Handmade Sussex trugs, stoolball and Sussex pond pudding offer a different introduction to the county from its famous cliffs and castles. Their stories begin in workshops, on playing fields and in kitchens, with skills and customs that have developed over generations.
Readers can place these distinctive traditions alongside Sussex’s famous landmarks and culture, from 1066 and the South Downs to Brighton’s seaside identity.
This guide explores nine distinctive Sussex connections across East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove. Some have travelled far beyond the county, others are shared with neighbouring areas. What connects them is a particular place in Sussex’s history, and, in many cases, its everyday life.
Sussex trugs: a basket built from willow and chestnut
A traditional Sussex trug is a wooden garden basket made with willow boards and a sweet-chestnut frame. Herstmonceux and East Hoathly, both in East Sussex, are historic centres of the craft. The individual boards, curved rim and arching handle distinguish its construction from a woven basket.
The work involves treating the two woods differently. In its published account of trug making, The Truggery describes splitting and shaving chestnut before steaming it and bending it around forms. Willow boards are shaved, softened in rainwater and eased into the assembled frame. Some of that willow comes from cricket-bat manufacturing offcuts.
Thomas Smith helped bring the Sussex trug to wider attention through his Herstmonceux business. Heritage Crafts records Queen Victoria buying his trugs at the Great Exhibition in 1851, while noting that the basket’s precise origins are much older and less certain.
The hand skills remain vulnerable. Heritage Crafts’ 2025 Red List classifies traditional Sussex trug making as critically endangered, identifying difficulties retaining trainees and competition from mass-produced imitations. The classification concerns the traditional willow-and-chestnut craft, rather than every basket-shaped product sold under the name “trug”.
Stoolball: round bats and shoulder-height wickets
Watch a game of stoolball and the equipment immediately sets it apart. The wickets stand at shoulder height, about 14 metres apart, and the willow bats have round faces and long handles. A small, hard ball is bowled underarm towards the batter’s wicket.
The aim is to score more runs than the opposing team. Batters run between the wickets or hit boundaries for four or six. They can be caught, bowled or run out, and there is even a dismissal called body-before-wicket.
Stoolball England identifies a written record from 1450, but says nobody knows precisely when or how the game began. That is a documented reference, not an invention date.
Its Sussex presence is visible in competitions such as the Mid Sussex Mixed League, Lewes League and Eastbourne Red Triangle League. The governing body also lists leagues in Kent and Surrey, so the game’s strong Sussex association should not be mistaken for geographical exclusivity.
For readers interested in playing, Stoolball England’s team directory provides a starting point. There are women’s and mixed teams, and clubs supply equipment: trying the sport need not begin with buying a bat.
Sussex pond pudding: the lemon is only part of the story
Sussex pond pudding is a suet-pastry pudding filled with butter and sugar, with a whole lemon enclosed in many modern versions. During steaming, the filling becomes a sauce that spills around the pudding when it is cut open and the “pond” on the plate. The recipe published by delicious. magazine uses this whole-lemon approach. delicious. magazine
The dramatic centre can make the lemon seem inseparable from the dish. An older recipe complicates that impression.
The 1672 second edition of Hannah Woolley’s The Queen-like Closet contains a recipe titled “To make a Sussex Pudding”. Woolley instructs the cook to enclose a large piece of butter in a pastry made with cream, flour, eggs and spice, then boil it in a buttered cloth. Once the pudding reaches the table, it is opened and rosewater and sugar are added. No lemon appears in that recipe.
It is an early documented Sussex-named pudding, rather than proof that today’s lemon version has remained unchanged since the seventeenth century.
Modern recipes vary, too. Prue Leith’s version for The Great British Bake Off makes two smaller puddings using vegetable suet and half a lemon in each. Her published method calls for two hours of steaming and serves them with crème anglaise. It gives home cooks a smaller-scale alternative to the single large pudding.
Bonfire societies: the organisations behind the torchlight
Sussex bonfire culture is built around societies, each with its own history and arrangements for processions, costumes and celebrations.
In Lewes, Cliffe Bonfire Society gives 1853 as its generally accepted founding year. Its historical account describes torchlight processions accompanied by bands, changing costumes and increasingly elaborate displays.
The societies also visit one another’s events. Cliffe’s 2026 outmeetings list includes invitations to Mayfield, Burgess Hill, Hastings, Littlehampton and East Hoathly, among other places. The list shows a network extending across towns and villages, rather than a tradition confined to one night in Lewes.
