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For centuries the social life of communities has centred round the church, the inn and the market place or fairground where meetings of all kinds were held and where public proclamations were made, bonfires lit and festive gatherings took place. The Lamb Inn has occupied just such a site, adjacent to St Mary’s Church and must have been the hub of events for the According to the Rev.Walter Budgen the building probably “belonged to the church and may well be the site of the house granted to the Rector about the year 1240, which is described as being ‘next the churchyard of Burne,’. The premises were formerly held as copyhold of the Manor of Be that as it may the present building has 16th century timber work and covers an earlier crypt or cellar which may date from the 14th century. The vaulted roof of which has ribs rising to a central boss decorated with three baliflowers in the Early English style. There are persistent stories relating to a subterranean passage leading from The Lamb to the Church or the Old Parsonage but various investigations and excavations have taken place over the years and so far the popular belief has remained unsubstantiated. Indeed the so called evidence has been well explored and the ‘tunnel’ seems to be no more than an underground gap formed when the chimney was built between the north wall and the adjacent St Mary’s House. It is understandable that tales of smugglers and contraband should be associated with the Inn and though there is plenty of written evidence that smugglers landed their goods and passed through The timber framework now visible on the west face and the upper part of the south face was covered by plaster in Georgian times and alterations were then made which included the addition of a fashionable Assembly Room, an important social facility where Balls and card parties were held, theatricals performed, and meetings or gatherings took place. In 1912 the earlier timbers which for decades had been hidden and unsuspected were suddenly exposed to view by superficial damage caused by a runaway horse. The Georgian alterations had also included the enlargement of the ground floor rooms and the building of a new wall and windows below the original overhanging jetty on the High Street frontage. When the plain plaster finish was stripped away the old timber framing was reinstated with the exception of this portion. The Lamb is a common enough inn name and often has religious associations but the inn at Bourne may not have been visited by more than an occasional pilgrim. The village was not on any major pilgrims’ route although travelers along the coast of The inn was the meeting place where local matters were discussed, goods were sold and enquiries held. Officials conducted the examination of witnesses in connection with the collection of the Great Tythes in Oct. 1689 at the house of Peter Collier commonly known by the sign of the Lamb and butter salvaged from a local wreck was on sale there in 1742. There is a fascinating document giving the Articles for a club to be held at the Lamb Inn, These club meetings may have continued on a regular basis over a long period because thirty years later in October 1772 notice was given that ‘the Weekly Club which formerly was at H.Carter’s at The Lamb inn on every Friday throughout the winter season in now altered to Thursday for the better convenience of subscribers’. The Auctions of goods and property were frequently held, sometimes following a bankruptcy or a death. One interesting auction took place in May 1770 when the Library of Books of the late Rev. Dr. Manningham of Jevington took place. The advertisement says that the Library consists of a great variety of the most esteemed authors in Divinity, Philosophy, Mathematics, Law, Physics, History, Husbandry, Gardening, Botany, Lives, Memoirs, Novels, Plays, Romances, Voyages and Travels”. The name of the Innkeeper is often given in these advertisements and other information about the owners and occupiers can be gathered from the Land Tax records which cover the period 1751- 1832, from Wills and the Parish Church records which can be seen at the East Sussex Record Office at Lewes. There is, for instance reference to J’no Peckham, hostler at ye Lambe who was buried 30 Jan 1657/8 and John, whose father Peter Collier was proprietor of the Lamb, who was baptised on the 1st November 1685. He was later to become to become famous as Town Clerk of When William Keys the landholder died in 1761 The Lamb was advertised as a ‘good accustom’d inn (with proper stables thereto)’. Later that year his widow was trying to let the property and sell the remainder of the household furniture and stock of liquors, originally on sale at £1000. Eastbourne’s sheep fair used to be held on Michaelmas Day, 29th September. When the calendar was altered in 1752 and that day became 11th October the annual fair continued on the same day now called Old Michaelmas Day. Part of the Michaelmas fair took place around the churchyard perimeter in
For the fixed sum of a few pence, inns supplied the traveler with a set meal possibly consisting of a roast with vegetables which was consumed at a communal table with the other guests and known as an ‘ordinary’. More business was attracted when the Gregory Fair meeting for farmers was moved from The Apparently the Fullers were keen to improve business and in addition to the Assembly Room, the start of a Post horse and carriage service marked a change of ownership when they purchased the Once war with The Fuller family remained at The Lamb until just after the turn of the century. The nearby Star Brewery began to operate about this time but Local Directories list Messrs Harvey & Son of Lewes as the owners of The Lamb from c.1823. This Company is now the oldest independent brewery in the County. Sources: J.C.Wright Bygone Rev.Walter Budgen Old Nairn & Pevsner Sussex (1965) Parry The Coast of Sussex (1833) ELHS Newsletter 15/2-3, 18/2, 4513, 75/23 Sussex Weekly Advertiser (SWA) 1749- 1810 Sussex Archaeological Collections 10/183 Directories -various. The Lamb Inn - booklet by J.W.Davis c. 1930 Top  |
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