Bonfire Night is celebrated throughout Britain, but in Sussex it developed a character of its own.
Here, the Fifth of November became more than an annual bonfire and firework display. Towns and villages formed Bonfire Societies, organised torchlit processions and developed their own costumes, traditions and identities.
Many of those traditions survive today.
Others have disappeared.
The early Sussex celebrations
The tradition of marking 5 November in Sussex stretches back centuries, although the organised Bonfire Societies familiar today generally developed much later.
By the nineteenth century, Bonfire celebrations could be noisy, chaotic and occasionally violent affairs.
Bonfires were built in streets and public spaces. Tar barrels were burned, fireworks were thrown and groups of Bonfire Boys took over town centres.
Lewes became particularly famous for its celebrations.
Attempts by the authorities to control the event led to repeated confrontations. The Bonfire Boys regarded the Fifth as their traditional right, while magistrates, police and local authorities increasingly regarded street fires and uncontrolled crowds as a danger.
The tensions helped shape the organised Bonfire movement that followed.
The Sussex Bonfire Societies
During the nineteenth century, increasingly organised groups began to emerge.
Instead of an informal gathering of Bonfire Boys, societies developed committees, officers, headquarters and membership structures. They organised processions and collected money, often for hospitals and other charitable causes.
In Lewes, the movement towards organised societies gathered pace during the 1850s. The history of Lewes Borough Bonfire Society records the formation of Lewes Bonfire Society and Cliffe Bonfire Society in 1853. The former had become Lewes Borough Bonfire Society by 1859.
Lewes became the best-known centre of the movement, but Bonfire Societies appeared across Sussex.
Some belonged to substantial towns. Others represented villages containing only a few hundred people.
Societies could be based around a particular neighbourhood, pub or part of a town. This explains why some places had several competing Bonfire organisations at the same time.
Eastbourne, Newhaven, Brighton, Rye and Lewes all had multiple groups at various points in their history.
Torches, costumes and processions
The torchlit procession became one of the defining features of Sussex Bonfire.
Members marched through the streets carrying flaming torches, accompanied by bands and banners. Fancy dress gradually developed into more organised society costumes.
Different societies adopted different identities.
Pirates became particularly popular, while other societies adopted smugglers, pioneers, soldiers and historical themes. Some developed separate costume groups within the same society.
Processions became increasingly elaborate, with decorated floats and tableaux joining the traditional torches and bands.
The bonfire remained at the heart of the evening, followed increasingly by large organised firework displays.
Many of these features can still be seen at Sussex Bonfire celebrations today.
The Sussex Martyrs
Sussex Bonfire also developed a connection with events that took place half a century before the Gunpowder Plot.
During the reign of Queen Mary I, Protestants who refused to abandon their beliefs were prosecuted for heresy. A number were burned at the stake in Sussex.
Lewes has a particularly strong connection with the Marian persecutions. Seventeen Protestant martyrs were burned in the town between 1555 and 1557.
Their deaths became incorporated into the Lewes Bonfire tradition.
The burning crosses carried through the streets commemorate the martyrs, and remembrance of them remains an important part of the town's Fifth of November celebrations.
A memorial to the seventeen martyrs was erected on Cliffe Hill in 1901 and remains one of the most visible reminders of this part of the town's history. There is a full account of the Lewes Martyrs on this site, and a detailed history of the Lewes and Sussex Protestant Martyrs and their memorials here.
This combination of the Gunpowder Plot, local history and traditions developed by generations of Bonfire Boys gave Sussex Bonfire its distinctive character.
Lewes Bonfire
Lewes is now the best-known Bonfire celebration in Sussex.
The town has six principal societies: Lewes Borough, Commercial Square, Cliffe, South Street, Waterloo and Southover.
Each is an independent organisation with its own members, costumes, traditions, processions and firesite.
On 5 November, members of the societies and visiting societies process through the town carrying thousands of flaming torches. Bands, banners, costumes, crosses and tableaux accompany them.
The societies eventually make their way to their separate firesites for bonfires and firework displays.
The history has not always been straightforward. A timeline of Lewes Bonfire records cancellations, disputes with the authorities, the prohibition of street fires in 1906 and the interruptions caused by war.
Lewes attracts enormous attention, but concentrating solely on the town gives a misleading impression of Sussex Bonfire.
The tradition was, and remains, much wider.
Bonfire across Sussex
At various times Bonfire Societies could be found across East and West Sussex.
Battle, Hastings, Rye, Eastbourne, Hailsham, Heathfield, Mayfield, Robertsbridge, Northiam, Uckfield, Newick and many other communities developed their own celebrations.
Some societies were large and well organised. Others were small village organisations whose history is now difficult to reconstruct.
They visited one another's celebrations, marched together and gradually developed what is now known as the Sussex Bonfire season.
The Fifth of November remains the central date, but celebrations are held in different towns and villages throughout September, October and November.
This allows societies to visit and support one another rather than every community holding its event on the same night.
More than fireworks
Charity has long played an important role in Sussex Bonfire.
Historical accounts regularly record Bonfire Boys collecting money for hospitals and other local causes.
That tradition continues today.
Modern societies raise money throughout the year through fetes, raffles, collections, social events and other fundraising activities. The money helps pay for the considerable cost of staging Bonfire, while collections also support charities and local organisations.
For many members, Bonfire is therefore a year-round activity rather than a single night in November.
Decline and revival
The history of Sussex Bonfire has not been one of uninterrupted survival.
Societies have disappeared for many reasons.
Changes to laws and local regulations made some traditional celebrations difficult to continue. Finding suitable land for bonfires became a problem. Membership declined. Money ran out.
A 1906 by-law prohibiting fires within 25 yards of a highway had a particularly serious effect. Some societies disbanded, while celebrations elsewhere were interrupted. The history of this period and its effect on the Sussex societies is discussed in The Independent's feature on the Sussex Bonfire tradition.
The two World Wars caused further interruptions across the county and some societies never recovered.
Yet Sussex Bonfire proved remarkably difficult to kill off.
Some dormant societies were eventually revived. New societies were created in places where an older tradition had disappeared. Communities that had gone without a procession for decades began celebrating again.
The result is the network of Bonfire Societies that exists today.
But that modern network represents only part of the story.
Look through old newspapers, photographs and village histories and the names of other societies begin to appear. Some represented substantial towns. Others came from tiny villages.
They carried torches, formed committees, collected for hospitals, organised bands and built their bonfires.
Then they disappeared.
These are the lost Bonfire Societies of Sussex.