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At the outbreak of war in 1914, Herstmonceux Castle near Hailsham was home to Colonel Claude Lowther; an eccentric MP and Boer War veteran. Too old to serve in World War One, instead he sought Parliamentary approval to create a South Downs Battalion.

The Battalion was made up of ordinary men from the surrounding area. In some cases whole families of men joined up together and three thousand quickly enlisted.
Their mascot was Peter the Sheep, who roamed the grounds at Herstmonceux and the men became known as Lowther’s Lambs.

The men were used in a decoy operation on 30 June 1916, the day before the start of the Battle of the Somme. The tactic was a failure, the men were trapped on the barbed wire and cut to pieces by German machine guns – it became known as ‘The Day Sussex Died’.

Sara Smith narrates the story.

Location: Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 1RN