My local Roman Castle

It’s very easy and perfectly natural to take things around you for granted. I often remind myself how lucky I am to live where I do, surrounded as I am by areas of outstanding natural beauty and historic sites of national importance.


Yet almost every day I pass the place which many centuries ago was at the centre of an event that shaped the future of England. And I don’t give it a second thought.


Ask any school child to name a date from history and I promise you 1066 will trip off their tongues. That was the year William the Conqueror crossed the sea from Normandy France and invaded our shores. And the place they came ashore was Pevensey, just along the road from me!
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They immediately laid claim to Pevensey castle which even then was an ancient fortress having been built in 290AD by the Romans. Incredibly, to this day two thirds of the Roman walls are still standing at their full height.
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Centuries later, in 1588 it was further strengthened to defend our coast from the Spanish Armada.


It’s forth life was as a defence post during World War 11 when pill boxes and gun posts where discretely added to stave off the advances of the German army.


Until relatively recently Pevensey castle was a sea defence with the English Channel lapping its walls. Today it lies two miles back from the shore looking out over flat marsh land which was once the sea bed.


What a history! Built by the Romans, captured by the French, it protected us from the Spanish and watched out for the Germans!


I decided to pay the old place a visit yesterday when it was being invaded by a group of Japanese, but instead of carrying weapons they were wielding cameras!


And found myself doing what all visitors to the castle do – touching the ancient stones in the wall knowing that they were put in place by a Roman soldier one thousand six hundred years ago..

To see my photos of Pevensey Castle click HERE