Sussex Archaeological Collections: Relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex
Sussex Archaeological Society, 2000. (updated 2022) https://doi.org/10.5284/1000334. How to cite using this DOI
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 285
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000334
- How to cite using this DOI
The history of the hospital of St Nicholas, Lewes and its successors
by CHRISTOPHER WHITTICK
Although there is little direct evidence for the hospital in the medieval period, it featured in accounts of the battle of Lewes and as a landmark. Its usefulness enabled it to survive the dissolution of Lewes Priory, its patron house, and it was gradually appropriated by the authorities of the parish of St Anne, while maintaining an independent charitable status which ensured its exemption from the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834. Featuring on maps of Lewes from 1618 onwards, its importance was recognised as early as the 1770s by an antiquary who commissioned drawings of the ruins. Redevelopment of the site began in 1867, and the erection of a school in 1910 produced further images in the form of architects' drawings and photographs. This article can be read as a pendant to the excavation report (for which it was originally commissioned - see this volume pp. 79-109) or as a piece of free-standing research, which should nonetheless inform any future archaeological investigation of the site.
