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A VISIT TO LEWES 165
5. Michael's voice the fleeting hour records, And Gabriel loud repeats his brother's words ; While humble Cliffeites, ruled by meaner power, By Tom the Archbishop regulate their hour."
M. A. Lower, epigram on the Lewes Clocks. (The parish church • of Cliffe is dedicated to S. Thomas a Becket.)
The Town Hall was formerly the " Star Hotel," and was purchased by the Corporation in 1890.
The building is of red brick and Portland stone in the Renaissance style. It possesses a fine oak staircase, which was brought from Slaugham Place, near Cuckfield, in the eighteenth century, and was placed in the Star Hotel. This staircase is Elizabethan, and is well worth an inspection. The Council Chamber and Mayor's Parlour are of considerable age, and are the only two original rooms of the Star Hotel remaining.
It was at the " sign of the Starre " in 1556 that six Protestants were burnt, and ten more met a similar fate in the following year, during the episcopacy of Bishop Christopherson, of whom Fuller observes that though carrying much of Christ in his surname, he did bear nothing of Him in his nature. Rudyard Kipling only mentions Lewes once in his Sussex stories. In " Friendly Brook " we learn that " Jim Wickenden's woman |
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