The location of the town has long been of strategic importance as it stands at a narrow gap in the south downs, giving whoever controlled the position power over the main route from the south coast towards the centre of Sussex and beyond. It is thought the earliest fort to stand in the area dates back to the Iron Age. Following the 1066 Norman Conquest a motte and bailey castle was constructed in the town. It originally had the name Bray Castle, but later became known as Lewes Castle. An unusual feature is that it has two mottes (the raised area) and this is one of only two castles, the other being Lincoln Castle, in England to have this feature. In 1081 The Priory of St Pancras was founded in the south of the town, better known as Lewes Priory, it was the first Cluniac monastery in England and contained one of the largest monastic churches in the country.
The Battle of Lewes took place in 1264 and was a one of the main battles that took place during the Second Barons' War where Simon de Montford went to war with King Henry III, defeating him and briefly becoming the 'uncrowned King of England'. The Priory was surrendered to the Crown following the Dissolution of the Monasteries and subsequently partially demolished, as was the standard practice at the time. The manor of Southover was granted to Thomas Cromwell and was subsequently held by Anne of Cleves. In 1846 the railway reached Lewes, and due its location became a major junction with train lines heading in various directions. When the railway was constructed, it cut right through the remains of the Priory, splitting it in two. The remaining fragments of buildings survive in Lewes Priory Park which is fully accessible to the public. The park also contains a memorial to the Battle of Lewes.
Lewes is on the Prime meridian line and has a few references to this within the town including its very own obelisk which can be found on Meridian Road. The town is also well known for its bonfire night celebrations/ceremonies where in addition to the regular Guy Fawkes-related activities, the town also commemorates the 17 Lewes Martyrs who were protestants burned at the stake in the 16th century. The ceremony involves 17 burning crosses which are carried through the town. One of the town's famous residents was Gideon Mantell who is credited as being the first person to identify a dinosaur fossil after his wife found an Iguanadon tooth. He was also thought to be the first person to systematically collect and attempt to reconstruct their bones. A genus of Iguanadon called Mantellisaurus is named after him. In 1836 Lewes was the location of the United Kingdom's deadliest avalanche, where 8 people were killed.
To the north of Lewes town centre is the suburb of South Malling and this is where you will find a small area of grassland called Malling Recreation Ground. The park contains a children's play area, skate park, marked football pitches and Malling Community Centre. The centre was originally built in the early 1970s and last refurbished in 2020/21. It contains areas which can be hired for events, sports changing facilities, a cafe and also houses a local centre for East Sussex Children's Services. As of 6 July 2024 the recreation ground has been home to a free, weekly, timed 5 kilometre event called Malling Rec parkrun. It takes place at 9am on Saturday mornings and is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk or volunteer. We visited Lewes on 10 August 2024 and took part in the parkrun's sixth event.
As mentioned above, Lewes has a fairly major rail junction so is very well connected. It is on the direct mainline that runs from London Victoria down to Hastings, Eastbourne and Newhaven on the south coast. It can also be reached directly from Brighton station using trains heading towards Eastbourne and Hastings. The onward walk from the station to the recreation ground is approximately 1 mile of hilly narrow streets and twittens. There are also a number of buses that run between Lewes and the neighbouring towns - most of the buses stop in and around the town centre, but some such as the 28 Regency route, the 127 and 132 stop very close to the recreation ground. If you happen to need overnight accommodation there are a number of B&Bs and Inns around the town, and there is also a Premier Inn.
The A26 and A27 roads are the main routes into the town, and there are a number of parking options. The first would be to use the park's free-of-charge parking facilities, however space is extremely limited and consists of two small parking areas. The main one holds around 20 vehicles and the second one holds about 10. The smaller of the two is marked as being a private car park for the use of visitors to the Malling Community Centre only. Access to the car parks is a little convoluted as the main road is elevated as it passes them and has no direct access, meaning you need to drive around other side roads to reach the car parks. As an alternative, many of the residential side roads to the north and east of the park are free of restrictions. Another option is to use the Tesco superstore car park at the south-east corner of the park, which allows three hours of free parking. Cyclists can secure their bikes to the cycle racks outside the community centre.
The meeting point for the parkrun is right next to the community centre and playground at the northern end of the park. Toilet facilities can be found inside the community centre's cafe, which consists of two unisex toilets so bear in mind that it is likely that you'll need to queue. The parkrun briefings take place on the grass just next to the playground, with the first timers' and tourists briefing being held first followed by the full briefing once the participants have assembled at the start line.
The course at Malling Rec parkrun is a double out-and-back configuration. The surface underfoot is a mixture of grass and trail/dirt/mud and trail shoes are the recommended footwear at all times of year (more detail on this below). My GPS data reported an elevation change of just 15 metres, and the course is almost always completely flat.
