There is nowhere in the world that celebrates
bonfire night like Lewes, UK.
First, it’s the burning
crosses that can be seen rising over the peak of the High Street in Lewes. Seventeen of them, one
commemorating each of the Protestant martyrs from the town who were burned alive by Mary I. Behind them are
hundreds of torch bearers, wearing striped sweaters, or wearing the dress of their heroes such as the Tudors
or Civil War soldiers. The street appears engulfed in flames. Some drag barrels of burning tar, others set
off bangers and fireworks – it’s a spectacle that attracts up to 80,000 revellers on Nov. 5, when the
smoky air of Lewes is filled with the tradition of the bonfire societies.
Lewes may have the most
famous bonfire night celebrations, but in towns and villages across Sussex, members of bonfire societies
light torches, dress up and parade the streets on most weekends between the first procession at the Uckfield
Carnival in September to the Robertsbridge and Barcombe parades in the third week of November. There are more
than 30 bonfire societies in Sussex including from the villages of Firle, Newick, Barcombe, Lindfield,
Mayfield, Chailey and Robertsbridge, and the larger towns of Hastings, Rye, Battle, Hailsham, Shoreham,
Littlehampton and Eastbourne. Lewes alone has six bonfire societies. In the 21st century, the bonfire
societies have never been so well attended. Today, although the events are mostly family affairs (Lewes can
get rowdy), sparking close to the surface is a dark history.
The time of the Tudor and
Stuart dynasties were dominated by the zealous religious factions of Protestants and Catholics. The Tudors
under Henry VIII split from Rome in an attempt to find a male heir, but his daughter and eventual heir, Mary,
was vehemently Catholic. During her reign of England, the Marian inquisition saw the burning of Protestants,
earning her the sobriquet “Bloody” Mary. This was particularly severe in the South East, and in particular
Lewes where 17 Protestants were burned at the stake between 1555 and 1557. They became martyrs, as did people
from many villages across Sussex. Some of the villages were already commemorating the martyrdoms with
bonfires, but on November 5, 1605, Robert Catesby, Guy Fawkes and a group of Catholics attempted to blow up
the House of Lords and James I. The day became cemented in public consciousness and enshrined in law under
the Observance of 5th November Act as a thanksgiving for the plot’s failure — it was the only public
holiday that survived Cromwell’s Puritan purge of festivals (Christmas didn’t). The festivities were often
drunken, riotous affairs where effigies of the pope were burned. However, under public disturbance orders,
they were dampened throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. It wasn’t until the 1851, and the publication of a
book by Mark Anthony Lower called The Sussex Martyrs, their Examinations and Cruel Burnings in the time of Queen
Mary,
that led to the “cult of the Sussex Martyrs.” “Bonfire Boyes” across Sussex began again to remember
the events with added fervour. The anti-papist undertones remained, but it was more often, as it is today, an
opportunity to get tangle-footed and set fire to things. Yet, in spite of the protestations from the
authorities, the Sussex bonfire societies kept the traditional alive often resorting to covering their faces
in charcoal and donning “smuggling garb.” 150 years later, the stripy sweaters remain, as does much of its
boisterousness and fun — across the villages of Sussex, the flames of the bonfire societies are burning
stronger than ever. •
Photos by Daniel
Neilson
