Pevensey Castle

Pevensey castle started life as a Roman fort built in the third century to protect the province of Britannia from European pirates. In 491 the fortress finally fell to the invading English under King Aelle who butchered the defenders. The fort then apparently remained abandoned until 1066 when William the Conqueror built a castle within the enclosure and gave it to his half-brother, Count William of Mortain. Count William also went on to collect Berkhamsted and Launceston castles from the Crown. The castle was besieged in 1088 by King William Rufus, after Count Robert rebelled against his nephew. It is possible that Robert never regained his castle after this. In 1104 Robert's son rebelled on not receiving what he thought was a fair share of the family inheritance and he fell into Henry I's hands at the battle of Tinchenbrai in 1106. These acts spilt up the tenurial history of the three castles of Pevensey, Launceston and Berkhamsted.

The castle had quite a lively history and was besieged again during the wars of the Anarchy when the Clares were forced in 1147 to vacate the fortress and retire to their fortresses in Wales, namely Goodrich, Pembroke and Chepstow. The castle then remained in royal hands. Much rebuilding was undertaken by King Richard I (1189-99) which may have included the building of the great twin-towered gatehouse. The rectangular keep with added bastions is probably older. The towers and inner curtain are traditionally dated to the 1220's to 1240's, in which case they should be examined with the Trilateral in mind. In 1264 the castle suffered another siege when the defeated Royalists from the battle of Lewes were forced to surrender or abjure the country. It was apparently besieged again by troops loyal to Richard II in 1399 and was briefly repaired to face the Amarda in 1588.

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