 Poster: A snowHead
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Over 5 years ago (about 2 weeks after this forum formed in the first week of February 2004), six members of snowHeads met at the Snowdrop Inn in Lewes - the site of the deadliest avalanche in British history (on 27 December 1836). Eight people died, and seven were buried alive and rescued.
I've given talks about the avalanche in 2006 (the 170th anniversary), 2007 ... and yesterday. The disaster featured in a BBC documentary on snow, broadcast earlier this year.
It's great to report that the Snowdrop is in new, independent and very enthusiastic hands, following a sale by Punch Taverns (the largest pub-owning enterprise in Britain). Two guys called Tony and Dominic (chef) are now running the place as a freehouse, the food is great, the choice of beers is good and the ambience is much improved. The pub's being maintained very much as a local, true to its traditions, but it's been redecorated and has an interesting new line in events (there are ghost stories tomorrow - 29 December - if anyone's interested). South Street is a very interesting location, at the far end of Lewes, with the very steep slope and cliff faces of Cliffe Hill towering above it.
Tony's taking a keen interest in the heritage of the pub and is re-acquiring material connected with the avalanche. After more than three years research into the disaster and the massive snowstorm that caused it, I've still not seen the deeds of the building and it remains unclear exactly how long after the destruction of Boulder Row (the line of terraced cottages destroyed or partly destroyed, where the pub stands in South Street) the pub was built. It definitely existed in 1842.
When we originally met in 2004, Michelle spotted a fading document in a frame on the wall which described the avalanche - in particular the rescue and recovery which took place over the seven hours following the disaster [sadly that document was stolen shortly before the pub changed hands, but can be replaced in time]. The document also described the relief fund which was established in the hours after the avalanche took place. The dead and injured were carried to the local workhouse, further down the street, where the inquest took place the following day. It's a quite remarkable story, from a time when electricity barely existed in any usable form, when people got around on horse-drawn stagecoaches and mailcoaches and when Charles Dickens was beginning his career as a novellist (he wrote Pickwick Papers in 1836).
Here's an earlier thread on the avalanche, for anyone interested:
http://www.snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=591603&highlight=lewes#591603
And here's some info. about the research I've been carrying out, most recently with City University in London:
http://citynarratives.wordpress.com/david-goldsmith-snow-writer
I can report that the current avalanche risk in Lewes is pretty low - the snow's melted, but more's expected later this week. Always wear a transceiver when walking down South Street and please keep your dog on an avalanche cord - you can't be too careful.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ah... the Snowdrop! Many an evening spent in there during my formative years, and on many Bonfire Nights since when I've found my way back east  Good to hear it's a free house under new management.
Tapstick
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The Snowdrop's new ownership is a joy to just about everyone who knows the place, least of all those in Lewes. The fact is that the place was going to the dogs (avalanche joke) under Punch Taverns' management.
Why would an enterprise with thousands of pubs care about a little place on a cut-off road*, at the far end of a relatively quiet town?
So, here we have a classic case of a pub with serious challenges for trade being taken on by two people determined to make a success of it. They have ten years experience of running pubs in Brighton (the Hop Poles and another one whose name escapes me - I'll come back to that). They can only achieve this by drawing the former regulars of the Snowdrop back to it, and attracting many new followers.
Tony and Dominic are not the first to attempt this. A landlord called Tim May (who lives next door in a new house he built on spare land) ran the Snowdrop for a long time, with a lot of flair. The pub is sited only 200 yards from the famous Harveys brewery, which pre-dates the avalanche (it's existed since the 1700s).
What about the avalanche itself? If you want to understand this disaster, think of just about the most serious north-easterly blizzard ever to occur in the south of England, sweeping across the Downs, curling over the long edge of Cliffe Hill (recorded as one of the ten steepest hills in England, and even steeper where the chalk quarrying took place) and forming a massive snow cornice - estimated by eye-witnesses to have been 15-20 feet thick. This came crashing down in a sequence of at least six avalanches between the evening of 26 December 1836 and 28 December 1836.
You can easily hike up to the site of the snow cornice itself, by walking up Chapel Hill - an ancient path which traverses the Downs towards Glynde. Chapel Hill is a turning from South Street, with the children's bookshop on the corner (and Cliffe High Street and the church opposite). This path has a great aerial view of the town.
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* South Street was, historically, the main route into Lewes from Seaford, Newhaven, Eastbourne etc. In the 1970s a road tunnel was built right behind the pub, taking all that through-traffic on a by-pass around the town. The pub literally has no passing trade, apart from a few lost motorists and avalanche archaeologists.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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David Sockpuppet, great news. the last time we went in was at the end of 2008 with the outlaws. It was rubbish. Warm beer (so I'm told), flat soft drinks and nothing to suggest that the avalanche had ever happened (the historical documents that had been on the wall had been removed)
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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David Sockpuppet, welcome back to Sockheads. I'll go try the pub on my next visit to the outlaws.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thank you, Swiller. Good to know that you're still wasting your life away in this sock drawer.
When you get to the Snowdrop, admire the new sign. It's a new version of the one that depicts the avalanche itself, which Tony (the new landlord) reckons is based on this 1837 print of the disaster by George Baxter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=350290188917
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