| More information : (TQ 4156 0966) The Mount (NAT)
(TQ 4170 0965) Dripping Pan (NAT) (1)
There appears to be no conclusive evidence as to the origin and purpose of 'The Mount' and the adjacent 'Dripping Pan'. The site comprises a mound some 45ft high adjoining a large sunken rectangular piece of ground surrounded by banks.
According to Horsfield the mound was formed of earth excavated from the Dripping Pan, and was by tradition, erected by one of the Earls of Dorset.
Allcroft considers the earthwork to be the original castle of William de Warrenne (the builder of Lewes castle) but Salzman
disagrees on the grounds that even if it had been a purely temporary castle some trace of a ditch would be expected; he himself inclines to the view that it was connected with the Priory of St Pancras, with the spiral path round it, to a chapel or calvary, or even a summer house or gazebo. It is shown as 'Calvary' on the 1775 map of Lewes (8). It is suggested in VCH that there may have been a salt-pan here, since in Essex (6) such pans are accompanied by mounds, perhaps for windmill pumps. (2-8)
According to NES Norris, Curator of Lewes Museum, general opinion supports the salt working mound supposition. Horsfield records saltpans of the Domesday period in the vicinity of Lewes. (9)
'The Mount', a turf-covered bowl-shaped earthen mound some 12.0 - 13.0m in height, is in appearance and construction, a typical Norman motte. It is situated at the eastern end of a low spur of land at the northern edge of 'The Brooks', a wide expanse of land which, in Md times, was covered by sea water at high tides. The position commands the entrance to three valleys, to the W, N and SE.
It is possible, in the absence of a ditch, that the material for the mound came from the nearby 'Dripping Pan' but would account for little more than a third of the soil that has been removed from that place.
The spiral walk to the summit is most probably an added feature of late date.
The situation of 'The Dripping Pan', now a sports ground, rules out any probability of it having been a salt pan. It has been cut out of the lower slopes of the spur, whereas a salt pan could more easily have been created upon the water meadows immediately below. It may have been no more than a chalk or clay pit.
Published 1:2500 survey correct. (10)
The earthwork remains of the possible motte and later prospect mound has been mapped from mapped from lidar images as part of the Changing Chalk Partnership: Downs From Above project. The mound, once complete has a segment cut out of the SW quadrant at some time in the 20th century to accommodate the rectanglular bowling green. The spiral pathway up the mound is likely to be a later addition. (11)
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