Offham
near Lewes in Sussex In the battle of Lewes in 1264. There was a great slaughter. Large quantities of human bones were unearthed inpits around the side of Lewes Gaol and in chalk pits near Offham Hill. Simon de Monfort's army clashed with the King's troops; 3,000 men were killed and there were stories of horsemen being sucked to their death into a sticky lake of treacle, while still in the saddle. While this account seems to be exaggerated and probably fabricated, as many of the barons and knights escaped death - a poet recorded that some came to a "sticky end". "Speed on my pen, to write what is to
come, For in this year of grace, twelve sixty-four, But let us see how our battle went.
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