Pevensey
| Pevensey | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 Aerial view with the castle in the center |
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| Basic data | ||||
| status | Village and Civil Parish | |||
| surface | 17.6 km² | |||
| population | 3153 (as of 2011) | |||
| Ceremony county | East Sussex | |||
| District | Wealden | |||
| Constituency | Bexhill and Battle | |||
| Website: www.pevenseyparishcouncil.org | ||||
Pevensey is a small town and civil parish with 3,153 inhabitants (as of 2011) on the southeast coast of East Sussex in southern England . The old town center is about two kilometers from Pevensey Bay and its pebble beach inland, between Eastbourne in the west and Bexhill-on-Sea in the east. Pevensey repeatedly played a prominent role because of its location in English history.
history
The history of the place is closely linked to its Norman castle, Pevensey Castle , which stands on the foundations of a fort built by the Romans between 300 and 340 when England was still part of the Roman Empire , and the coast is often under Attacks from Jutes and Saxony suffered.
The fort was called Anderitum and was built on a then uninhabited peninsula above the coastal marsh , which at that time reached as far as Hailsham . From this march stood out some places that were dry even at high tide , which are now called Rickney, Horse Eye, North Eye and Pevensey - place names ending in -eye indicate an island in Old English .
In 491, Anderitum was besieged, conquered and burned down by the Anglo-Saxons under King Ælle , the entire garrison and the people who fled to the castle were killed. The Anglo-Saxons called the ruins Andredceaster and the forest that stretched about 200 kilometers from here to Dorset , Andredsweald, or Andred Forest. The area later became known as Pefele (Pefe Island).
It was not until 1042 that Harold Godwinson had a fortress rebuilt here by digging trenches within the Roman walls. In 1066 the garrison was withdrawn and sent into the field against the Norwegians who had invaded the north. So there was no defense when William II, Duke of Normandy and later as William I ( William the Conqueror ) King of England, landed here on September 28th.
The fort was given to Robert von Mortain , Wilhelm's half-brother, who built his castle on Roman and Anglo-Saxon foundations. In 1088 the castle was besieged by Wilhelm Rufus , again during the civil war for the successor to Henry I (1135-1154), and again in 1264 by Simon V. de Montfort .
Queen Elizabeth I ordered the castle to be demolished, but the order was not carried out. Another attempt was made to destroy the castle under Oliver Cromwell . In 1942, in view of the expected German invasion, efforts were made to put the castle in a state ready for defense.
Pevensey in art
- There is a watercolor painting of the castle by William Turner . A preliminary drawing is in the Tate Gallery of British Art : Pevensey Castle
- Pevensey is mentioned several times in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill (1907). Kipling lived nearby, in Burwash , the place is described in his autobiography.
literature
- Barry Cunliffe : Anderida (Pevensey), Sussex, England . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
Web links
- Pevensey Marshes , Sussex Wildlife Trust (Eng.)
- Information about Pevensey Bay and the surrounding area (Engl.)
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ N , 0 ° 20 ′ E