PEVENSEY CASTLE, SUSSEX.
PEVENSEY is, in some respects, the most interesting place in the south of England. Not only is it closely associated with English history during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but its ancient and present names, and a part of its material remains in masonry and earthworks, connect it closely with the British, Roman, and early English occupation of our island.
It was, without doubt, the chief place in the great forest of Anderida, which, in remote times, extended over the south of Sussex and the Weald of Kent, and of which the not infrequent remains are seen in the very numerous and wild parks found in these districts. The British name, both of forest and town, is preserved in its Roman form, and the site of the latter is still indicated by its Roman walls and towers, which, like those of Porchester, have been incorporated into a later fortress. The Romans probably left Anderida in good repair. One of the chief strongholds of the “Comes littoris Saxonici” was not likely to have been neglected, and it appears, from the Saxon Chronicle, that the Britons were well aware of its value, and held it against their piratical invaders with fierce but unavailing valour. Late in the fifth century it was besieged and taken by Ælle and Cissa and their followers, and every Briton within it was put to the sword.
Andredes-ceaster, or Andreceaster, from a Roman and British, became an English fortress, and, by slow degrees, the Forest of Andredes-weald became encroached upon by cultivation. The change of masters also brought a change of name, and the island or “eye” in the marsh is supposed to have become the property of “Peofn,” whence its present name is thought to be derived.
Under the English rule, the divisions and names denoting property were gradually introduced, and Pevensey became the chief town of a Rape, an honour it shared with Chichester, Arundel, Bramber, Hastings, and Lewes, in each of which the town was distinguished by early earthworks, and at Chichester by Roman walls. Each of these Rapes had its town and fortress, and each town was placed upon a river. That of Pevensey rises in the wooded ridge about Penshurst and Dallington by a number of streamlets which meander athwart the marshy level of Pevensey, until a little above the castle they form what is still known as the old Haven, and which was in use in the twelfth century. As late as 1317 a grant by Edward II. mentions the marshes as overflowed by the sea, and as in no man’s tenure. The castle then stood on the margin of the sea, from which it is now more than a mile distant, and the whole area of the level, many square miles in extent, seems to have been an impracticable morass, covering the fortress towards the south and east, and in some degree to the north. The knoll must so have presented itself to Julius Cæsar, if, as generally supposed, he here landed, and so, with the addition of the Roman walls, it was certainly seen by Ælle and his followers, and 500 years later by Duke William when he landed between Eastbourne and Hastings, and selected the higher ground to the east of that castle for his march inland to give battle. “Mare transivit,” says the Bayeux tapestry, “et venit ad Pevensæ,” and the chronicle of Battle says he landed “prope castrum Pevensel dictum,” whence the soldiery went to seek victuals at Hastings. Here, then, it was, beneath these very walls, that the Conqueror took seisin of his yet unconquered kingdom.
Pevensey, under the Normans, became once more a place of consequence, and one of the havens through which the sovereigns kept up their communications with Normandy. It was hence that the king embarked on his return to Normandy in 1067. William granted it to his half-brother of Moretaine, who is said to have built a castle there. What he actually built is unknown, and the only existing masonry that can possibly be of his date is the broken superstructure of one, or perhaps two, Roman towers, and some rude repairs executed on the face of one of them. But whatever he did he held, and continued to hold the Roman castle till his death, and he so held it against William Rufus, in 1088, being supported and encouraged by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, and by the hope that Duke Robert would come to their relief from beyond the sea. This hope was fallacious. Rufus having stormed the mound of Tonbridge, laid siege to Pevensey. The garrison was brave, the earl-bishop and his brother count were skilful generals, the walls were high and strong, and for six weeks the king, at the head of a numerous army, assailed the place in vain. A tardy force sent, not led, by Duke Robert, strove to land beneath the castle wall, but, though the king’s English soldiers were thus placed between the double attack from the castle and the ships, they overcame and, for the most part, slew the invaders. The castle was surrendered, and Odo, transmitted under a guard to Rochester, contrived to enter that castle, and to encourage its garrison to hold out.
Pevensey next comes under notice in 1101 as the muster-place of the army led by Henry I. to repel the expected invasion of Duke Robert. He was so far successful that the invaders were driven to land at Porchester. Either under Earl William of Moretaine, who was taken at Tenchbrai and lost his lands, or under his successor, Gilbert de l’Aigle, the lordship or Lewy of Pevensey was erected into an Honour, and finally became the Honour of the Eagle, “Honor de Aquila.” In 1144, the castle was attacked by Stephen, and defended by Gilbert de Clare, then holding it for the Empress, to whose son, Henry, it had been granted by Henry I. It next came to King Stephen, and about 1216 became the property, under the Crown, of William de Warren, and after various confiscations and restorations was finally lost to the De Aquila family in the reign of Henry III. John, Earl Warren, took refuge here in 1264, after the Mise of Lewes, and in the following year it was held by Peter of Savoy for the king against the younger De Montfort. Very little of the present mediæval masonry could have been standing during these various sieges. The strength of the place must have then mainly depended upon the Roman exterior wall, furnished, no doubt, with a mediæval parapet, and dominated by the early English mound, with probably a shell keep of timber or masonry upon it.
About 1269 it fell into the hands of Prince Edward, and remained awhile in the Crown. In 1309 it was in a ruinous condition, “Confractum et male custoditum,” Edward I. having declined to repair it. It must have been soon after this, judging from the evidence of the existing masonry, that the present additions were made, that is, either at the close of the thirteenth or very early in the fourteenth century. The towers are attributed to Edward II., in 1309.
Pevensey, “La Ville et la Lewee de Peuense,” was included in the extensive grants made by Edward III. to John of Gaunt, under whom and the Duchy of Lancaster the Pelhams became hereditary constables. In 1399, Lady Pelham distinguished herself by holding the castle for Richard II. against the combined posse of the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey. After this event it was mainly used as a state prison. Edmund, Duke of York, was confined here in 1405, and in his will bears testimony to his good treatment; and here also were imprisoned James I. of Scotland in 1414, and in 1419 Joan of Navarre, the last queen of Henry IV. In 1650, the castle had a narrow escape from the claws of the Parliament, the materials having been actually sold for building purposes.
The history of the building, though aided by passages in the public records, is mainly to be established by the study of the material remains. Those of the Roman period have fallen under the searching and very accurate notice of Mr. Roach Smith; the present paper deals mainly with the mediæval additions both in earthworks and masonry.