Sparks and flames fly around the war memorial at the heart of the annual spectacle of Lewes Bonfire night celebrations
The ancient county town of Lewes in Sussex, England where the locals spend all year preparing to dress up as pirates, smugglers, vikings and more and go crazy on bonfire night, November 5. They stage massive firework displays, build and burn effigies of popular and unpopular famous people, torch gigantic bonfires and let off earsplitting bangers all night. Members of Bonfire Societies founded over 200 years ago parade torches and flaming crosses in memory of 17 Protestant martyrs burned to death from 1555 to 1557, under the reign of Mary Tudor in Lewes High street. The huge spectacle is mounted every year by the town's seven bonfire societies. The bonfire societies also celebrate or commemorate the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when conspirators led by Robert Catesby planned to blow up King James I as he opened Parliament, and the landing of William of Orange (William III, half of William and Mary) on 5th November 1688 to restore a Protestant monarchy.
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Photo credit: © Roger Bamber / Alamy / Afripics
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