Local News & History
A Wealden Worker's Woolly World
Written by Elizabeth WrightSouthdown sheep have been grazing the Sussex downland for many centuries; some would claim they have been there since Neolithic times...
Belle Tout Lighthouse
Written by Elizabeth WrightBelle Tout lighthouse, situated on Beachy Head, has a new owner. Sixty-nine year old David Shaw said, “It was a purchase I made with my heart rather than my head...
Charting The Seas
Written by Roger PaineThe science of hydrography, the methodical recording of navigational information for the seafarer in charts and other forms, is as old as navigation itself...
Historic High Weald Church
Written by Roger PaineIn the High Weald, close to Bewl Water, is the historic village of Ticehurst. Its early growth was due to the fourteenth century iron industry that flourished in the area...
The Day The Rains Came To The Lewes Streets
Written by Roger PaineIf you are superstitious you will expect to experience bad luck if you walk underneath a ladder or break a mirror. Similar misfortune is traditionally associated with the thirteenth of a month when it falls on a Friday...
The Second Age of Sail
Written by Roger PaineWind has propelled boats and ships across seas and oceans from earliest times. Throughout the world many original sailing craft, dhows in the Indian Ocean, junks in the South China Sea, feluccas in the Eastern...
Celebrating 100 Years Of Naval Aviation
Written by Roger PaineJust over one hundred years ago the first ever controlled flight by a heavier-than-air machine took place. This was on 17th December 1903 when the Wright brothers became airbourne at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the USA.
A Warship Named Kent
Written by Roger PaineThe county of Kent has been honoured by having twelve warships bear this name.The first Kent, originally named the Kentish Frigate, was a ship of 46 guns built at Deptford in 1653. It spent seven years in Oliver Cromwell’s...
Thomas Paine
Written by Roger PaineTwo hundred years ago, on 8th June 1809, in a small house on Grove Street, Greenwich Village, New York City, Thomas Paine died peacefully in his sleep. Many may wonder not only who Thomas Paine was but also what relevance this has to local history in Kent and Sussex...
The Bannatyne Interview
At Bannatynes Hotel, HastingsAspect Publisher Neil McGuigan was recently given exclusive access to interview Dragons Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne at his new Hotel, spa and fitness centre at Beauport Park, Hastings. NMG “ Well thanks...
Yo! Ho! Ho! And A Bottle Of Rum !
Written by Roger PaineRum is a winter warming drink and an essential ingredient of Christmas cakes, punches and puddings. It is also, as the pirate Long John Silver’s song in “Treasure Island” never fails to remind, inextricably...
Sussex firm secures ‘Victory’
Local NewsUckfield-based geotechnical and structural monitoring experts, ITM-Soil Ltd, has been awarded an important contract to monitor HMS Victory as the historic ship undergoes substantial repairs in her Portsmouth dry dock home...
Anne Of Cleves House
Written by Roger PaineAnne of Cleves was his fourth wife, divorced in the same year that they married. After Jane Seymour, wife number three who died in 1537, the King spent three years searching for a new spouse...
