LEWES, a borough and market-town, chiefly in the hundred of LEWES, and rape of LEWES, county of SUSSEX, of which it is the chief town, 7 miles (N.E. by E.) from Brighton, 38 (E. by N.) from Chichester, and 50 (S.by E.) from London containing, with the parishes of St. Thomas in the ClifFe and St. John the Baptist Southover, the former in the hundred of RINGMER, and the latter in the hundred of SWANBOROUGH, 7083 inhabitants. The most probable of the various etymologies assigned to Lewes, and which are respectively deduced from the Britons, Romans, and Saxons, seems to be that alluding to its peculiar situation, Leaw-Esc (or Lew-ys, as it is engraved on the town seal), Leaw meaning an arm, and Isc, or Isca, water; i. e. the arm (of land) in the water. The remote origin of this town is proved by its being surrounded by earthworks, tumuli, &c., and the discovery of coins and other antiquities renders it probable that it was a Roman station, though the precise name appears uncertain. It was very early a demesne of the crown, having appertained to the South Saxon kings, next to those of Wessex, and afterwards to the Saxon and Danish monarchs of all England. During the Danish ravages, from the close of the eighth to the beginning of the eleventh century, Lewes was rendered, both by nature and art, the most eligible place of refuge for the inhabitants of the adjacent country. In the reign of Athelstan it was so considerable, as to be allowed by that sovereign two mintmasters, and was then the chief town and market of half the shire. A merchants' guild was established here so early as the reign of Edward the Confessor; on whose death the barony of Lewes devolved on Earl Harold, and on his defeat at Hastings, bestowed by William the Conqueror on his son-in-law, William de Warren, Earl of Surrey, who made it his chief residence, and rebuilt the castle, which is said to have been originally founded by Alfred the Great. Henry III. and his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, were confined in this fortress, after being taken prisoners in the great battle fought between the king and the barons under Simon Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in 1264, on an eminence adjoining the town. A treaty, or convention, was subsequently concluded between the king and the insurgent barons, which is distinguished in history by the appellation of the "Mise of Lewes." The principal part of the town occupies a declivity on the western bank of the river Ouse, over which is a stone bridge of one arch, built in 1727, the former wooden bridge having been swept away by a flood; this river, being navigable from the sea to the distance of a few miles above the town, commands the trade of the surrounding district. It is extensive and well built, and contains some good streets and many handsome houses; it is well paved, and lighted with gas, pursuant to an act of parliament obtained in 1806, under the direction of commissioners, and supplied with water for ordinary purposes by pumps or draw wells. On the west side of the town is Southover; and on the east side of the river, under a lofty and impending chalk cliff, from which it receives its name, is the town of Cliff, the site of which is supposed to have been anciently covered by the sea. About the year 1821, considerable improvement was made in the White Hill road, which passes through a valley near the town, by lowering the hill on each side, and filling up the< valley with the materials, thus forming a causeway between thirty and, forty feet high. The environs extend to the South- Downs, a chain of chalk hills, rising like an amphitheatre to the mean elevation of about five hundred feet, and covered with the fine rich herbage which gives to the South-Down mutton its admired flavour. There is a small theatre in West-street. The race-course is one of the finest four-mile courses in the kingdom, and has a commodious stand, erected in 1772; the races take place annually in March and August; the former, called Hunters' races, were established in 1858. A book society was established in 1785, and now possesses several thousand volumes, many of them scarce works; and there is a Literary Society, consisting of about one hundred members, with a president, two vice-presidents, a secretary, an inspector, and a librarian; they hold quarterly meetings, at which subscribers are balloted for, and are admitted on paying £6. 6., and £1. 5. annually. A mechanics' institute was established in 1825; the building adjoins the theatre, and contains a readingroom, committee-room, and other apartments; the society has a library of about seven hundred volumes, and a respectable philosophical apparatus. The head office for stamps and legacy duties for the eastern district of Sussex, is at Lewes, and also the bishop's registraroffice for marriage licenses, probates of wills, letters oi administration, &c., within the archdeaconry of Lewes. The trade of the town, which was anciently very extensive in wool, at present consists principally of various kinds of grain and malt, and almost every species of the ordinary articles of consumption: the latter are imported at Newhaven, about seven miles off, and sent tip the Ouse for the supply of the neighbouring parts. There is also a paper manufactory. Daily markets for provisions are established by act of parliament; that for corn is held every Tuesday, and for live stock every Tuesday fortnight: the present market-house was completed in 1793, on a more convenient site. There are five fairs; viz., May 8th, for cattle and pedlary, July 26th, for wool, Whit-Tuesday, for cattle, and September 21st, and October 2nd, for sheep, the number of which brought for sale at each of these fairs exceeds fifty thousand. A shew of fat cattle, takes place annually aboiit Christmas. License was