Coordinates: 50°49′13″N 0°20′18″E / 50.8203°N 0.3383°E / 50.8203; 0.3383

Pevensey
Pevensey High Street
Pevensey  Pevensey shown within East Sussex
Area	17.6 km2 (6.8 sq mi) [1]
Population	3,152 (2007)[1]
- Density	464 /sq mi (179 /km2)
OS grid reference	TQ635052
- London	50 miles (80 km) NNW
District	Wealden
Shire county	East Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PEVENSEY
Postcode district	BN24
Dialling code	01323
Police	Sussex
Fire	East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Bexhill and Battle
Website	Parish Council
List of places: UK • England • East Sussex

Pevensey is a village and civil parish^[2] in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The main village is located 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Eastbourne, one mile (1.6 km) inland from Pevensey Bay. The settlement of Pevensey Bay forms part of the parish.

Geography[link]

The village of Pevensey is located on a ridge of land, which juts out onto marshland. Until the 13th century the marshes were an inlet of the sea, extending inland as far north as Hailsham and eastwards to Hooe; it was studded with small areas of high land which became islands at high tide: and having the place-names — in addition to Peven’s ey — of Rickney, Horse Eye, and North Eye. All are derived from the Old English word "ey" meaning island.

With the effect of longshore drift this large bay was gradually cut off from the sea by shingle, so that today's marshes are all that remain behind the shingle beach.^[3]

The marshes, known as the Pevensey Levels, cover an area of around 47 miles² (120 km²). They are a Site of Special Scientific Interest^[4] and a large nature reserve, jointly owned by Natural England and the Sussex Wildlife Trust.^[5] There are many nationally rare plants and invertebrates, including the fen raft spider. The site is very fragile and general access is not permitted.

Pevensey Bay[link]

The settlement of Pevensey Bay^[6] lies behind and on the shingle beach. Although small, it is nevertheless a seaside resort in miniature, and has many of the facilities of its larger counterparts elsewhere.

History[link]

The Roman fort[link]

By the 4th century the south and east of the province of Britannia was under frequent attack from marauding barbarian tribes: including the Jutes and Saxons. To counter these attacks the Romans built a total of eleven forts between Essex and the Isle of Wight, now known as the Saxon Shore Forts. The fort at Pevensey, built between 300–340 CE was named Anderitum. The sea washed over what is now Pevensey Marshes, surrounding the fort on three sides.

When the Roman army left Britain, the province was more vulnerable to attack, first by the Jutes in east Kent, and the Romanised native Britons attempted to defend their island from attack. Following the Jutish example the Saxons began invading Britain in earnest. Around 491, Saxons, possibly led by Aelle of Sussex began to colonise the south coast and besieged Anderitum over a number of years. After a long struggle the British defences were overrun. The remaining Britons on the south coast either fled north into the forests or by boat over the channel to what is now called Brittany. The area became the Kingdom of the South Saxons - later called Sussex - and the old Roman fort of Anderida was burned and left derelict. For a while the ruined castle was known by the Saxons as Andredceaster and the Weald of southern England - which stretches 120 miles (200 km) from Anderida to Dorset - was named Andredsweald or the Forest of Andred.

The dereliction and abandonment of the fort continued. Then, in 1042, Harold Godwinson, later Harold II of England, established a stronghold here, improving fortifications by digging ditches within the walls of the fort. The English army remained at the fort during the summer of 1066 before abandoning it to meet the invading Norwegians further north.

The earliest stone remains on the site date from the Roman period, including the outer bailey wall.

When William the Conqueror invaded Sussex in September 1066 there were no defenders at Pevensey, and the still-existing bay provided a safe haven for the invading fleet.^[7]

The castle[link]

The remains of the 13th-century gatehouse of the inner bailey

In late 1066 the Roman fort at Pevensey was occupied by the Normans; much of the Roman stonework still existing today is due largely to the work of Robert, Count of Mortain (half brother to William), who was granted Pevensey Castle shortly after the Norman Conquest. Robert de Mortain used the remains as the base for building his castle, carrying out only minor repairs to the walls forming the outer bailey, and building a new inner bailey at the eastern end.

