Lewes Speed Trials

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 Montfort.

Ashcombe House is a country house in St Ann Without, Lewes District in East Sussex, a Grade II* listed building. It is co-owned with and faced by a once appurtenant (serving) Round House or Toll House, which is at Grade II, the lowest category of national listing. The L-shaped two-storey house with "grey headers with dressings, quoins and [a] modillion cornice of red brick" dates to the 18th century, when it served as a farmhouse. It was acquired by the University of Sussex in 1963 and was as its Vice Chancellor's official residence until 1981.

St Ann Without is a civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It covers an area to the west of the town of Lewes, including Long Hill. Much like its brother parish, St John Without, the parish was formed in 1894 as Lewes St Ann Without from the part of the ancient parish of Lewes St Ann outside (that is, 'without', as opposed to 'within') the borough of Lewes. Ashcombe House dates to the 18th century.

Blackcap has been owned by the National Trust since 1993. It is on a peak of the South Downs, just south east of the village of Plumpton in East Sussex, England and west of Lewes. It is part of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment SSSI. The flatter landscape is made up of open ground with chalk paths, surrounded by thickets. The steeper ground leading up to the ridge is low-density woodland. The top is more open, with patches of pine woodland and gorse bushes, and there is a triangulation point. Because of the height of the hill at 206 metres (676 ft), the top of Blackcap was largely spared the farmers' plough and the ground has not been "improved" for monoculture crop fields as much as the rest of Downs were after the second world war. Unimproved chalk downland is internationally rare and hosts archaic plants and rich biodiversity. As a result, this is an important area on the South Downs. The brow of Blackcap is still described by David Bangs as an area where, "Crows caw, Jackdaws squark, clouds pass, peace still reigns in this old-fashioned place". The hilltop offers some far reaching and impressive views, which encompasses Ashdown Forest northwards, Mount Caburn, Windover Hill (home of the Long Man), Firle Beacon, Seaford Head, Newhaven’s Rushy Hill, Kingston Hill, Hollingbury Hillfort, and Brighton’s high-rise towers.

Ashcombe Bottom (TQ 373 119) is a 66 hectare (163 acre) woodland valley owned by the National Trust that runs south from Blackcap, East Sussex, England. The area is nested in the South Downs and can only be reached by walking or cycling from Lewes, Falmer, Ditchling Beacon or up the Clayton to Offham escarpment from Plumpton. It sits in the parish of St John Without and East Chiltington. The name Ashcombe refers to a Saxon named Aecci, not ash trees as might be assumed. It is part of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Offham Marshes, also known as The Pells and Offham Marsh, is a 39.1-hectare (97-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the northern outskirts of Lewes in East Sussex in parish of Hamsey. It includes the Pellbrook Cut, an area to the north of it called The Pells and the marshland to the south of the Cut and east of the railway track.

Ashcombe Mill was a post mill near the village of Kingston near Lewes, East Sussex, England. It was built in 1828 on Kingston ridge to the east of the village, probably by the millwright Samuel Medhurst of Lewes, who was responsible for building several other windmills in the area. That original mill was destroyed during a gale in 1916. In 2007 planning permission was granted to Sussex Mills Group to reconstruct a facsimile of the original mill as residential accommodation on the same site on condition that the new building would be environmentally friendly and be used to generate electricity for the National Grid. It is planned, nevertheless, to furnish the mill with one pair of grindstones. The surplus electricity will be equal to the consumption of three houses. A steel frame was constructed in early 2009 and the wooden cladding attached later in the year. By the end of 2010 the tailpole and rear steps had been fixed, the whole structure painted white and the mill turned on its axis for the first time.

St John Without is a small civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, covering an area to the north-west of the town of Lewes. Much like its sister parish, St Ann Without, the parish was formed in 1894 as Lewes St John Without from the part of the ancient parish of Lewes St John outside (that is, 'without', as opposed to 'within') the borough of Lewes. From 1894 to 1974 it was in the rural district of Chailey. The shape of the parish, like many of the parishes north of the Sussex Downs in this area is long and thin (see link to the parish map in the External links section below). The parish includes the small hamlet of Chiltington and a few dispersed farms and houses along Allington Road to the foot of the South Downs.

Lewes Victoria Hospital is a health facility at Nevill Road in Lewes, East Sussex, England. It is managed by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Offham Hill is a causewayed enclosure, near Lewes in East Sussex. Causewayed enclosures were built in England from shortly before 3700 BC until about 3300 BC; they are characterized by the full or partial enclosure of an area with ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. Their purpose is not known; they may have been settlements, meeting places, or ritual sites. The site was first identified as a possible causewayed enclosure in 1964, by a member of the Sussex Archaeological Society. The Ordnance Survey inspected the site in 1972 and recommended an exvacation, which was carried out in 1976 by Peter Drewett. The site was badly damaged by ploughing by the time of Drewett's excavation, which limited his ability to draw conclusions from finds in the ploughsoil. Drewett mapped what appeared to be ditches, banks, and causeways before beginning to dig, and then cleared about half the site down to the chalk, confirming the location of the ditches and causeways. The majority of Drewett's finds came from the ditches, including about 7,000 worked flints, nearly 300 sherds of pottery, a human burial, and other finds including more human bone and some animal remains. Most of the pottery was identified as Neolithic, and radiocarbon dating of some charcoal found in one of the ditches confirmed that the enclosure dated to the Neolithic. A reanalysis of the radiocarbon dates in 2011, along with further radiocarbon dates from the human remains, concluded that the enclosure was constructed in the mid-fourth millennium BC. The site was listed as a scheduled monument in 1954.

Her Majesty's Prison Lewes is a local category B prison located in Lewes in East Sussex, England. The term local means that the prison holds people on remand to the local courts, as well as sentenced prisoners. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

Cooksbridge railway station serves the village of Cooksbridge in East Sussex. It is on the East Coastway Line, 47 miles 31 chains (76.3 km) from London Bridge via Redhill. Train services are provided by Southern. The station is unstaffed. A PERTIS ticket machine was installed in 2008 on both the London-bound and the Lewes-bound platform.