The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.

The Lewes avalanche occurred on 27 December 1836 in Lewes, East Sussex, when a huge build-up of snow on a chalk cliff overlooking the town collapsed into the settlement 100 metres (330 ft) below, destroying a row of cottages and killing eight people. It remains the deadliest avalanche on record in the United Kingdom.

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the South Downs.

Sussex is an area of South East England that was historically a kingdom and, later, a county. The current ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex cover approximately the same area. The two ceremonial counties border Surrey to the north, Kent to the north-east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. Sussex contains the city of Brighton and Hove and its wider city region, part of the South Downs National Park and the national landscape of the High Weald, and Chichester Harbour. Its coastline is 137 miles (220 km) long.

December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; four days remain until the end of the year.