The graveyard attached to St John Sub-Castro (under the castle) Church in Lewes is full of interesting gravestones. Yesterday I visited the sloping grounds with two old schoolfriends and pointed out some graves of interest. Many years ago, when we lived in Lewes, my wife and I ‘adopted’ three graves to look after, but much of…
Category: East Sussex
A Sussex Sailor who fought with Nelson
In the churchyard to the north of St. Leonards church Seaford is a large box tomb decorated with anchors. This is the last resting place of Admiral James Walker who had an adventurous life on the high seas. Walker was born in Scotland in 1764 and joined the Navy at the tender age of twelve….
Did My Parents see White 4?
Although I was born 12 years after the end of the Second World War, it was fresh in many people’s minds and there was still physical evidence to be seen in the form ‘bomb-sites’; I particularly remember the gaps, like missing teeth, in the smart terraces of The Avenue in Eastbourne and also old Home…
A Cricketing Copper
An old police friend, ex Inspector Bill Tee of the BTP from Crewe, has sent me a photo of his great-great uncle, former Sussex policeman George Berry. As I enjoy my local history, I said I would try to find out more. George was born at Woolbeeding, West Sussex on 17th January 1840. His parents were…
Crypt-ic clues to Lost Names
Family Roots (The Eastbourne Family History Society) have published the Monumental Inscriptions (MI) for many locations but I am particularly interested in those for St Mary’s Church, Eastbourne as I live close by. Over the years many of the memorials have eroded and are now impossible to read. One of these is a cream-coloured marble ledger…
Damaris, the Lost Love.
Damaris is an unusual name. It is thought to derive from ‘little calf’ an old Greek term of endearment. The name is mentioned in the bible and indeed the Greek Orthodox Church recognise Damaris as a saint. Damaris Richardson was born in Brede, East Sussex in 1834 and baptised at St George’s Church, Brede on 27th April that…
Sussex Photographic Rambles 1924
My grandmother Bessie Roberts lived at Taddington Road, Eastbourne. She was interested in photography and owned a ‘Box-Brownie’ Camera. She was the secretary of the Eastbourne Brownie Photographic Club which met at the Technical Institute (Eastbourne Library is now on the site) and in 1924 kept a record of the club’s ‘photographic rambles’. All the photographs…
A Remarkable Eastbourne Engineer
Colonel Charles Manby lived at The Greys in Borough Lane, Old Town. (Greys Road is named after the building) Charles Manby was born on the Isle of Wight in 1804. He was the son of Aaron Manby (1776-1850) who was a Shropshire ironmaster who took his expertise to France where he established several ironworks. His father…
He didn’t get home for Christmas
James Gorringe was the third and youngest son of James Gorringe of Upperton Farmhouse, Eastbourne. He was born in May 1866 in Eastbourne and educated at Brighton. James married Alice Maria Spray (1864-1948) from Pevensey and they lived at ‘Kingsley’ 27, Devonshire Place, Eastbourne. They had two children Alfred Edward Kingsley Gorringe born 18th September 1894…
Summerdown Kate
Early in the Great War, the Summerdown Convalescent Camp was established on fields to the north-west of Eastbourne just off the East Dean Road. The camp had its own entertainment troupe called the Knut Kamp Komedy Kompany which were based in the camp Recreation Hut and gave weekly concerts. The troupe consisted of musicians, comics and even…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 