s certainly lots of fascinating history.

Walked back after a cuppa and a shared bun and were now just relaxing. 16,500 steps today but we can’t relax for too long as we are heading out to meet up for dinner with one of Chris’s ex colleagues from when he worked for a company based in Edenbridge, Kent. 

We’ve learned a bit of Sussex dialect today, it’s used by the local brewery. ‘We wunt be druv’ - meaning we won’t be driven - sounds a bit like Yorkshire to me.  When said brewery had a flood and their yeast was destroyed it was John Smith’s Yorkshire (Tadcaster) brewery that came to the rescue with yeast which they are still using! See extra of the Snowdrop Pub - Lewes is also famous for its bonfire parades, it will be all happening in a months time!