East View of Lewes Priory
 
The etching and engraving depicts the remains of Lewes Priory, Southover, seen here from the east. Most of the buildings including the Great Church were demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries. 
 
The title, artist and engraver and publication date are included in the image.  
 
This is one of a series of plates from volume one of John Watson's Memoirs of the Ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey, and their descendants to the present time', . first published in Warrington, 1782 in two volumes.
 
The Artist: James Lambert (1725-1788)
James Lambert Senior (not to be confused with his nephew, James Lambert Jnr) was a topographical landscape painter and organist. He was born in Sussex and lived in Lewes where he also taught painting. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1774and 1778. 
 
The Engraver: James Basire.
James Basire was a member of a family dynasty of engravers, firstly on copperplate and then later lithography. The family were active from the 1720s until the late 1860s .Basire was apprenticed the engraver Richard William Seale. He then travelled to Italy with another engraver, Roger Dalton. He established a successful family engraving practice and was made engraver to the Society of Antiquaries in 1755. His son Isaac and grandson Jacques also became engravers. Much of his work is documentary or topographical.  His best remembered work is the engraving of The Field of the Cloth of Gold (c.1550-80) in 1520.  which took over two years to complete.