The castle was besieged several times during the 11th–13th centuries. An order by Queen Elizabeth I that it be demolished and an attempt at demolition during the Puritan times were both unsuccessful: the order was ignored and only a few stones were removed on the two occasions. As late as 1942 small additions were made to the castle for the defence of Britain, when it became a lookout over the channel for German aircraft during World War II.

Today the castle is in the upkeep of English Heritage.^[8]

The Liberty of Pevensey[link]

The Liberty (or Lowey) of Pevensey was an ancient now obsolete hundred, containing the parishes of Westham and Pevensey. They were entirely within the Levels and together regarded as constituting part of the port of Hastings, and consequently would be entitled to all the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the Cinque Ports and not part of the county of Sussex jurisdiction.^[9] This would have been the case until the system of hundreds as administration divisions were abandoned in the 19th century.^[10]

Other historic events[link]

In the 16th century Pevensey became what was known as a “non-corporate limb“ of the Hastings, as part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports. Along with most of the other Ports, its importance dwindled as the ports themselves became disconnected from the sea: Pevensey was two miles (3.2 km) distant.

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 at Pevensey Bay.^[11]

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.

Governance[link]

In 1207 the town was granted a royal charter by King John and was governed by Pevensey Corporation. With the decline in the town's importance by the 19th century, the Corporation was eventually dissolved in 1886 and the town lost its borough status.^[12] The records of the Corporation are held in the East Sussex Record Office at Lewes, and a voluntary body, the Pevensey Town Trust, was formed to manage the property which had formerly belonged to the Corporation, most notably the Old Court House.^[13]

Pevensey is now a village, with a parish council consisting of twelve elected councillors.^[14] Three councillors are elected to the Wealden District Council to represent Pevensey; the Member of Parliament is Gregory Barker, who represents the Bexhill and Battle Constituency, of which Pevensey is part.

Religious buildings[link]

Early English St. Nicolas Church in Pevensey

The churches and chapels in the parish are: the parish church dedicated to St Nicolas;^[15] St Wilfrid’s church, Pevensey Bay; the Wesleyan Methodist church, the Pevensey Bay Free Church, and Holy Rood Catholic church, Pevensey Bay.

Transport[link]

The A259 road passes through Pevensey. Two railway stations serve the area: Pevensey and Westham and Pevensey Bay.

Culture[link]

Pevensey in the arts[link]

• J.M.W. Turner painted Pevensey Castle.
• Pevensey features several times in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill (1907). Kipling's characters describe it as "England's Gate", the reason for this being the above history. Kipling lived near to Pevensey at Burwash, and the area is described in his autobiography.
• Pevensey features in The Saxon Shore (1983), a book of photographs by famous photographer Fay Godwin.
• Pevensey is the setting for parts of George Gissing's 1887 novel Thyrza, with an especially fine description in Chapter XLI, "The Living".
• Robert Sheldon composed Pevensey Castle, published by C.L. Barnhouse in 1993.
• Pevensey, and in particular Pevensey Bay, feature in the 1946 crime novel "Uneasy Terms" by best selling author Peter Cheyney. In Chapter 7 the hero, a private detective called Slim Callaghan, goes for a ride out on Pevensey Bay with the alluring murder suspect, Corinne Alardyse.
• The Pevensie children in the Narnia stories were named after the town.

Sport[link]

Pevensey Bay Sailing Club^[16] offers a variety of classes of boats: the club played a leading role in the development of the National 12 and Merlin Rocket Development Class racing dinghies in the 1970s when it was the home club of Phil Morrison, the British yacht designer and father of Stevie Morrison, a British Olympic 49er sailor in the 2008 games.

References[link]

External links[link]

Media related to Pevensey at Wikimedia Commons