Lewes Bonfire Night processions commemorate 17 Protestant martyrs.
The martyrs were seventeen people from Sussex who were burned at the stake for their Protestant beliefs during the reign of Mary I. Their deaths took place between 1555 and 1557, during the Marian persecutions that followed Mary’s restoration of Catholic worship in England.
Lewes’s 5 November celebrations combine remembrance of those local martyrs with the national commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot. Processions commonly carry banners and tableaux, and a memorial service is held at the Martyrs Memorial on the town’s western edge. The event also includes bonfires and the burning of effigies.
The number 17 refers specifically to the Sussex martyrs commemorated by Lewes, not to the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. The two historical episodes occurred decades apart, but both became part of the town’s distinctive Bonfire Night identity.