Designer William Morris reputedly described Lewes in East Sussex, which is traversed by the River Ouse and surrounded by the South Downs, as ‘lying like a box of toys under a great amphitheatre of chalk hills…’ His playful analogy still holds true when wandering the narrow alleyways – ‘twittens’, in the local dialect. Toy soldiers there may not be, but medieval castle ruins, built after the Norman Conquest, stand guard over the 17,000-some residents. ‘Lewes is lovely,’ says one. ‘There is bustle but it’s relaxed, not heaving like nearby Brighton.’ Despite appearances, however, a fiery dissidence echoes down the ages: from battles that vanquished royalty in the 1200s, to 17 lionhearted martyrs burned at the stake in the 1500s, and associations to famous free thinker Tom Paine. Something of that…
