Pronounciation of Lewes

[RUK]

I never knew that “Lewes” was pronounced like “Lew-ess” - I had presumed that it was pronounced like “Loos”.

 

[WesternLancer]

I never knew that “Lewes” was pronounced like “Lew-ess” - I had presumed that it was pronounced like “Loos”.

As someone who grew up round there I am not sure the person in the video from NR is pronouncing it quite as I’d say it.
She sounds as if she’s saying it a bit like Lewis. As in the Isle of Lewis. Which isn’t quite right.
Tho it’s a bit of a subtle distinction.

 

[zwk500]

As someone who grew up round there I am not sure the person in the video from NR is pronouncing it quite as I’d say it.
She sounds as if she’s saying it a bit like Lewis. As in the Isle of Lewis. Which isn’t quite right.
Tho it’s a bit of a subtle distinction.

As somebody who also grew up very much just outside Lewes, I wouldn't say she's pronouncing it wrong, more just an accent thing. She's perhaps slightly overstressing the second syllable, rather than mispronouncing it, IMO.

Although the original pronunciation might well have changed with more people moving into Sussex from other areas and the prevalence of the Isle of Lewis, Lewisham, and the man's name Lewis as reference points.

I would naturally pronounce the second syllable about halfway between 'ess' and 'iss', if I think about it.

 

[WesternLancer]

As somebody who also grew up very much just outside Lewes, I wouldn't say she's pronouncing it wrong, more just an accent thing. She's perhaps slightly overstressing the second syllable, rather than mispronouncing it, IMO.

Although the original pronunciation might well have changed with more people moving into Sussex from other areas and the prevalence of the Isle of Lewis, Lewisham, and the man's name Lewis as reference points.

I would naturally pronounce the second syllable about halfway between 'ess' and 'iss', if I think about it.

As somebody who also grew up very much just outside Lewes, I wouldn't say she's pronouncing it wrong, more just an accent thing. She's perhaps slightly overstressing the second syllable, rather than mispronouncing it, IMO.

Although the original pronunciation might well have changed with more people moving into Sussex from other areas and the prevalence of the Isle of Lewis, Lewisham, and the man's name Lewis as reference points.

I would naturally pronounce the second syllable about halfway between 'ess' and 'iss', if I think about it.

I agree with you on all that. Well put.
Ongoing changes in pronunciation is a very good point I bet the pronunciation in the 1950s for example was slightly different to today and eg 1920s more so again.

 

[Bald Rick]

I never knew that “Lewes” was pronounced like “Lew-ess” - I had presumed that it was pronounced like “Loos”.

You’re the second person I have heard this week saying that. Prior to this week, I’d never heard anyone suggest it was spoken in any way other than Lew-es.

Next test - “Godalming” (Let’s not, please!)

 

[Jan Mayen]

You’re the second person I have heard this week saying that. Prior to this week, I’d never heard anyone suggest it was spoken in any way other than Lew-es.

Next test - “Godalming” (Let’s not)

I once heard at Guildford Station it being pronounced 'God help us'. By a passenger, not staff.

 

[zwk500]

You’re the second person I have heard this week saying that. Prior to this week, I’d never heard anyone suggest it was spoken in any way other than Lew-es.

I've known quite a few people over the years think it was 'Loos'. I have also heard a BBC Radio 5 Live presenter read out the final score of a 'Loos Women' match, and it took me a moment to work out it was Lewes Women, as I'd forgotten they played at a high enough tier to be mentioned!

Next test - “Godalming” (Let’s not)

Leominster

 

[Phil R]

I once heard at Guildford Station it being pronounced 'God help us'. By a passenger, not staff.

Another one I thought there was only the one obvious way, Godlmin, till my brother told me he was in the area for a beer as he was going to GodALMing with work. you what?, I said.
Sorry off piste, but as it was mentioned...

 

[BRX]

I used to pronounce the "d" in Guildford, until I was told off for it.
I currently spend a fair bit of time in Lewes and am often listening to people to try and work out if it's pronounced differently from Lewis.

 

[bramling]

I used to pronounce the "d" in Guildford, until I was told off for it.
I currently spend a fair bit of time in Lewes and am often listening to people to try and work out if it's pronounced differently from Lewis.

I have relations there, I’ve never heard anyone local say anything other than “Lewis”. The only thing I’d note is that the i may be very fractionally more clipped.

As an aside, I’ve always thought it a somewhat strange name for a town.

 

[BrianW]

I never knew that “Lewes” was pronounced like “Lew-ess” - I had presumed that it was pronounced like “Loos”.

Evry day a lernin day ...?

Another one I thought there was only the one obvious way, Godlmin, till my brother told me he was in the area for a beer as he was going to GodALMing with work. you what?, I said.
Sorry off piste, but as it was mentioned...

Godawful? Bolt On? Etsetra ... Mocking acsents? Dilex?

 

[ETMbloke]

Evry day a lernin day ...?
Godawful? Bolt On? Etsetra ... Mocking acsents? Dilex?

From a guard, GOODalming.
From a former colleague, when visiting the office there, "Sleepy Hollow"!

 

[D6130]

From a guard, GOODalming.
From a former colleague, when visiting the office there, "Sleepy Hollow"!

When I was a young booking clerk in the Guildford area back in the mid-1970s, we referred to it as Sod-all-ming. But we're getting somewhat off-topic here.

