Hastings, Sussex.
Huntingdon.
Fig. 18.
Hastings, Sussex ([Fig. 18]).—In this case we have positive contemporary evidence that the earthen mound of the castle was thrown up by the Normans at the time of the Conquest, for there is a picture in the Bayeux Tapestry which shows them doing it. A number of men with spades are at work raising a circular mound, on the top of which, with the usual all-inclusiveness of mediæval picturing, a stockade is already erected. A man with a pick seems to be working at the ditch. The inscription attached is: “He commands that a castle be dug at Hestengaceastra.”[465] There is no need to comment on the significance of this drawing and its inscription for the history of early Norman castles; what is extraordinary is that it should have been entirely overlooked for so long. In no case is our information more complete than about Hastings. Not only does Domesday Book mention the castellaria of Hastings,[466] but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also tells us that William built a castle there, while the chronicle of Battle Abbey makes the evidence complete by telling us that “having taken possession of a suitable site, he built a wooden castle there.”[467] This of course means the stockade on top of the motte, with the wooden tower or towers which would certainly be added to it. Wace states that this wooden castle was brought over in pieces in the ships of the Count of Eu.[468]
The masonry now existing at the castle is probably none of it older than the reign of Henry II. at the earliest, and most of it is certainly much later.[469] The Pipe Rolls show that Henry II. spent £235 on the castle of Hastings between the years 1160 and 1181, and it is indicated that some of this money was for stone, and some was for a keep (turrim).[470] There is no tower large enough for a keep at Hastings now, nor have any stone foundations been found on the motte, and Mr Harold Sands, who has paid particular attention to this castle, concludes that Henry II.’s keep has been carried away by the sea, which has probably torn away at least 2 acres from the area of the castle.[471] The beautiful fragment of the Chapel of St Mary is probably of Henry II.’s reign; the walls and towers on the east side of the castle appear to be of the 13th century. The ditch does not run round the motte, but is cut through the peninsular rock on which the castle stands, the motte and its ward being thus isolated. The form of this bailey is now triangular, but it may have been square originally. Beyond the ditch is another bailey, defended by earthen banks and by a second ditch cut through the peninsula.[472] No exact estimate can be given of the original area of the castle, as so much of the cliff has been carried away by the sea.
Hastings itself had been a fortified town before the Norman Conquest, and is one of those mentioned in the Burghal Hidage. The name Hæstingaceaster, given to it in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1050), is a proof that the Saxons used the name chester for constructions of their own, as no Roman remains have been found at Hastings. But the Norman castle is outside the town, on a cliff which overlooks it. As in the case of the other ports of Sussex, the castle was committed to an important noble, in this case the Count of Eu.
The manor of Bexley, in which Hastings Castle stood, had been laid waste at the Conquest; at the date of the Survey it was again rising in value, though it had not reached the figure of King Edward’s days.[473]
Hereford.—There can be little doubt that the castle of Hereford was built by the Norman Ralph, Earl of Hereford, Edward the Confessor’s nephew, about the year 1048.[474] It was burnt by the Welsh in 1055, after which Harold fortified the town with a dyke and ditch; but as Mr Freeman remarks, it is not said that he restored the castle.[475] The motte of Earl Ralph is now completely levelled, but it is mentioned several times in documents of the 12th century,[476] and is described in a survey of 1652, from which it appears that it had a stone keep tower, as well as a stone breastwork enclosing a small ward.[477] It stood outside the N.W. corner of the bailey, surrounded by its own ditch; the site is still called Castle Hill. If the castle was not restored before the Norman Conquest it was certainly restored afterwards, as in 1067 we find the “men of the castle” fighting with Edric Child and the Welsh. The castle appears to have had stone walls by the time of Henry II., as the mention of a kiln for their repair proves.[478] But these walls had wooden towers.[479] The timber ordered in 1213 “ad hordiandum castellum nostrum de Hereford”[480] refers to the wooden alures or machicolations which were placed on the tops of walls for the purpose of defending the bases.