About

The Long Man Lecture 2025: Professor Alexandra Harris
Neighbours through Time - Local lives, Infinite Visions

Who has been here before us, looking up at the Sussex hills? What did they see?

The Sussex Archaeological Society’s second annual Long Man Lecture, hosted by cultural historian and University of Birmingham lecturer, Professor Alexandra Harris.

William Blake’s fusion of the cosmic and miniature offers startling inspiration to find the worlds revealed in a few miles of ground. In this lecture the perspectives of poets will mix with the visions of brewers, merchants and masons: neighbours through time. We’ll keep company on the lane with Stuart farmers inventing the future, Victorian geologists seeing far into the past, refugees from occupied Poland learning algebra in a Sussex wood. Magnified by the close attention of these different people, our nearby places tell far-reaching stories.

Alexandra Harris is a literary critic and author. The Rising Down, her exploration of Sussex lives and histories, is published by Faber. She writes on art, reviews for The Guardian, and chaired the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2024.

The talk includes the chance to purchase a signed copy of The Rising Down.

All monies raised support the work of the The Sussex Archaeological Society, a registered charity which promotes, protects and provides access to the history and heritage of Sussex.

Photo by Vicky Beddoes