granted, in the 11th of Henry IV., for a market to be held at Cliff, on Wednesday, which has nearly fallen into disuse; and the fairs formerly held there, with the exception of a small fair for pedlary, arc now held at Lewes. Lewes is a borough by prescription, having formerly had a separate shrievalty, but not incorporated: its principal officers are two constables and two headboroughs, who are chosen annually, by a jury of burgesses, at the court leet of the lord of the manor, which " was anciently a regality, with separate jurisdiction extending to capital offences; but the town is now under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates. The summer and winter assizes for the county are held here, as are also the general quarter sessions for the eastern division of the county, which comprises the three rapes of Lewes, Pevensey, and Hastings; there are likewise adjourned annual sessions for the county at large. It has a sheriffs court for the recovery of debts under 40s., the jurisdiction of which extends over the three eastern rapes, but which has no power of imprisonment on non-payment. The borough sends two members to parliament, who are elected by the inhabitant householders paying scot and lot, in number from six hundred to seven hundred; the constables are the returning officers. In 1812, a commodious and handsome assize hall was erected for the eastern district of the county, the expense of which, including the purchase of the ground and other property, was £15,500; it is eighty feet in length, and seventy-six in breadth, and comprises an extensive entrance-hall with record-rooms, a room for the petty sessions, two courts of judicature, civil and criminal, and a room for the judges and magistrates; above these is a spacious and elegant room for the grand jury (which is occasionally used as a county ballroom), also a council-chamber and other apartments. In 1793, the house of correction for the eastern district was built, on Mr. Howard's plan, to which a southern wing was added in 1817; it is well adapted to its purpose, and contains a chapel and an infirmary; the southern wing is occupied by male, and the northern by female, prisoners. The prison contains seventy cells, each being nine feet by seven, of which fourteen are solitary; each division has five classes. There are two tread-mills for male prisoners; the females are employed in needle-work, &c. A constable and headborough for the adjoining parish of Cliff are chosen annually at the court leet of the Duke of Dorset. There were anciently eleven parish churches within the borough, but these have been reduced to four. In the 37th of Henry VIII., the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Mary in Foro, St. Martin, and St. Michael, were united, and now form the parish of St. Michael, the living of which is a discharged rectory, with the rectory of St. Andrew annexed, rated together in the king's books at £17. 5. 10., endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, which was partially rebuilt and modernised in 1755, retains some portions of good later English architecture; it contains, among other mural monuments, a splendid one to the memory of Sir Nicholas Pelham, Knt., and Anne, his wife. St. Anne's consists of the united parishes of St. Peter within, and St. Mary West-out, (the latter being without the borough boundaries, the line of demarcation passing through the chancel of the church of St. Mary,) and that part of the parish which is westward of the borough, being within the hundred of Swanborough. Although the parochial church is dedicated to St. Anne, the parish, in all law proceedings, is denominated St. Peter's and St. Mary's West-out. The living is a discharged rectory, rated for both in the king's books at £ 19. 13. 6., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church is ancient, being partly of Norman, and partly of early English, architecture: it contains a curious font. St. John's under the Castle is a rectory, to which that of St. Mary Magdalene was annexed in 1539, rated in the king's books at £3. 11. 3., and in the patronage of the Rev. Peter Crofts. Various parts of the church are of great antiquity, the nave resembling the Norman architecture of the castle, near which it stands; other portions of the structure are modern: in the churchyard are the remains of a monument ascribed to Magnus, son of Harold II., with an inscription chiefly in Anglo-Saxon characters. This parish extends beyond the boundaries of the borough, into the hundred of Swanborough, and is intersected by a part of the parish of Hamsey. The living of All Saints' is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £7, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £ 1200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Charles Goring, Esq. The church, with the exception of the steeple, which is of later English character, was begun in 1805, on the union of the parishes of the Holy Trinity, St. Peter the Less, and St. Nicholas. All the preceding parishes are in the archdeaconry of Lewes, and diocese of Chichester. The precinct of the castle is extra-parochial, and is not rateable within the borough, nor subject to any ecclesiastical jurisdiction. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesley an Methodists, and Unitarians. The parishes of St. Thomas in the Cliff, and St. John, Southover, although without the limits of the borough, may be considered as forming part of the town of Lewes. The living of St. Thomas's is a discharged rectory, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, rated in the king's books at £5. 12. 