It lies in the marshland between Eastbourne and Hastings. Rising from the ground like as though it rooted and grew over the centuries and poetic license aside, that is exaclty how it happened. On the day the Romans landed here in the latter part of the 3rd century A.D., it was no more than an island in the marshes of the southern shores of pagan Britain.

 

The Romans called it Anderida and it sat on the river Ashburn, chosen for its convenient harbour on the eastern side. The Romans built eleven or twelve of these forts, mainly between the Wash and Southampton Water, to protect what the Romans called the Saxon Shore. These forts gave good protection against the raids of the Saxon pirates. From the sketch map below you can see that the shape of the fort is oval and some 10 acres in extent.

 

 

Sketch Plan of Pevensey Castle

 

In 1906 and 1908 the Sussex Archaeological Society under-took excavations in the interior of the Roman fort, and from the coins, pottery, and other datable objects then found, it appears that the site was occupied intensively from the middle of the 3rd cent. until the end of the 4th, with an especially active period in the 4th.

 

There were also indications of a much earlier settlement which had nothing to do with the history of the fort. Among the interesting objects found and now in the Society's museum, were tiles branded with the letters CL BR, an abbreviation for Classis Britannica, the British fleet, a patrol force which had its headquarters at Boulogne and English depots at Richborough, Dover, Folkestone, and Lympne, Another tile stamped HON AVO ANDRIA, if it refers to the Emperor Honorius as seems likely, is an important link with the General Stilicho's attempt to defend Britain in the latter years of the 4th cent., when Roman rule was virtually at an end.

 

A further examination of the fort was undertaken in 1937 by Mr. F. Cottrill on behalf of the Ministry of Works, in whose care the whole castle was vested under the Ancient Monuments Acts. The castle was refortified during the Second World War with pillboxes being set around it and camouflaged to blend in with the existing structure and the thirteenth-century towers became billets to the garrison stationed there.

 

 

This view is from the north tower parapet of the castle - looking west towards the main entrance

 

Apart from one fitful moment, the story of Anderida during the ensuing years is veiled in the obscurity which has earned for this period the name of the Dark Ages, How far and for how long it continued to hold out against the on-coming Saxons we do not know, but in 490, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælla and Cissa besieged the city of Andred and 'slew all that were therein; nor was there one Briton left there afterwards'. However much of an exaggeration the Chronicle account may be, it is certain that the harbour of Pevensey still proved useful during the Viking campaigns and for long after.

At Pevensey, William the Conqueror landed in 1066 - venit ad Pevenesae, in the legend on the Bayeux Tapestry - and the traditional story of his stumble in the sand as he set foot on the shore is well known. Here, too, he founded a mint; specimens of the coins may be seen in the Sussex Archaeological Society's museum at Lewes. Later he gave Pevensey to his half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain, the younger brother of Odo, and it was Robert who built the first Norman castle. It was situated within the south eastern quarter of the Roman enclosure, and can only have been a simple earthen castle defended by a palisaded bank and ditch: a stone keep was not added to the earthen mount until early in the 12th cent.

 

The Site did nothing of any great interest between the 16th and 20th centuries and was left to the elements to slowly crumble and decay, nought but a romantic meeting place for lovers, a playground for children and important only to the historian. The castle was even sold to a builder as a heap of stones for the princely sum of £40 - thankful we may be that the builder found the stones not worth taking down. It was presented to the state in1925 by the Duke of Devonshire and is now tended by English Heritage.

 

The medieval castle may be inspected for a fee but the outer bailey is free to enter and enjoy. The official guide-book is very good and gives the complete history of the castle with good photographs and drawings.

 

 

 

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