Those who wish to take part with a buggy are advised to check with the event team in advance of visiting for further information as the course can become 'waterlogged or very muddy'. Given the surfaces underfoot and the potential for very unfavourable course conditions, I'd say that this course is not particularly suitable for wheelchair users. Those who wish to take part with a dog are free to do so but must comply with parkrun's 'parkrunning with a dog' rules.
The parkrun route starts on the grass with the participants heading towards the north east where just under one complete clockwise circuit of the open grass fields is negotiated. It's a relatively small open space and is bordered by trees which separate it from the adjacent roads and there are a couple of places where the south downs can be seen dominating the distant skyline. The last section of this circuit runs parallel to the River Ouse, but sadly not close enough to actually see the river or admire the view along its banks. In fact the trajectory of this section follows the former path of a raised embankment that carried a railway line, and at this point there is absolutely no sign that it ever existed.
The railway line was constructed in 1858 and connected Lewes to Tunbridge Wells via Uckfield. It was known as the Wealden Line and survived until 1969 when the section between Lewes and Uckfield was closed down due to the construction of the Phoenix Causeway, which was part of the Lewes Relief Road project. The Wealden Line's raised embankment was blocking the route of the new road, so instead of coming up with an expensive or unsightly alternative, the railway line was simply closed and removed. A section of the former railway line is now a public footpath and 7 acre nature reserve called the Old Malling Railway Cutting, and this forms the next part of the parkrun's route.
The course leaves the recreation ground when it climbs up a short, sharp bank and enters the start of the Old Malling Railway Cutting, which is now a 7 acre area of woodland, and also a nature reserve. It is here that you can get an idea of the scale of the embankment that would have once existed. There are a few pinch points at the beginning of this section, and the main thing is to remember to keep to the left at all times. The pathway shortly opens up to reveal the path of the former railway, and to the sides there are steep banks lined with trees. The ground is uneven in places and features lots of tree roots, broken twigs, rocks and, as we were advised during the briefing, occasional pieces of glass (I spotted some, so if you like to participate barefoot, watch out).
The actual surface is dirt, but owing to the tree coverage, it doesn't really get much in the way of sunlight, and as a result the terrain is likely to stay damp or muddy even throughout the summer. In the winter I expect this section to be an absolute mud bath. When the cutting was constructed it made a scar in the landscape and in order for people to pass across it, a couple of Victorian-era brick bridges were installed. They are still in use and the course passes under both of them - they are really cool and I think they'll become quite iconic images in the parkrun world. There is a turnaround point just after the second bridge where participants are sent back towards the recreation ground. Incidentally, at the turnaround point the course is roughly 500 metres away from the Prime meridian line.
The return journey is just a case of retracing the course back in the opposite direction all the way back along the cutting and then dropping down into the recreation ground and following the grass anti-clockwise until reaching the north-east corner where there is another turnaround point. The full out-and-back is repeated and when reaching the north-east corner, the finish can be found back at the start line. Barcode scanning takes place on the grass straight after the finish line and after that refreshments can be obtained from the Lewes Brewcafe in the community centre. An interesting fact is that the cafe serves beer from 9.30am. I recorded the course using my Garmin and the GPS data can be viewed on Strava, the same GPS trace was uploaded to the Relive app and used to create a course fly-by video which you can watch on YouTube.
After the parkrun, we headed off to explore Lewes town centre. We started by crossing the small footbridge across the river where the views upstream and downstream were lovely. There is a seasonal open-air swimming pool called Pells Pool which looks like a great place to spend a few post-parkrun hours when the weather is good. We headed on up and down the narrow hilly streets and twittens where we found Lewes Castle, Gideon Mantell's house, the Town Hall, and the Lewes war memorial before taking a quick pit-stop for a snack. Interestingly Lewes is one of only a handful of towns that has its own currency, called the Lewes pound - it is accepted by over 100 local businesses. We resumed by heading over to Lewes Priory Park where we found the Battle of Lewes memorial and spent some time exploring the ruins of the Priory (recommended).
The results were processed a short while later and 303 people completed the course at event number six with 35 people being credited as volunteers. Although this was a new course attendance record, it was broadly in-line with the previous attendances which were in the mid-high 200's.
However at the time of writing the event is still very new and the figures are distorted by the high number of curious tourists. I imagine the actual average will settle at a lower figure and I'd expect winter attendances to drop further due to the potentially muddy course conditions which may put some people off. As of early 2025 the event is generally attracting around 100 participants each week.
We had a lovely time in Lewes all thanks to the existence of the parkrun, so a big thank you goes to all the volunteers that made the event possible.
Related Links:
- Malling Rec parkrun GPS data (10 August 2024)
- Relive course fly-by video (10 August 2024)
- The Sussex parkrun venues (blog7t page)
- Meridian Line parkruns (blog7t page)