In Littlehampton, West Sussex, the society’s published programme combines marching bands, floats, walking groups and visiting bonfire societies with a seafront bonfire and fireworks. The procession is as much a part of the event as the display at its end.
The history includes religious antagonism as well as pageantry. Cliffe’s own account records anti-Catholic banners and speeches, and later disputes over their retention. Those details belong to the society’s documented history; they should neither be erased from it nor treated as evidence of every participant’s personal beliefs today.
Twittens: a local word you can follow on foot
A twitten is a narrow alleyway or passage. It is a familiar word in Sussex, although Collins labels it more broadly as south-east England dialect. The regional vocabulary is distinctive; the existence of shortcuts between buildings is not exclusive to the county.
In Burgess Hill, West Sussex, the word becomes a practical way to explore. The town council has produced a booklet of nine walks following twitten paths, linking locations across the town and out into the surrounding countryside. Routes vary in length, and some can also be cycled.
The council makes the guide available online and offers free printed copies through its Help Point at 96 Church Walk and dispensers around the town. It is a useful starting point for anyone who would rather walk a twitten than simply learn its definition.
“We wunt be druv”: a saying that still finds new uses
“We wunt be druv” means “we won’t be driven”. The Sussex saying expresses resistance to being pushed around. Sussex Contemporary presents it as a declaration of independence and local pride.
The phrase has also become material for contemporary art. Sussex Contemporary chose it as the theme of its 2026 artist open call, inviting interpretations for an exhibition planned at Lewes Town Hall’s Corn Exchange during Artwave. Its brief allowed personal, political and poetic responses, rather than prescribing a single meaning.
That invitation leaves the words open to different readings: defiance, humour, attachment to a place or resistance to somebody else’s idea of what that place should be.
Southdown sheep: a Sussex contribution that travelled
The Southdown is a compact, hornless sheep breed with a dense fleece. Its traditional appearance includes a mouse-coloured face and legs, although modern examples can be white-faced.
The breed developed from sheep of the South Downs, with eighteenth-century breeders, including John Ellman, helping establish a consistent type. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust identifies the Southdown as a foundation of the wider group of Down breeds.
Its influence spread through breeding and export. Southdowns contributed to the development of breeds including the Suffolk and Hampshire Down, and were exported to Australia, New Zealand and North America.
They are consequently a Sussex connection that readers may encounter a long way from Sussex. The Southdown Sheep Society supports breeders across the UK through registration and other services, while documenting the breed’s presence in several countries.
Sussex marble: fossil shells inside a misleading name
Sussex marble is a fossil-rich freshwater limestone, not geological marble. It takes a good polish, which explains the name, but has not undergone the metamorphism that forms true marble. It occurs in parts of East Sussex, West Sussex and Kent.
Other names include Petworth marble, Bethersden marble, Laughton stone and winklestone. The pale remains of freshwater snail shells sit within darker material, giving the stone its characteristic pattern. The UK Virtual Microscope’s collection includes a specimen from Coolham quarries, near Horsham.
There are also examples in buildings still in use. At St Michael’s Church in Northchapel, West Sussex, the parish identifies its lead-lined baptismal font as Sussex marble, dated 1669. Its account states that the font continues to be used for baptisms: a local material carrying out the same function centuries later.
Volk’s Electric Railway: Victorian engineering still carrying passengers
Brighton’s Volk’s Electric Railway offers a more specific distinction than a regional association. Its operator describes it as the world’s oldest working electric railway, dating from 1883. The railway takes its name from its creator, Magnus Volk.
The line runs for about a mile along Brighton’s seafront, with three stations: Aquarium, Halfway and Black Rock. Aquarium Station is close to Brighton Palace Pier and houses the visitor centre; Black Rock is at the eastern end, near Brighton Marina.
It is a seasonal railway, so check the operator’s current timetable before planning a journey.
Behind the passenger service is continuing preservation work. The Volk’s Electric Railway Association, formed in 1995, supports maintenance of the track, vehicles and electrical systems, as well as historical research and railway operations. Its published account includes work on the restoration project that rebuilt depot sheds and a station and restored three passenger vehicles.
The association also offers members the chance to train to drive the cars. Here, helping preserve a piece of Sussex history can mean learning how to take it down the track.
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