6., endowed with £200 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £800 parliamentary grant. The church, dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, contains a fine altar-piece, also an organ of superior workmanship, formerly in the chapel of the Duke of Chandos. Baptists, Independents, and Huntingtonians, have each a place of worship in this parish; William Huntington, the founder of the last sect, was interred here. The living of the parish of St. John, Southover, is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry of Lewes, and diocese of Chichester, rated in the king's books at £6. 12., endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £ 800 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a spacious edifice: in 1698 the old steeple fell down, and the present square tower was begun in 1714, but the progress of its erection having ceased for some years, it was not completed before J73S. In ancient records Southover is called a borough, having enjoyed a separate jurisdiction. The manor was an appendage of the monastery, on the dissolution of which it came into the possession of the crown, and was given to Cromwell; after his attainder it again reverted to the crown, and was granted by Henry VIII. to his divorced queen, Anne of Cleves, who, according to tradition, took up her residence here, in a very ancient building situated on the south side of the street. There is a place of worship in Southover for General Baptists. The free grammar school was founded originally at Southover, by Agnes Morley, in 1512, who endowed it with a rent-charge of £20, vested in trustees, together with a house and garden, for a master and an usher: this endowment was subsequently increased by various legacies, particularly that of Mrs. Mary Jenkins, in 1709, who left a house, gardens, and appurtenances for the master, and the sum of £ 1533. 16. 1. for providing instruction for whatever number of boys the trustees should think fit, the present number being twelve; the school was removed into St. Anne's parish in 17'14. Belonging to the borough is an exhibition to either University for four years, left by the Rev. George Steere, "to a poor scholar, the son of parents residing in or near Lewes," the annual value of which is about £35; the scholar is chosen by the constables and four of the most respectable inhabitants in succession. Sir John Evelyn, author of "Sylva," and John Pell, the celebrated mathematician, were educated here. There is also a school for boys and gii'ls, supported by voluntary subscriptions; and schools for infants of both sexes are supported in like manner. A bank for savings was established in 1816. There are many interesting antiquities in and near Lewes. The Castra, or earth-works, still remaining on the summits of the Downs, may be reckoned amongst those of most remote date, but of what precise period it is difficult to determine: tumuli are also scattered in various parts, in which have been found skeletons, urns, ashes, amber beads, and occasionally warlike instruments. The numerous Roman coins found round the town, even of late years, form nearly a regular series from Tiberius to Constantine, Constans, and Magnentius $ and a Roman ford has been discovered at Glynde. The castle is supposed to have been originally erected by Alfred, about the year 890, and rebuilt by William de Warren. It is distinguished from every other in the kingdom by having an artificial mound of earth raised at each extremity of the base court: the ruins of the keep are still visible at the western mound, and other traces at the eastern, which probably corresponded; the western keep was evidently of a quadrangular form, with an hexagonal tower, narrowing from the base to the summit, and was probably the prison. The gateway is supposed to have been built at two periods, by the first and eighth earls of Warren and Surrey; it has an inner arch of Anglo-Norman masonry, of the thirteenth century, and was defended by two machicolated towers and two portcullises. In 1774, the site and ruins of the castle were leased to Mr. Thomas Friend, and are now possessed by Thomas Read Kemp, Esq., by whom the keep has been repaired. Of the once extensive priory of St. Pancras, founded in 1072, and said to have covered an area of forty acres, but a very small portion remains; it was the first and chief of the Cluniac monasteries established in England, and at the dissolution possessed a revenue of £1091. 9. 6. The eastern part of the church is faced with Caen stone; on the left is a gothic window, in tolerable repair, although scarcely a trace of the ornamental carving is left. The gate-house, the arch of which is supported by clustered columns of Sussex marble, is in better preservation than any other part of this dilapidated pile, and, being nearly overgrown with ivy and weeds, presents a highly romantic appearance. A portion of the walls of St. Nicholas' hospital is still standing; and also part of the exterior walls of an hospital dedicated to St. James, which has been converted into a barn. Here was also a monastery of Grey friars, of which there are no vestiges, the site being occupied by a private dwelling-house. The. town walls were erected during the residence of the Earls of Warren and Surrey, and may still be accurately traced; a great part of the western portion is standing, and vestiges of all the other parts are visible. Among the distinguished natives of Lewes may be mentioned Richard Russel, Esq., F.R.S., M.D., who, by his writings on the efficacy of the sea water at Brighton, laid the foundation of the subsequent prosperity of that fashionable bathing-place. Thomas Paine, the notorious deistical writer, resided for some time at Lewes, in the capacity of an exciseman. A great variety of mineral substances, vegetable fossils, and organic remains, has been found in the chalk formation of the vicinity. There are several mineral springs within a few miles of the borough, which it is in contemplation to bring into use for medicinal purposes.