The origins of the Bay, its place in history and the locality, are well documented. It is at the heart of 1066 country.
The Bay and the locality thread through history like a living timeline. The fort of ‘Anderita’, as the Romans called it, was built during the 3rd century to protect the southern coastline of Roman Britain from Saxon raiders, the name ‘Anderita’ still resonates in the Bay.
There were no defences at Pevensey or anywhere else on the south coast when the Duke of Normandy arrived.
William came ashore on 28th September 1066, with 696 ships and an army of over 20,000 men. Upon landing, the invading Normans created a dry ditch around the west gate. Weeks later they won what has come to be called the Battle of Hastings, and in the process, changed the whole course of the history of Great Britain.
Robert, Count of Mortain (half-brother to William the Conqueror of Normandy) was granted Pevensey shortly after the Norman Conquest. He used the existing fort as the basis for building a castle around 1100.
In the 16th century Pevensey became what was known as a ‘Cinque Port’, formed for military and trade purposes. Along with most of the other ports, its importance dwindled as the ports themselves became disconnected from the sea.
During the 18th and 19th centuries Pevensey Bay became involved in the south coast smuggling trade, since it was one of the easier places to land the contraband. In 1833 a violent clash occurred between the smugglers and customs men which is now part of local folk lore.
Some of the more than 100 Martello towers were erected along the beaches of Pevensey Bay at the beginning of the 19th century against Napoleonic attack. Two of these towers are now family homes and are very much part of the local landscape.
Keen eyed readers of the fabulously timeless and utterly charming classic childrens’ book series by C.S. Lewis, the Narnia Chronicles, will have noticed that the name adopted by the author for the family in the books was Pevensie.
The backdrop, with a famous castle, a set of key protective defences and a whole storyboard of invasions and incident, stretching over a thousand years, woven into the landscape, gives the place a unique niche in English history. It is a kind of Bayview Tapestry.
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