lane. From this point it traverses the Coney-croft in an easterly direction, and proceeds in nearly a straight line across Mrs. Newton's field; and continuing under the lofty bank to its extremity, enters Mrs. Campion's garden, (which is crossed cornerwise), and proceeds to the mill-pond stream; the land belonging to the Earl of Chichester and the Friary lands are then included; round the whole of which a stream runs into the Spring Ditch which empties itself into the Ouse: proceeding up the centre of which it meets the bridge, and thus completes the limits of the borough.

It has been supposed by some, that the walls or fortifications were originally the confines of the borough, and that those parts of the town which now are without the walls, were not in the Norman times considered as parts, or entitled to the privileges of the borough; and that the time of their incorporation was subsequent to the barony passing from the Warren family, when the walls of the town became neglected, and the fortifications were suffered to decay. I have met with no document that favours this hypothesis, and should therefore rather conclude that the limits of the borough were at all times more extended than the walls, that they have remained nearly the same, from the period of the Conqueror to the present time, and that when the fortifications were raised, they were erected on those spots where the nature of the ground was most favourable for defence, without any regard to the borough limits.

The streets and lanes in Lewes, as enumerated by Mr. Rowe, about the year 1622, were the following:

Beginning from the south side of the great bridge and proceeding westward are

66

East-gate lane, leading from the High street by the Friars'-wall to All Saints' Church.

"Broomeman's-street, lying on the west side of the alms-houses on School-hill, and leading down towards the Friars'-wall.

66 Pynwell-street', otherwise Church-lane.

"Walwers', or Warler's-lane.

"St. Nicholas'-lane', lying on the south side of the Broken Church, where the town bell hangeth, "St. Mary's-lane, at the lower end whereof and south-west corner are the house and garden belonging to the Rector of All Saints.

"St. Andrew's-lane', is above the Sessions-house.

Watergate-lane, is next to Mr. Brett's.

"St. Martin's-lane, otherwise Snelling's-lane, against the Market-house". "St. Swithen's-lane, otherwise Steward's-inn, otherwise Steward's-lane. "Keere-street, without the Westgate.

"Antioch-street', now inclosed, and so presented at the law-day, 37 Elizabeth. "Rotten-row, the high-way leading to Winter-bourne.

1 This name is derived, according to Dunvau, from the spring of water that rises near the west end of Friars'-wall, and which was formerly overshadowed by a Penn, or Pynn, or Pine tree. 2 It was also called Carter's-lane.

Now called Dolphin-lane, from a public house situated

in it bearing that sign.

4 Now better known by the name of Pelham's-lane,

Payne's house, at the bottom of the Castle Gate-way; opposite to which was St. Martin's-lane.

Ball-lane, the next westward to St. Swithen's-lane is omitted by Mr. Rowe. It is so called from leading to the Bull Inn, now the Westgate Meeting-house.

7 The lane opposite to the house of W. B. Langridge, Esq., in St. Anne's parish, running southward into Rotten-row, seems

• The old Market-house, which stood on the scite of Mr. to have been the upper end of Antioch-street.

"On the north side of the town, beginning at the upper end and leading eastward, are these streets and lanes:

“Ireland's-lane, otherwise Buckettwin, where the round stone of the borough lieth overagainst the east end of the chancel of the church of St. Peter Westout, alias St. Anne's. Westgate-lane', leading northward towards St. John's Church, or Cutler's-bars, 1566, in Parvo Libro de Lewes.

"Fish-street', overagainst St. Mary's-lane.

66

Aylward's-corner3, near the Broken Church.

"Greenwall, between the south end thereof and the Friars'-wall, opposite, on the other side, anciently stood the east-gate of the town."

Such were the divisions of the town in the time of Mr. Rowe, all of which continue unaltered at the present day. There have, however, been several new streets built in the parishes of All Saints and St. John; the names of which are as follow:

New-street and Russel-row lead out of West-street southward.

Mount Pleasant is a row of houses partly surrounding the foot of the eastern mount.

New Road, leading across White Hill towards Offham.

East-street, running parallel with, and to the north of School-hill.

Little East-street, parallel with the preceding, still further north.

Albion-street, (now building), leading from the middle of School-hill to East-street.
North-street, being a continuation of Market-street, and extending to the river.

West-lane, running from Market-street northward, towards the Castle-banks.

