Tour - Lewes Priory

Giovanni Portinari is not a well-known name to most Lewes residents, but it is arguable that no one man has had a greater single impact on the town. In March 1538 Portinari, an Italian military engineer hired by Thomas Cromwell, destroyed one of the biggest ecclesiastic buildings in the country, Lewes Cluniac Priory, using a team of 17 men. Among the men were two smiths, three carpenters, nine labourers, two plumbers and a man ‘who keeps the furnace’. Why the furnace and the plumbers? Cromwell was ransacking the church, and one of the most valuable of its many assets was the lead on the roof. “It will be cast with such diligence…” wrote Portinari to Cromwell, “so that our trust in your lordship will be most satisfied”. No doubt he was: Cromwell received over £700 for the lead, as part of a total of more than £1600 he pocketed from other materials plundered from the complex.

What an act of vandalism. In its heyday, the Priory (over 21 yards high with walls up to 14 feet thick, which housed over 100 monks) was one of the most beautiful and important churches in England. It was a popular pilgrimage site, and was responsible for a good deal of the employment in the town. It was the nucleus of eight dependent priories, 170 churches, three grammar schools (one as far afield as Halifax) and two almshouses. Portinari was knighted soon after, and went on to build the fortifications at Berwick on Tweed. This weekend offers a rare opportunity to wander the ruins he left in Lewes. AL