 

[Recessio]

Similar one nearby is Seaford. Most people say "SEA-fud", with the "ford" pronounced the same as in Guildford, Ilford or Romford. It's also what the automated announcements say.

But the local pronunciation for local people is "SEA-ford", pronounced like Ford the car company. I do hear a few guards - I'm assuming locals - say it this way in their manual announcements.

As for Lewes, in my opinion it's sort of somewhere between the name Lewis and the place Loos. More like "LEW-iss" or "LEW-uhs" with the emphasis on the first syllable rather than second.

 

[gg1]

As someone who grew up round there I am not sure the person in the video from NR is pronouncing it quite as I’d say it.
She sounds as if she’s saying it a bit like Lewis. As in the Isle of Lewis. Which isn’t quite right.
Tho it’s a bit of a subtle distinction.

That's the way I always thought it was pronounced until reading this thread.

 

[WesternLancer]

That's the way I always thought it was pronounced until reading this thread.

Yes, that's very common approach I've found - eg from friends of mine from other areas for example. And the distinction is admittedly quite subtle

 

[D6130]

Similar one nearby is Seaford. Most people say "SEA-fud", with the "ford" pronounced the same as in Guildford, Ilford or Romford. It's also what the automated announcements say.

But the local pronunciation for local people is "Sea-FORD", pronounced like Ford the car company. I do hear a few guards - I'm assuming locals - say it this way in their manual announcements.

As for Lewes, in my opinion it's sort of somewhere between the name Lewis and the place Loos. More like "LEW-iss" or "LEW-uhs" with the emphasis on the first syllable rather than second.

Perhaps all the other pronunciations should be thrown onto a bonfire?

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Ask a Sussex/Lewes local if any are members here?

Place names can be peculiar if pronounced differently as to written on paper especially those in Yorkshire - (Slawit)!

 

[WesternLancer]

Perhaps all the other pronunciations should be thrown onto a bonfire?

or over a Cliffe?

 

[Recessio]

Ask a Sussex/Lewes local if any are members here?

I did grow up around there but it's been a long time since - I do get laughed at by my family for being the only one to not have a local accent anymore!

Place names can be peculiar if pronounced differently as to written on paper especially those in Yorkshire - (Slawit)!

The southeast isn't too bad for this compared to Yorkshire (Mytholmroyd comes to mind), though sticking nearish Lewes I know Moulsecoomb catches tourists out.

 

[CalderRail]

The southeast isn't too bad for this compared to Yorkshire (Mytholmroyd comes to mind), though sticking nearish Lewes I know Moulsecoomb catches tourists out.

The one that annoys everyone in Calderdale is how the automated railway announcer says "Sowerby Bridge", which is traditionally followed by all of the locals muttering "it's SOR-BEE" under their breath.
She also (unless they've changed it since I moved away) murders to pronunciation of Todmorden (she says Tod-MORE-den, when the stress should be on the first syllable).
And then of course, over in the next valley there's Slaithwaite...

 

[contrex]

people moving into Sussex from other areas

Oh dear! The very idea! Where are my smelling salts? In fact I dated a girl from Worthing who used to jokingly say 'Zuzzex'; I guess she was referring to some byegone accent?

 

[zwk500]

Oh dear! The very idea! Where are my smelling salts? In fact I dated a girl from Worthing who used to jokingly say 'Zuzzex'; I guess she was referring to some byegone accent?

I don't know too much about the original Sussex accent, but I understand it was quite similar to West Country and East Anglian accents (Sussex being without very rural until it became commuterland).

Sussex has an unofficial motto of 'We wunt be druv' meaning 'we won't be driven', hinting at the original accent. Plenty of books and a wikipedia article are available about the Sussex Dialect, and somewhere on Youtube I believe there is a recording of the original accent.

 

[contrex]

I don't know too much about the original Sussex accent, but I understand it was quite similar to West Country and East Anglian accents (Sussex being without very rural until it became commuterland).

Sussex has an unofficial motto of 'We wunt be druv' meaning 'we won't be driven', hinting at the original accent. Plenty of books and a wikipedia article are available about the Sussex Dialect, and somewhere on Youtube I believe there is a recording of the original accent.

In The Invisible Man (1897), HG Wells gives what I suppose is an eye-dialect rendering of rural Sussex speech:

Hall had stood gaping. “He wuz bit,” said Hall. “I’d better go and see to en,” and he trotted after the stranger. He met Mrs. Hall in the passage. “Carrier’s darg,” he said, “bit en.”

My mother had a friend born in Aylesford in Kent around 1920, and she had a distinct accent, rather like Somerset or Norfolk. On the other hand, I have some much younger relatives by marriage from Sussex, and you'd think they were Cockneys to hear them speak.

 

[styles]

I pronounce it Lewes.

Hope that helps.

 

[Sealink]

Bal Ham...

 

[Kubes]

Bal Ham...

Gateway to the South

 

[styles]

Bal Ham...

Possibly close to the original pronunciation, given it will be a contraction of bal/beal (round) and ham (small settlement or homestead).

 

[Starmill]

I've never heard of anyone saying it any way other than like "Lewis" although obviously accent does come into play.

 

[zwk500]

I've never heard of anyone saying it any way other than like "Lewis" although obviously accent does come into play.

I think if you move in railway circles the correct pronunciation may be a little more readily known because of it's role as a junction, and more significantly because of Lewes-Uckfield!