West-street, being parallel with High-street, and leading from Market-street to White-hill,—the new London Road.

St. John-street, Sun-street, and Abinger-place run out of West-street parallel to each other into

Lancaster-street.

Lancaster-street, runs from North-street to St. John's Church-yard, parallel to West-street. Castle Place, three houses in the High-street, built upon the scite of the King's Head Inn. County Row, leading from the New-road to Westgate-lane.

The Borough of Lewes was anciently divided into eleven parishes: three of which are now included in that of All Saints; four within the boundaries of the parish of St. Michael; two within the present parish of St. Anne; and two within the limits of the present parish of St. John. The names of the churches, with their respective scites, follow:

St. Nicholas, afterwards known by the name of the Broken church, stood at the top of School Hill, a little west of a line drawn from the Crown, to Dolphin Lane.

The Holy Trinity, was situated near the bottom of School Hill, on the northern side.

St. Peter the Lesser, on the scite of the present church of All Saints, the old tower of which still remains.

St. Andrew, was situated in St. Andrew or Pelham's Lane.

St. Mary in foro, in the market, stood at the top of Watergate Lane; a portion of which is still remaining.

St. Martin, was situated in St. Martin's Lane.

St. Michael', on the scite of the church now bearing that name.

St. Mary Westout, near the scite of the present parsonage house of St. Anne's parish.

St. Peter Westout, the present church of St. Anne.

St. Mary Magdalen, which was situated in St. Mary's-Lane.

St. John sub Castro, the present church.

1 Now called White Lion-lane from a public house bearing that sign.

Now called Fisher's-street.

Now known by the name of Crown-lane, or Market-street.
I have considerable doubt whether the Church of St. Michael

| should, with propriety, be classed with the more ancient churches of the borough. It is not mentioned in any of the grants of the Earls of Warren, or in the early confirmatory charters of the Bishops of Chichester, although all the other churches of the | town, are, in those documents, enumerated.

In this place, my object will be to give a brief statement of facts relative to the extinct churches of Lewes, as introductory to the survey of the respective parishes, into which the borough is now divided. From the confirmatory charter of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, to the priory and monks of St. Pancras, we learn that nine of these churches were given by the first and second Earls of Warren to the monastery. They are thus enumerated in the second earl's grants: St. John, St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. Mary, St. Martin, St. Nicholas, St. Trinity, St. Peter, and St. Mary Westout.1

In the confirmation of appropriation of certain churches to Lewes Priory, made by Ralph Bishop of Chichester, anno 1121, in the reign of Henry I. and but fifty-five years after the conquest, the chapel of St. John, within the burying ground of the monastery is mentioned, and the chapel of Lundewick, (of which no record is made in the confirmatory grant before alluded to,) is connected with the church of St. Peter Westout. The following is a translation of that part of the original which relates to these churches; the spaces left blank are so much burnt as to be illegible. "The said monastery hath in our diocese, within their own burying ground, the chapel of St. John, by our grant and gift, free and quit of all things; And in the castle adjoining, the church of St. John, which pays ..pence: the priests whereof, if they shall be suspended for any fault, the divine services shall not cease because of their fault, nor because. shall their right be lost or broken, until........but other priests shall minister in their stead; And confession and penance of the priests' affairs shall be in the hands of the bishop, but the forfeiture [shall be in the hands] of Saint Pancras. The said monastery hath in the same castle, the churches of St. Peter, and St. Trinity, and St. Nicholas, and St. Mary, and St. Andrew, and St. Martin, and St. Peter de Westout, with the chapel of Lundewick, and the church of St. Mary de Westout."

In an instrument made by Seffred the second, Bishop of Chichester, about the year 1190, being a confirmation of the appropriation of certain churches to Lewes Priory, and of the endowment of certain vicarages therein named, amongst numerous other churches confirmed to the priory, those of Lewes are thus enumerated: "the chapel of St. John, and in the castle adjoining the church of St. John, with the chapel of Allington, with the immunities and privileges which

"Dedi eciam eis oes ecclias in burgo de Lewes | et S. Andree et S. Marie et S. Martini et eccleas quas adhuc tenet Ricus Presbiter ut sicut pater S. Nichi et S. Trin. quas tenet Brictelinus presmeus dedit eis oes decias quas tenet post mortem biter et ecclias S. Petri et Marie de Westout.”ipsius Ita ego volo quod habeant oes eclias suas Lewes Priory Chartulary, p. 36. post mortem ejus scil. ecclias S. Johis S. Petri

2 Cotton Lib. Vitellius E. x. 27.

they are known to have obtained from ancient time; and in the same castle the churches of St. Peter, and St. Trinity, and St. Nicholas, and St. Mary, and St. Andrew, and St. Martin, and St. Peter de Westout."

