Bibliography - Dr. Colin E. Brent
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Almost Sixty Years of Teacher Training: A short history of Brighton College of Education, by C. E. Brent, published 1968 (Brighton Borough)

Employment, land tenure and population in eastern Sussex 1549-1640, by C. E. Brent, 1973 at Sussex University (Ph.D. thesis)

Sussex in the 16th and 17th Centuries: A Bibliography, by Colin E. Brent, Anthony J. Fletcher and Timothy J. McCann, published 1974 (Occasional Papers no. 2, 54 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242013 & ISBN-13: 9780904242010) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 5892] & The Keep [LIB/502026] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Urban Employment and Population in Sussex between 1550 and 1660, by C. E. Brent, published 1975 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 113, article, pp.35-50) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6177] & The Keep [LIB/500316] & S.A.S. library

Devastating epidemic in the countryside of Eastern Sussex between harvest years 1558 and 1640, by Colin Brent, published Spring 1975 in Local Population Studies Society (Issue 14, article, pp.42-48)   Download PDF

Rural Employment and Population in Sussex between 1550 and 1640, by C. E. Brent, published 1976 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 114, article, pp.27-48) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6476] & The Keep [LIB/500315] & S.A.S. library

A Day's Ramble in Lewes, by Colin Brent and Judith Brent, published 1977 (The Friends of Lewes Society)

Lewes: The Historical Development of a County Town, by Colin E. Brent, published December 1977 (2nd edition, 24 pp., Lewes: East Sussex County Council, ISBN-10: 0861470249 & ISBN-13: 9780861470242) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502889] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Smuggling through Sussex, by Colin E. Brent, published December 1977 (14 pp., Lewes: East Sussex County Council, ISBN-10: 0861470206 & ISBN-13: 9780861470204) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12333] & The Keep [LIB/502771] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Rural Economy of Eastern Sussex, 1500-1700, by Colin Brent, published 1978 (pamphlet, 50 pp., Lewes: East Sussex County Council) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6721] & East Sussex Libraries

Rural Employment and Population in Sussex between 1550 and 1640. Part 2, by C. E. Brent, published 1978 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 116, article, pp.41-56) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7197] & The Keep [LIB/500313] & S.A.S. library

Lewes in 1871: A Household and Political Directory, by Colin E. Brent, published 1 July 1978 (Occasional Papers no. 9, 76 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242099 & ISBN-13: 9780904242096) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503547] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Short Economic and Social History of Brighton, Lewes and the Downland Region Between the Adur and the Ouse, by Colin E. Brent, published 1 December 1979 (16 pp., Lewes: East Sussex County Council, ISBN-10: 0861470192 & ISBN-13: 9780861470198) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500068] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Maritime Economy of Eastern Sussex 1550-1700, compiled by Colin Brent, published 1980 (27 leaves, East Sussex Record Office) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

The immediate impact of the Second Reform Act on a Southern county town: voting patterns at Lewes Borough in 1865 and 1868, by Colin E. Brent, published 1980 in Southern History (vol. 2, article, pp.129-177)

Victorian Lewes, by C. Brent and W. Rector, published 1 January 1980 (94 pp., Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 0850333555 & ISBN-13: 9780850333558) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503442] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Neutering of the Fellowship and the Emergence of a Tory Party in Lewes, 1663-1668, by C. E. Brent, published 1983 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 121, article, pp.95-108) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8902] & The Keep [LIB/500308] & S.A.S. library

The Selection of High Constables at Lewes, 1733-1740, by C. E. Brent, published 1984 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 122, historical note, pp.225-226) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9140] & The Keep [LIB/500309] & S.A.S. library

Historic Lewes and its buildings, by Colin Brent, published 1985 (54 pp., Lewes Town Council) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Dedication of St Anne's Church, Lewes, by Colin Brent and Judith Brent, published 1993 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 131, historical note, pp.200-201) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12210] & The Keep [LIB/500300] & S.A.S. library

Thomas Paine and the Shocking Death of William Weston, by C. E. Brent, published 1993 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 131, historical note, p.202) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12210] & The Keep [LIB/500300] & S.A.S. library

Georgian Lewes 1714-1830: The Heyday of a County Town, by Colin Brent, published December 1993 (246 pp., Colin Brent Books, ISBN-10: 0952242303 & ISBN-13: 9780952242307) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503446] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Historic Lewes and its buildings, by Colin Brent, published 1995 (revised edition, 54 pp., Lewes Town Council) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

