|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
The Tump, LewesArtificial Mound
|
Show map (inline Google Map)
|
|
|
Images (click to view fullsize) |
 Add an image |
|
Fieldnotes |
Add fieldnotes |
|
The Lewes Mounds If you lived in a small town in East Sussex and there were three large Silbury-like mounds within close proximity of the town centre would you not be curious as to why? Well this is the case for Lewes, the county town of East Sussex. The most prominent mound is the one currently occupied by Lewes Castle and is designated as a Norman Motte dating from 1069 and built by William de Warenne, brother-in-Law of William the Conqueror. This stands broadly in the town centre overlooking all of its surroundings and the motte itself must stand at about 50 feet in height. The second, known as Brack Mount, is also designated as a Norman Motte and was contained originally within the curtain wall of Lewes Castle and Lewes Castle is one of only Two Norman castles in the UK to have two mottes, the other being Lincoln. It is believed that Brack Mount was the original castle with a wooden barbican and that the superior stone barbican that we see today at Lewes Castle took some 300 years to complete. Brack Mount is about 40-50 feet high depending on where you're viewing it from and is built on a slope slightly North East of the castle and is now completely surrounded by houses and a pub, the Lewes Arms, that back onto it. There have been 2 partial excavations of this site, the first being in 1838 when workmen discovered an inhumation and boars head in the north side of the mound and the second, more recently, found a chalk lined well in the top of the mound believed to be Norman in origin. Despite the fact that the garden of the Lewes Arms cuts into the mound there seems to be no evidence of any finds on that occasion or at least no report of anything of interest, though there have been recent assertions that the mound is pre-Roman in origin. Now we come to the third mound, or the 'Tump' as it's known locally, whose history is far from clear. It stands almost in isolation just South of the railway line that skirts the South of the town and is adjacent to the ruins of Lewes Priory. It too is about 45 feet high and takes the form of a ziggerat. Various explanations have been put forward to try and explain its origins. One is that it's a Calvary built by the priory monks and was part of a punishment whereby misbehaving monks were made to carry a cross to it's summit (there was until recently a socket still visible there for a cross erecting ceremony carried out by local Christians at Easter). Another theory is that it's simply a large pile of earth left over from either the building of the Priory on it's western side or from the 'Dripping Pan', a large salt pan (though the salt pan too is doubtful) on it's eastern side now occupied by Lewes Football Club. As far as I know there has never been anything like a proper excavation of this site. The only nearby find was of a ground Neolithic hand axe which was discovered when railway abutments were created in 1911 just to the north. So three large mounds and little archaeological evidence to work out just how old they are. But is it just three? Evidence suggests that there were at least another five tumuli within the vicinity. A Historic Character Assessment Report for Lewes carried out in 2005 reveals that there were another four tumuli in almost a linear arrangement running north east from Brack Mount. The report lists them as follows: • Churchyard of St John-sub-Castro – two mounds, possibly representing Romano-British or Anglo-Saxon, or earlier, barrows. That destroyed by the building of present church in 1839 contained secondary inhumations, cremated human bone, boar and other animal bones, and an urn and spearhead. The second mound was in the south-east corner of the churchyard, and was destroyed in 1779 with no record of any finds. Several Roman coins were also found in the churchyard in the 19th century [HER reference: ES7176]. • Abinger House (Abinger Place) – mound, possibly representing Romano-British or Anglo- Saxon, or earlier, barrow. Destroyed in the early 19th century without record, though apparently contained internments and pottery. • Elephant and Castle (Whitehill) – mound, possibly representing Romano-British or Anglo- Saxon, or earlier (e.g. Bronze Age) barrow, and possibly used as a medieval and later gallows mound. Destroyed when Elephant and Castle public house was built in 1838. A further barrow seems to have been destroyed in 1834 during the creation of a reservoir near St. Anne's Church where a Bronze Age inhumation and other cremation burials were discovered. This too lies within the town centre. So are we looking at a large Bronze Age barrow cemetery, a sacred site of monumental mounds in the vein of Silbury (particularly in the light of the recent dating of the Marlborough Mound) or merely a disparate collection of barrows of different ages and usages? Because most of these barrows were destroyed in the gradual expansion of the town it's very difficult to know which era they actually belonged to but I'm of the opinion that all these tumuli were of roughly the same period, probably Bronze Age, and the Normans merely utilized two of them in the highest positions, in the construction of their castle. Nearby Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age sites on the South Downs would also suggest that Lewes's mounds were of a pre-Roman era. |
Posted by A R Cane14th November 2011ce |
|