About one hundred and thirty years after this, viz. 1319, it appears that the churches of the Holy Trinity, and St. Peter the Lesser, two out of the three standing within the boundaries of the present parish of All Saints, had been so completely overthrown by storms and tempests, as to be incapable of repair. On their extinction, an annual pension of 14s. which had been paid by these two churches, in conjunction with that of St. Nicholas to the precentor1 of the Lewes Priory ceased: on which occasion, John de Monte Martini, the prior, granted to the precentor, as a compensation for his loss, the pension of 15s. sterling, which was paid out of the church of St. John sub Castro, at the same time stipulating, that the precentor should serve the chambers of the said prior and his successors with parchment, for his public and private affairs.

Not many years elapsed after the destruction of these two churches, ere the three parishes of Holy Trinity, St. Peter the Lesser, and St. Nicholas, were united: the name of All Saints distinguished the parish composed of this triple union, and a new church arose on the ruins of Little St. Peter. The remains of St. Nicholas, afterwards known by the name of the Broken Church, were granted by the Crown in 4 Elizabeth, 1592, to William Typper and Robert Dawe, by whom the property was sold in the same year to John Curle, of Lewes, shoemaker, who in the following month, made over the premises to nineteen feoffees, for the use of the borough. The premises were fitted up as a tenement, and the rent issuing from them was applied to the purposes of the town until the year 1761, when the building having become dangerous, it was taken down. Such was the fate of the churches standing within the limits of the present parish of All Saints.

Of the ancient churches included in the modern parish of St. Michael I shall now speak. They were four in number: St. Andrew's, St. Mary's in foro, St. Martin's, and St. Michael's.

The three former were certainly part of the possessions of the Priory of Lewes, and are so described in the grant of them, by Henry VIII. to Thomas Lord Cromwell, in the year 1538, and in the confirmation charters of Ralph and Seffrid, Bishops of Chichester. St. Andrew's was valued in the king's books

at 87. 10s. 10d. and paid a yearly pension to the Prior of Lewes of 6s. 8d. In

The precentor or chanter had the chief care of the seal, and kept the Liber Diurnalis, or Chapof the choir service, and not only presided over ter Book, and provided parchment and ink for the the singing men, organist, and choristers, but pro-writers, and colours for the linners of books for vided books for them, paid them their salaries, the library.-Tanner's Not. Mon., Pref. p. 29. and repaired the organs; he had also the custody

an inquisition taken 6 Henry VI., the commissioners return the value of this church as follows: Ecclia Sti Andree in Burgo de Lewes valet per ann. xvs. Bacon, in his Liber Regis, states that this rectory was united to St. Michael's in 37 Henry VIII. If so, it is probable that St. Martin's, and St. Mary's in Foro, were included in the union.

In an inquisition taken 6 Henry VI. the commissioners return the value of the church of St. Mary in Foro, as follows: Ecclia Sancte Marie in Foro, Burgi de Lewes, valet per annum, xiiis. iiijd. In Bacon's Liber Regis, it is stated, Eccles. sol. Priori de Lewes 5s. Duci Norf. 5s.; and Ecton, in his Thesaurus, fixes the value in the king's books, at 77. 6s. 104d.; yearly tenths 14s. 84d. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, 26 Henry VIII. among the possessions of the church at Chichester', is the following entry relating to this church: Porco sive pensio de Lewes, 30s.

Mr. Lambert, about the year 1760, made a sketch of the remains of the old church, which was then inhabited: from this sketch the following has been taken.

The western wall continues to this day nearly in the same state as when the drawing was made. The building is now occupied by Mr. William Lee.

Within the present parish of St. John were formerly two distinct benefices: viz., the rectory of St. John, and that of St. Mary Magdalen. The church of St. John is now standing, and that of St. Mary Magdalen was on the scite of the parsonage house of St. John's, at the top of St. Mary's Lane, and now in the occupation of Mr. J. Elliott, grocer. The rectory of St. Mary Magdalen was annexed to that of St. John sub Castro on the of 26th March,