Pre-Georgian Lewes: c.890-1714: The Emergence of a County Town, by C. E. Brent, published 19 November 2004 (480 pp., Colin Brent Books, ISBN-10: 0952242311 & ISBN-13: 9780952242314) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503445] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Thomas Paine in Lewes, 1768-1774: A Prelude to American Independence, by Colin Brent, Deborah Gage and Paul Myles, published 2009 (58 pp., Lewes: PM Trading, ISBN-10: 0953595544 & ISBN-13: 9780953595549) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508964] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Despite its brevity, it has only fifty-eight pages, this book incorporates important new material derived from the largely unpublished research of the late George Hindmarch into the reasons why Paine embarked on writing his first recorded work, The Case of the Officers of Excise. This gives it an importance out of all proportion to its size. Robert Morrell, M.B.E. Editor, Journal of Radical History of the Thomas Paine Society. New knowledge about Thomas Paine in England before his departure to America is revealed. This represents a paradigm shift in pre American Paine research at the same time as describing a lively 18c Lewes and rich character accounts. Paine's nature is revealed through rigorous research of his career as an officer of excise. Paine spoke for the excisemen, including his superiors, with one voice to every member of both houses of Parliament, every exciseman and important businessmen of the day. His first pamphlet written in Lewes in 1772 ' The Case of the Officers of Excise' was the first nationwide unionisation in the United Kingdom and foreshadowed the modern lobbying system of green and white papers. Deborah Gage reveals insights to General Thomas Gage, the Commander in Chief of the British forces on the other side to Thomas Paine, which show that the British forces, as well as the colonists, suffered from King George III insensate policies. This is also a beautiful book if images showing a rare portrait of Paine painted in London in 1790, landscapes of Lewes in 1768, the year Paine rode into Lewes, by Dominic Serres, and an image of Clio Rickman by Hazlitt.This book was forged in the preparations for the 200th anniversary of Thomas Paine's life and shows Paine's debt, and possibly America's developmental debt to the Town of Lewes.

Thirty something: Thomas Paine at Bull House in Lewes 1768-74 - six formative years, by Colin Brent, published 2009 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 147, article, pp.153-167) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 17254] & The Keep [LIB/500365] & S.A.S. library   View Online

In spring 2008 the Sussex Archaeological Society completed a thorough repair of Bull House as a prelude to welcoming visitors at regular intervals. And in July 2009 Lewes celebrated the two-hundredth anniversary of Thomas Paine's death at Greenwich near New York. So it seems timely to ponder the six years passed at Lewes by that 'Citizen of the World', arguably the most influential 'English' pamphleteer, herald of American Independence, father of British Radicalism, prophet of an 'Age of Reason'. And indeed, there is evidence that these years as an excise officer, shopkeeper and householder, as an assiduous juryman and vestryman, in a thriving county town and contentious parliamentary borough, did expose him to what he later identified in Rights of Man as 'republican' elements in English government and society. Moreover, during these years, his literary output, in verse and prose, seems already tinged with 'radical' sentiment, clearly and trenchantly expressed.

Danny House: A Sussex Mansion through Seven Centuries, by Colin Brent and Judith Brent, published 2013 (Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd.) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506764] & West Sussex Libraries

Danny HOUSE, a splendid Grade-One Elizabethan mansion nestling under iconic Wolstonbury Hill, due south of Hurstpierpoint, boasts 141 rooms, including cellars. From 1657 Peter Courthope owned Danny for 68 years, allowing village cricket on his Sandfield, the earliest known ground in Sussex. In the 1720s his son-in-law Henry Campion gave the south wing a Baroque facade, elegant rooms and curving staircase. His descendants owned Danny until 1983. Danny's new owner is Richard Burrows.

In this modestly-sized volume, beautifully produced by Phillimore, the long history of Danny House and Park, situated below Wolstonbury Hill near Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, has been skilfully brought together to make an enthralling read. Not only have the authors, Colin and Judy Brent, been able to draw facts from various archive sources, there is also a wealth of illustrations - in fact there are 147 altogether, many in colour, to surprise and delight the reader.
The house and estate reflect, through their owners' lives, political, economic and personal events through the centuries. Formerly a medieval hunting park, Danny was revived as a country house by a rising Elizabethan called Gregory Dacre. But it was George Goring, also a rising courtier, who built the new house in 1582 on the E footprint, with a Great Hall 'its windows reaching from floor to roof' which can still be admired today.
Through the following century and during the disturbing events of the Civil War, Cavalier and Royalist Colonel George Goring based his family at Danny House. By the later seventeenth century, increasing prosperity resulting from commerce and industry, including iron-working, enabled the Courthopes, a gentry family based in Kent, to purchase Danny House and estates in 1653. A Courthope heiress, Barbara, married Henry Campion, and by 1728 they had remodelled the south wing, using a blend of red brick and Portland stone for the façade. This pleasing part of the house overlooks the rose gardens today.
The Victorian period proved to be a bountiful time for the Campion squires and their wives, dutifully carrying out the good works expected of them both locally and in a county context, including military duties. They enriched the gardens with exotic new fruits and planted specimen trees in the park and improved the farms. Here the book is enhanced by photographs of the Campion family taken in the setting of their beautiful house and gardens.
Then came troublesome times and two World Wars which greatly affected families trying to maintain large country houses in the twentieth century. Danny House changed to a 'letting house' and, for a period, to institutional use. Eventually in 1984 the momentous decision was taken for the 'Great Dispersal'.
The story of Danny is like a thriller - will there be a survival or final extinction? Of course the reader knows the answer, or they will if they read the Introduction by Richard Burrows, the present owner, and the final chapter. Now 35 residentshave comfortable apartments in the well-cared for mansion set in a delectable landscape.