HASTINGS CASTLE, SUSSEX.
THE Rape of Hastings is the most eastern of the six divisions of the county of Sussex which are supposed to derive their somewhat peculiar name from the early occupation of the district by emigrants from Jutland. The Rape of Hastings, probably, is so called from its principal town, which was also the seat of its lords both before and after the Norman Conquest. Like the other rapes, it had its river and its forest, its castle and its castelry, often designated as an Honour. The river, the Rother, is the common boundary of Kent and Sussex, and joins the sea at Rye. The forest, long since disafforested and enclosed, is represented by frequent patches of woodland, scattered over the least fertile parts of the district, and by the numerous and well-timbered parks by which it is characterised. The town once possessed a small port, now silted up. It was situate at the mouth of a stream, which still brings down its inconsiderable tribute, flowing at the foot and to the west of the castle hill.
The origin and etymology of the name of Hastings are lost in obscurity. It is so uncommon, that it has been supposed to come from Haesten, the celebrated pirate and Danish Viking, who infested the southern coasts of England and the valley of the Seine in the ninth century,—a period when warriors of Northern descent gave their names to their possessions, instead of, like their descendants of two centuries later, reversing the practice. Mr. Lower, familiar with Sussex topography, has suggested that the small stream of the Asten, a few miles west of Hastings, may play some part in its etymology, and that Hasting, or the Haesten-Ceaster of the English, may have stood upon its margin. It has also been regarded as the seat of the Hastinges, a tribe said to have been warred upon by Offa of Mercia in 792. Another not less interesting point connected with the place is the fact that it gave name to the ancient family who long ago bore the title of Pembroke, and still bear that of Huntingdon.
The castle occupies the narrow, acute, and very steep extremity of a ridge of the Wealden formation, which here terminates abruptly to the seaward at a height of about 180 feet above the seashore, and seems intended by nature for a defensive position. The ridge is a spur from a range of larger and more elevated character which extends from the high ground of Battle, by Ore, south-eastwards to the sea, and has to its west and south a large tract of broken and highly-fertile picturesque land known as the hop garden of Sussex, and within which are the well-known seats of Hurstmonceaux, Ashburnham, Battle, and Crowhurst,—a tract which presents to the sea an open frontier of about twenty-two miles from Hastings to the marsh of Pevensey, defended anciently by the two castles of those names, and more recently by twenty or thirty martello towers, in which our fathers, three quarters of a century ago, placed an expensive confidence.
Hastings.
- CASTLE HILL
- Sᵀ MARY’S CHAPEL COLLEGIATE
- TOWER
- POSTERN
- NORTH GATE
- SALLYPORT
- FOSSE AND STEEP SLOPE
- FOSSE
The ridge and promontory of Hastings remain unencumbered by modern buildings, and are occupied only by the castle and its outworks. The older part of the town, with its two parish churches of St. Clement and All Saints, occupies a deep valley to the east of the castle, while round the nose of the rock the remains of the old port have been superseded by the new town, a fashionable watering-place. Much of this town stands within the parish of St. Mary de Castro, the parish church having been the chapel of the castle, and collegiate. The town seems to have been partially walled, and certainly had four gates. Hastings, though now affording no accommodation for shipping, is still a cinque port, and its ancient consideration is attested by the fact that in 1229, Seaford, Pevensey, Bulverhythe, Hidney, Iham, Beaksbourne, Greenhythe, and Northeye, were its subordinate members, and tamquam membra were Rye and Winchelsea.
The castle is composed of two wards, separated by a formidable ditch cut through the sandstone rock about 400 feet, across the ridge, with a breadth of 60 feet, and to a depth of 30 to 40 feet. The inner ward lies to the west of this ditch, between it and the point of the promontory. The outer ward lies to the east, and is again protected by an outer and considerable, though less clearly-defined, ditch of greater length than the former, and also crossing the ridge. There was also another ditch cut as a sort of step in the steep northern slope, and covering that side of the place, and chiefly intended for the defences of the inner ward. Between the east end of this ditch and the north end of the great cross ditch was the original entrance to the inner ward, the approach to which wound up the steep north-western slope of the rock.
The Inner Ward is in figure nearly a right-angled triangle, containing about 1½ acres, the north side 154 yards, and the east side 87 yards in length, while the hypothenuse curves inwards, reducing the breadth of the ward at one point to 16 yards. The cliff which forms the boundary has been either scarped or has fallen away, so that it is at present precipitous, and its face has been patched with modern masonry and brickwork. It is said that this side was once straight, and has been cut away to make room for the gasworks and a crescent of houses below, so as to diminish the castle area. This may be so, but the encroachment cannot have been considerable. A wall for defence on this front could never have been needed: probably it was only a low parapet.