East Sussex County Council has organised the celebration at Herstmonceux Castle on Friday 6 June to thank the Friends for their work. The reception will be hosted by the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, Mrs Phyllida Stewart-Roberts, who is President of FESRO.
The Friends have been working for almost 30 years and during that time have raised over £70,000 to support the work of the County Archives. Some of the documents that they have helped to save – ranging in date from the 1250s up to 1942 and with a geographical spread from Rye to Hove – will be on show at the reception. The documents cover all aspects of the history of East Sussex and its people.
Councillor Bob Tidy, Lead Member for Community Services, said: “The reception will enable us to show how much we owe to the Friends of our Record Office. Many of the documents that they helped to save are among the star items of the County Archives and it is chilling to contemplate what would have happened to these documents without the prompt and generous action of the Friends.
“These documents are part of our heritage and saving them has been the most rewarding and enjoyable activity for the Friends. We look forward to another 30 years of fundraising to secure yet more archival treasures for the people of East Sussex.”
Documents that will be on show at the Herstmonceux Castle reception include:
- A Battle Abbey charter from the 1250s.
- Papers of the De La Warr Cycling Boulevard at Bexhill.
- Court rolls of the manor of Herstmonceux the year after the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
- New evidence of the date of the Sheffield Park.
- The earliest known detailed map of Brighton.
- A map from 1755 showing Hove as open agricultural land.
- A certificate of Hastings Corporation sending details of their muster to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1496.
- Photographs of the inhabitants of Telscombe in 1904.
The reception will also showcase some of the most attractive maps from the County Archives including one of Delves House in Ringmer, dating from 1704, which shows the home of ‘tortoise Timothy’, whose figure now graces the village sign.
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