Fundraising appeal launched to help secure heritage sites
July 9, 2020
Allie Parsons, from Sussex Archaeological Society, outlines a new £1m fundraising appeal as the organisation looks to mark its 175th birthday.
One of the best views of the South Downs, short of hiking the South Downs Way, is to be had from the top of the castle at Lewes.
From its high stone keep overlooking the town, a stunning panorama sweeps from Mount Caburn and Firle Beacon in the west, over the wetlands of the Ouse Valley and across to Kingston Ridge.
You don’t have to like history, although Lewes Castle is a great example of an early Norman fortification, to decide the long climb to the top of its towers has been worth the effort.
Sadly, only the rooks who perch on the battlements have enjoyed the view this summer. The castle, along with other historic properties cared for by the Sussex Archaeological Society, has been closed since the coronavirus lockdown at the end of March.
Its narrow walkways and spiral stairs make social distancing difficult and it is unclear when it will be able to reopen to visitors.
The archaeological society, one of the oldest in the UK, has been hit hard by a dramatic fall in income, just at the start of the tourist season. Last month it launched an appeal to raise £1 million to ensure it can survive as an organisation and reach its 175th anniversary next June.
Also now at risk of permanent closure in Lewes, unless funds can be raised, are medieval Anne of Cleves House, the Museum of Sussex Archaeology in Barbican House and Bull House, the society’s headquarters and former home of eighteenth century revolutionary and writer Thomas Paine.
The society normally welcomes more than 160,000 visitors a year to its sites, which include Michelham Priory, near Hailsham, Fishbourne Roman Palace, near Chichester, and the mysterious South Downs chalk figure, the Long Man of Wilmington.
It also looks after significant archaeological and historical collections, from the Stone Age onwards, and supports research into local history and landscape archaeology, the study of the ways in which people in the past constructed and used the environment around them.
To donate to the society, visit www.sussexpast.co.uk or go to www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/Celebrating175