As a Sussex schoolboy I was always told that the Tump was a Calvary Hill, used by the monks of the nearby Priory as a punishment, the idea being that they had to carry a cross to the top. However, apparently a fragment of Neolithic bone was found when the new path was created, so that puts paid to yet another "lazy monk" theory of ancient-site creation, as far as this druid is concerned. At some point in the late 19th or early 20th century Lewes Bowling Club, who own the site, decided to carve a huge chunk out of the side of the mound, in order to accommodate a bowling green. This act of vandalism also cut into the original spiral path, which originally began around the northwest sector and ran anti-clockwise to a small platform on the summit. Most of the spiral path is still intact, and can be reached via the new tarmac path, which runs clockwise from the southeast sector. Once on the spiral path, you can leave the world of tarmac behind, and what remains of the spiral is a gentle and beautifully simple short stroll. However, the fact remains that this site is right on the edge of a built up area, and technically in the town, all the land to the south being taken up with sports pitches. Expect to find the evidence of teenage drinking at the top, as I have most of the times I have visited. …Which brings us neatly on to the Hole. The Hole is a square concrete-sided monstrosity which was dug into the top of the Tump at some point (I can only assume in the sixties) in order to hold the cross that Lewes Christians carry to the summit every Good Friday. The rest of the year it holds empty lager cans (see picture). I actually don't begrudge them this tradition that much (The cross that is). It only stands there for a few days and actually looks quite impressive. In 2000 they re-enacted the crucifixion up there, leading "Jesus" through the town from Lewes Castle. I tagged along and found it fascinating, as an outsider. What does really anger me is the way they leave this ugly concrete thing exposed for the rest of the year. A few years back local Pagans used to go up there, once the cross was gone, and fill in the hole again. Unfortunately this has to be a covert activity, due to the Bowling Club locking the gate from the car park in the evening, so I am naturally not advocating such action. That would, clearly, be wrong. If you visit the Tump during the day you will not be hassled at all. Many people climb it in the daytime and this does not seem to be a problem. However, I remember climbing it to watch the midwinter sunset a few years back. Sitting there, minding my own business, I heard an upper class voice shout from below: "Excuse me! What are you doing?!" Two instincts fought for supremacy. The first said "Apologise at once and get orf their land!" The other said "What the hell does it LOOK like I'm doing?" I looked at her as if she was mad and asked her what she meant, which she didn't seem to have an answer for. She disappeared. I have to admit to having not stayed too much longer after that. She had succeeded in spooking me, and the moment was lost. As I drove away I saw her again. She looked at me as if memorising my face for a police line-up. I looked back, I hope in the same way. Another time, during the day, I faced the four quarters on the summit as part of a private druid working. No robes. No chanting. Just a bloke in jeans and t-shirt, facing four directions and lost in his own little world. That was until I noticed a man who broke off from the bowling taking place below (On the green that cuts into the Tump) and, hands on hips, stared at me as if I was smeared in goat's blood and howling to Satan. Just be warned: this is the attitude you risk encountering if you stray onto the Lewes Tump after sundown or looking remotely "alternative". In summary the site is a bloody disgrace (albeit delightfully manicured), but sitting on the summit on your own, feeling the wind on your face, it is possible to forget that, for a little while at least. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Brass Monkeys on the Lewes Tump
|
Posted by Cursuswalker28th January 2004ce Edited 29th January 2004ce |
|
This is a Harvest Hill, very close to Lewes train station in East Sussex. It looks exactly like a minature Silbury Hill, and its use would have been very similar. The hill is situatued next to an ruined priory, and has had a small corner of it cut off to accomodate a bowling green. This missing portion has meant that the original spiral path to the summit can no longer be followed as it once would have been, although there is still a path... There is a wonderful view from it's top, which is still a very tranquil place, despite being almost in the middle of a town! The top of the hill contains a post hole, and each easter, the christians come and place a large cross in this hole. Shortly after, the pagans come and remove the cross and leave their own offerings. As far as i can tell this is a yearly occurance! There do not seem to be a celebrations at the tump on Lunassa, which would have been its original purpose. sorry for no map reference - i will try to add it later -it is basically in the town of Lewes, by the station - easy to find! |
Posted by doublethink 12th February 2002ce Edited 5th June 2004ce |
Links |
Add a link |
The Mount - CastleUK.netA page from CastleUK.net, giving information on the site, though a visit is all one should need to doubt that anyone would bother building any sort of castle that could fit on the top of the site! |
Posted by Cursuswalker 24th April 2005ce |
Top of page