Priest House West Hoathly

24/06/2026

Find your cool in the Priest House - at the moment it’s about ten degrees cooler indoors than out due to the amazing insulation properties of our beautiful 15th Century building!

24/06/2026

Are you enjoying St John’s Summer? Today is our traditional midsummer day, celebrated with feasting, bonfires and a multitude of superstitious rituals (maids could divine their future husbands and there’s even a Harry Potteresque invisibility spell that only works on Midsummer Eve). There’s often a short heatwave with extreme temperatures around today, St John’s Day, which is known as St John’s Summer - it generally holds true and it certainly has this year!

The St John wooden statue is probably 15th Century, from the Rhine Valley and formed part of our founder, John Godwin King’s, original collection. It’s currently sitting in our blissfully cool museum.

23/06/2026

Custodian Antony welcomed the cameras in today for an interview - we can’t tell you who just yet but watch this space! 🎥

21/06/2026

is here and it’s looking like a belter. Today is (roughly) the house’s 596th Summer Solstice. 🌞 That’s a lot of miles round the sun.🌞 Come & experience the natural air conditioning of a traditionally built Sussex House for yourself, it’ll be ten degrees cooler inside than in the garden by mid-afternoon. Open from midday 😊🌞

20/06/2026

Midsummer’s Eve in the Priest House garden, the apples are swelling and the flowers in bloom.

19/06/2026

18/06/2026

We’ve got a big birthday this month - join us to celebrate! 🎂

This month, The Sussex Archaeological Society celebrates an incredible milestone – 180 years of preserving and sharing Sussex's heritage.

Founded in Lewes on 18 June 1846, the Society has spent nearly two centuries caring for historic places, collections and archaeological sites across the county.

A huge thank you to our Members, volunteers, staff and supporters who have helped make this possible.

Want to get involved? You can support the Society by becoming a Member, volunteering your time, making a donation, or exploring one of our historic sites.

Read more: https://sussexpast.co.uk/180-years-celebrating-and-sharing-the-heritage-of-sussex-since-1846/

18/06/2026

Step into a quieter world with us at the beautiful Priest House Museum in West Hoathly. We look forward to welcoming you across our apotropaic iron threshold (ask when you get here 😉).

16/06/2026

Happy ! A shout out to our only female Sussex saint, the much overlooked Lewinna who also happens to be the first woman named in Sussex’s history. Lewinna was an early convert to Christianity in the 7th century and was killed (either by pagan South Saxons or Vikings depending on which account you read) about 670. In 1058 a monk stole her bones, carrying them off by sea to the monastery of St Winnoc near Dunkirk. This monastery was damaged in the 16C French Wars of religion, ransacked in the French Revolution and subsequently bombed in WW2 so all traces of her are lost. There is a legend that the monk, Balger, dropped some bones which may yet lie in Sussex but no one quite knows where. Her tomb was in “a St Andrew’s church near Seaford” but which one (there are several) is a mystery. Alfriston has a woman’s head with a nasty hole on her forehead on its Easter Sepulchre, Beddingham has a painting of an unknown female saint and Bishopstone (nearest to Seaford and the only one in sight of the sea) has a pre-Conquest porticus which may have held a high status burial. Lewinna should really be as well known as our county saint, St Richard, but her story seems to be as much lost to history as her bones. So please raise a glass to St Lewinna today and let’s bring her name and story back to a new generation of South Saxons! Sussex Flag