Most churches in Lewes keep their doors open to visitors all day long.
Risky, in a world of theft and vandalism, and so it turned out for the parish church of Lewes, St Michael’s.
Situated on the High Street just below the Castle, the ancient church is a popular attraction for visitors with its rare round Norman tower, its reputation as the wedding place of Tom Paine and the only practicing Anglo Catholic (High) Church for many miles around.
So, it is brave of the church fathers to leave a very precious artefact hanging on the north wall.
In fact, they don’t.
But no one told the local burglars that and a couple of years ago, one or more of them popped in and nicked Sir Nick’s helmet.
The artefact is indeed the helmet of Tudor knight Sir Nicholas Pelham who worshipped at St Thomas’s, added ten children to the congregation and nipped down to Seaford to fight off the French in 1545.
But the helmet on display is a copy.
The church has his real helmet alright. But it is a priceless relic and is kept tightly locked up in a safe to keep grubby little hands trying to relieve it from the church wall and trying to make a bob or two by selling it to a dealer.
Despite being a facsimile, the helmet is worth a few shillings and it was only after a determined search party from the church peered into the back rooms of local antique and second hand stores that it was found ready for resale.
Now it is proudly back on the church wall, and Parish Priest David Broad is determined to keep it on public view as an important memento of both Sir Nicholas’s bravery as well as a reminder of how Lewes developed as a community.
The helmet hangs over a frieze that shows the knight at prayer with his wife and an inscription which tongue in cheek tells the story of his daring victory over the French.
Many local people still pronounce Seaford as See-foord, and so the rhyme goes:
‘What time the French sought to have sack’t Seafoord,
The Pelham did repel them back aboord.’
Sir Nicholas was actually from the village of Laughton, but his ten children went on to create a dynasty that made the family name a famous and respected one in Lewes.
Pelham House, which sits just off the High Street on St Andrew’s Lane, was the Pelham family’s residence for 150 years from 1653 until 1803.
But back to Nick. The colourful character did indeed pop down to Seaford and fight off pesky French raiders, who had a nasty habit of dropping from their ships and sacking the town.
As was the custom of the day, Sir Nicholas kept a jolly band of men at arms, who not only protected him but were used in the service of the country.
That is if Nick decided that it was OK. He was obviously a bit of a wilful chap and on one occasion told Queen Mary to get lost – he wasn’t letting his soldiers be used in a royal battle with France.
A humourless majesty threw him into Fleet prison for his troubles and Sir Nicholas decided discretion was the better part of valour and supplied a troop of horsemen as a compromise.
He was no stranger to prison and Edward VI chucked him into the Tower of London along with the Earl of Arundel for choosing the wrong side in a power struggle. He wrote his will there, so convinced was he that he would be heading towards the executioner’s block.
But he was released and became the High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1549.
It was Nicholas who bought a house called the White Hart as a family residence and present owner Cliff Ayris proudly displays the initials on a fireplace in the hotel bar with TP etched into it. He explains most people think it is for Tom Paine, the famous philosopher and author of the 18th century. In fact, it is for Thomas Pelham, a descendant of the man who purchased the present Pelham House from the builders, a family called Goring in 1653.
A plaque on the wall of the present building suggests that a theatre group called the Lewes Players had premises in the mansion’s grounds in a structure called the Old County Hall before the Council demolished it to extend Pelham House. The County Council had purchased the house in 1928 as a headquarters before recently selling it on as a hotel
Sir Nicholas became a big and respected part of the Lewes community and he asked that when he died he be buried in St Michael’s graveyard, a church that he attended regularly.
He was laid to rest there in 1560, along with his wife Ann Sackville, as was Sir Robert Pelham some years later in 1624.
The later Pelham family, not without controversy, held many high offices of state and were MPs for Lewes stretching over a number of years. But that is a story for another time.
Sir Nicholas, though controversial, never lost his head and was mentioned at court as being a skilled soldier. Indeed, he saved Seaford and saw off the French in those distant times of the 16th century.
It would have been a serious travesty if having never lost his head in the 1500s, he had lost his helmet in the early 21st
St Nicholas Pelham was a famous and fearless former resident