Undercliffe House – A Gothic Landmark Above Lewes

Undercliffe House was built between about 1860 and 1870, at a time when Lewes was expanding and prosperous local families were commissioning statement homes on the hillsides around the town.

The house was designed and constructed in 1865 by Charles James Berry (often referred to simply as James Berry), a local architect–builder who used Undercliffe as a showcase for the full range of his craft.

He chose a bold neo-Gothic style – fashionable in mid-Victorian England – and pushed it to an almost eccentric degree: a tower with a steep, twisting Rhenish helm roof (similar to the famous church at Sompting), elaborate brick patterning, spires, porthole windows and inventive roof shapes. Contemporary commentators note that Berry “wanted to incorporate many of the features of the builder’s art”, making the house a kind of three-dimensional calling card.

From the town below, the tower and roofline quickly became part of the Lewesian skyline – a Gothic villa half-hidden in trees, gazing down on the rooftops of Cliffe and the Ouse valley.

Although always privately owned, Undercliffe House crops up in local history and folklore:

• Bonfire Night help (1959): When Lewes Bonfire Society lost its store of torches in a loft fire a week before the 5th of November, residents of Undercliffe House stepped in. Around 1,500 sticks for replacement torches were cut with their help, ensuring the town’s famous celebrations could continue the following year.

• A “secret” house: For much of the 20th century, Undercliffe developed a reputation among Lewes residents as “that mysterious house in the trees”. A Sussex newspaper described how many lifelong Lewesians had neverworked out how to get to it, even though glimpses of its tower can be seen from all over the town.

• Townscape character: Planning and heritage reports for Lewes repeatedly single out Undercliffe House as a landmark feature: a brick-built Gothic Revival villa whose hillside position and unusual roof make it a key element in views across the Ouse valley and from Lewes Castle.

Undercliffe House is frequently described in official records and property features as one of the most unusual and expressive Gothic houses in Sussex

• Plan & massing: A highly irregular plan, with the central tower set in the angle between two-storey bays facing west and north, and additional canted bays stepping down the slope.

• Tower: A tall, square tower with:
  • banded brickwork at ground level
  • a single circular window at first-stage
  • a pair of round windows above
  • a tall arched window in the upper stage
  • all crowned by the steep “Sompting” / Rhenish helm roof, echoing the famous church at Sompting.

• Brickwork: Yellow brick with red brick bands and dressings, moulded string courses, and a cogged brick cornice beneath the slate roofs – classic mid-Victorian showmanship in brick.

• Porch & bays:
  • An octagonal porch with pyramidal cap marks the main entrance.
  • Deep canted bays, some topped with conical caps and half-hipped semi-dormers, throw shadows across the front and exaggerate the house’s verticality.

• Windows:
  • Round-arched and pointed-arched windows in striped red-and-yellow brick heads, with moulded impost bands.
  • Distinctive circular “porthole” windows add to the almost nautical eccentricity of the tower.

• Later extension: A later 20th-century weatherboarded extension on a brick-and-flint base, with a steep French pavilion-type roof, is noted in the Historic England listing as a clearly modern but sympathetic addition

From the late 20th century onwards, Undercliffe House has attracted wider attention:

• 1985: Listed at Grade II for its special architectural and historic interest
• 2014: Featured in Lewes Heritage Open Days materials as a “Grade II listed Victorian Gothic house of 1865 with an unusual roof”, underlining its architectural importance in the town.
• 2017–2025: The house has been repeatedly profiled in regional and national media as:
  • a “mysterious and magnificent” Gothic home, “more than a little eccentric”SussexWorld
  • a “Gothic castle” and one of Sussex’s most striking character housesSussex | Muddy Stilettos
  • an “expressive neo-Gothic house” and one of the country’s notable Gothic properties, set in over two acres of grounds with a pool.
• Sales and restoration:
  • The property changed hands in the late 2010s, with sales records noting it as a five-bedroom detached house of around 3,300–3,350 sq ft.
  • Recent marketing details emphasise careful renovation that “strips back” interiors to simple finishes while highlighting original features and views, blending the 19th-century shell with contemporary living.