"Lewes through Time"

Lewes Through Time by Bob Cairns
published by Amberley Publishing - available from all good bookshops from £14.99

Books comprised of old photographs of towns and villages are very popular but this one of Lewes has not only the old photograph but the modern equivalent, which serves to show how much this individual and pretty town has changed over the last hundred years.

Some buildings have stood the test of time, the prison and Priory Crescent appear little changed whilst others are clearly the same although their function may have changed such as the Maltings which was part of a brewery and is now the record office or the Lewes Infirmary which is now the NatWest bank.  Other buildings have gone completely, in some cases whole streets have disappeared in the name of progress, half of Little East Street was demolished to make way for a dual carriageway and much of North Street has gone although some of that is a result of bombing during World War 2.

This is a useful book for anyone with ancestors who lived in Lewes and for anyone who has lived in the area themselves, reminding us as it does of a time now largely forgotten.