Last month I had the honour of introducing the visiting Bonfire Societies to Seaford for the annual Guy Fawkes celebrations. I love bonfire and probably recite the Bonfire Prayers – “Remember Remember the Fifth of November” more than most people. As a tour guide in the Palace of Westminster – the Houses of Parliament I recite…
Category: Seaford
The only female Sussex Saint
Last week I visited the Church of St Candida in the isolated Dorset village of Whitchurch Canonicorum. It is the only parish church in England to contain the relic of a saint. Saint Wite. The Latin name for Wite is Candida, hence the name of the church. The shrine of the saint contains three…
Seaford’s Saddest Day
TODAY 100 years ago 3rd September 1916 was one of the darkest days in Seaford’s history with five local men being killed within 24 hours. They were all members of the Royal Sussex Regiment. Four of the men were members of the 11th (South Downs) Battalion. Known as Lowther’s Lambs as they had been recruited…
How Exceat was discovered
Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the death of Maurice Lawrance of West Dean. The summer of 1913 was dry and hot and Maurice Theodore Lawrance, the 15 year old son of the rector of West Dean Church, was in the fields above the Cuckmere River when he spotted some indentations in the field which…
A Sussex Corn-cure
In the late 1920s poor old Mr W. S. Galloway from Seaford had very bad feet, but rather than complain about his ailments he decided to do something about it. He began to experiment with various solutions in order to relieve and remove his corns. Some accounts (possibly libellous) say that he used as a…
The Sussex Cyclist and his lasting legacy
Overlooking the Cuckmere Valley between Alfriston and Seaford is a viewing point provided by the Rees Jeffrey Fund. Rees Jeffrey was a cyclist who did more then most people to ensure our roads are safe. William Rees Jeffreys was born in Paddington, London in 1872 but lived in Sussex. He was a keen cyclist…
Beacons for the Queen (and the French!)
Next week beacons will be lit all over Sussex, and indeed the whole country, to commemorate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen. Beacons have been used for many years for celebration and also as a means of communication. This was particularly the case to warn us good Sussex folk from invasion against the…
Winifred’s Service in the Great War
Winifred Mary Wilcox was born in Condover a few miles to the south of Shrewsbury in Shropshire. He parents were Edward and Edith Mary Wilcox. Her father was an Agricultural Labourer. In 1906 Winifred’s father died and the family moved to Liverpool where they took a house at 78, Macdonald Road, Wavertree. The 1911 Census…
A Sussex Architect with bottle!
In 2011 I was honoured to be asked to say a few words at a meeting of the Alfriston & Cuckmere Valley History Society which was called to pay tribute of their former president, the late Lady Edna Healey who had died the previous year. I was in esteemed company, as not only Lord Denis…
WW2 in Seaford & Lewes
Yesterday I met Dorothy Trethowan at her home in Polegate. This is what she told me… I am 97 years old. I have spent much of my life in Seaford. I was born Dorothy Gretton. My parents lived at a house called Sommerville, Highlands Road, not far from the Catholic Church (I remember the church…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 