The Rape of Lewes (also known as Lewes Rape) is one of the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

s, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Location

The

rape of Bramber The Rape of Bramber (also known as Bramber Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. It is the smallest Sussex rape by area. Bramber is a former barony whose original seat wa ...

lies to its west and the

rape of Pevensey The Rape of Pevensey (also known as Pevensey Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. With an area of it is the largest of the Sussex rapes. History William the Conqueror gra ...

lies to its east. The north the rape is bounded by the county of Surrey and to the south by the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. The rape of Lewes includes the city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

in its south-west corner, as well as the towns of Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Lewes, Newhaven and Seaford. At tall, its highest point is Ditchling Beacon on the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

History

According to John Morris the boundary between the Rapes of Lewes and Pevensey, which cuts through the middle of Lewes, probably pre-dates the founding of the town of Lewes in the late 9th or early 10th century. If one boundary had existed so early then it is quite possible that other boundaries also existed, and the Rape of Lewes, or its precursor, may have existed at this time.

Ditchling Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling. ...

may have been an important regional centre for a large part of central Sussex between the Rivers Adur and Ouse until the founding of Lewes in the 9th century. Another possibility is that the rapes may derive from the system of fortifications, or

burh A burh () or burg was an Old English fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constr ...

s (boroughs) devised by Alfred the Great in the late ninth century to defeat the Vikings. The Rapes, or similar predecessors may have been created for the purpose of maintaining these early boroughs, which included Lewes. At the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Rape of Lewes seems to have included the land between the Rivers Adur and Ouse and would have been given to William de Warenne. By the time of the Domesday Survey was made in 1086 a large strip of land extending to the River Adur on the west, and running from north to south, seems to have been cut off from Warenne's territory and given to William de Braose as part of his rape of Bramber. Another piece of land in the northeast of the original rape of Lewes, the hundred of East Grinstead, was given to Robert, Count of Mortain. William de Warenne was compensated for these land losses by a grant of manors in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, which are described in Domesday Book as 'of the exchange of Lewes' or 'of the castellany of Lewes' and in the time of Henry II as the Earl of Warenne's 'new land'.

Sub-divisions

The rape is traditionally divided into the following hundreds: *

Barcombe Barcombe is an East Sussex village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex. The parish has four settlements: old Barcombe (), the oldest settlement in the parish with the parish church; Barcombe Cross (), the more populous settl ...

* Buttinghill * Dean * Fishersgate * Holmstrow * Poynings * Preston *

Streat Streat is a village and parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, south-east of Burgess Hill and west of Lewes, within the South Downs National Park. The 11th-century parish church has no dedication; the ecclesiastical parish ...

* Swanborough * Whalebourne *

Younsmere Younsmere Hundred was an administrative unit in the Rape of Lewes in the eastern division of the county of Sussex, England until the abolition of Hundred (country subdivision), hundreds in the 19th century. The ''Rape'' was a county sub-division ...

References

Bibliography

External links