Lewes Prison

Lewes Prison is a prison built between 1850 and 1855 by D.R. Hill of Birmingham, with extensions added in 1868 and slight alterations made since. The structure is constructed of flint, featuring stone and red brick dressings, and has stone-coped parapets on both the boundary walls and the main building. The entrance front includes a central entrance flanked by towers, which are further complemented by L-shaped towers to create a symmetrical appearance.

The deep moulded round-arched entrance is located in the center, with boarded and ribbed doors. The flanking towers have single round-headed windows on the ground floor, paired round-headed windows on the first floor, and two shorter individual brick-dressed windows on the second floor. The outer towers are connected to the inner towers by short walls with round-arched doorways and boarded doors, and they feature projecting outer wings.

The building has two storeys, with paired round-headed windows on both the inner and outer wings, and moulded round-arched doorways at the re-entrant angles. The left-hand tower and the second floor of the central left gate-tower have margin-glazing, while the lower floors of the gate-towers have large embossed octagonal glazing. The second floor of the right-hand gate-tower and the right outer tower contain sashes and plain casements.

Inside the prison, there are two wings behind the gate-block, with the right wing now serving as the hospital block, both of which are two storeys high. Between and behind these wings is a cross-plan three-storey block with a central tower featuring offsets to the north and south, a corbelled parapet, and a lantern on top. A chapel is located in the wing that projects forward, while the lower rear wing has two storeys and eight bays. The main wings consist of 22 bays, and all windows are of the horseshoe-arch type. The towers on the roofs are related to the plenum chambers of the former heating system. The boundary wall is of irregular length, approximately 18 feet high, made of flint with some red brick patching and a length of red brick at the southwest corner.