Fireworks over Lewes will be a fitting backdrop to the publication of a book describing 500 years of explosive religious conflict in the town.

Historian Jeremy Goring has chosen to concentrate on his home town as a microcosm for five centuries of turbulent religious history.

He has deliberately chosen to publish his book, Burn Holy Fire, on November 5 because of the hugely symbolic annual bonfire displays in Lewes.

Dr Goring's book, subtitled Religion In Lewes Since The Reformation, explores the virulent anti-Catholic protests which have dogged the town.

They have their modern-day reminders in anti-Catholic banners and the burning of effigies of the Pope each November 5.

The book also investigates other significant aspects of religious life in England, including the rise of Puritanism, the evangelical revival and the more recent decline of institutional religion.

But the Protestant-Catholic clashes take centre stage.

Dr Goring, of Keere Street, Lewes, said: "Religious conflict between different sects is really the main theme, along with the virulent anti-Catholic feeling that existed and was revived in the 19th Century."

The book's title comes from a hymn by Frederick Lucian Hosmer.

He was a descendant of one of the ten Protestants executed by burning in Lewes High Street on June 22, 1557.

The executions, during the rule of Catholic Queen Mary, achieved lasting symbolic value for organisers of the anti-Catholic bonfire events to commemorate the Protestant martyrs.

Dr Goring, 73, believes the martyrs had been largely forgotten until 1850, when their commemoration first became part of the bonfire night celebrations.

He said: "The Sussex Express published a list of the martyrs, coinciding with a rise in anti-Catholic feeling.

"That particular year saw the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in this country. Catholic bishops came back to England for the first time.

"There was a lot of fear of a Catholic takeover. That played into the hands of the extreme anti-Catholics."

Chief among these were evangelical missionaries led by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who came first to Brighton before spreading throughout Sussex.

Dr Goring said: "They were preaching a very virulent form of Protestantism, much more so than Wesley's Methodism."

"Lewes was always a great home of religious dissent and nonconformity. The nonconformists outnumbered the Church of England, which made it very different from Chichester, where it was the other way round.

"Westgate Chapel was a major centre of nonconformity and the biggest place of worship in the whole town."

The chapel, in the High Street, opened on November 5, 1700.

The annual bonfire night festivities also celebrate the failure of the pro-Catholic Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

However, Dr Goring believes any true religious significance has now disappeared from the event.

He said: "I'm usually there and I think it's a wonderful spectacle. From time to time people do get concerned because of the No Popery banners but most realise it doesn't mean a great deal any more.

"They're not aimed at the present-day Catholic church or Pope.

"All the churches in Lewes now seem to get on very well together. The old animosities have almost all disappeared."

Dr Goring used to be an honorary minister at Westgate Chapel, where he and his wife Rosemary helped found the Westgate One World Centre.

He describes himself as "a member of no church and every church".

His book is published by The Lutterworth Press.