Page:Sussex Archaeological Collections, volume 6.djvu/309

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
RECENT EXCAVATIONS THERE.
271

accessories of a castle of the middle ages, albeit upon a small scale. The remains of its keep (and a keep within a keep would be an utter absurdity) are still recognisable, upon the elevated though irregular and ill-defined mound on the eastern side of the enclosure (5).

The interval (going west) between the medieval castle and the Roman gateway, at which our topographical survey commenced, is precipitous ground, faces the sea (at the distance of about a mile), and retains upon the surface few traces of ancient masonry of any kind. Until our recent excavations it was always doubted whether any continuous wall had ever existed here, as the natural declivity, defended as it is by water at the base, seemed a sufficient natural fortification. The Roman tower A is in ruins.

To this survey of the existing remains, a few words on the architectural history of Pevensey may be added.

It would be useless to conjecture at what period of the Roman dominion in Britain the station of Anderida rose into importance and was surrounded with walls. From a misconception of a passage in Gildas it has been imagined that Pevensey was one of the forts on the sea-coast which the Romans, on withdrawing their forces, hastily erected for the Britons as a defence against the irruptions of continental barbarians. But whoever but for one moment contemplates this structure with its solid towers and walls twelve feet thick, thirty feet high, and enclosing an area half a mile in circumference, will perceive that it could neither have been a work of haste, nor the undertaking of a people about to abandon a long-possessed province. It has far more the air of having been constructed at a time when the Conquerors of the World were extending and consolidating their dominion in Britain. It bears no marks of haste, but everywhere evinces a well-matured plan and a leisurely execution.

The capture of Anderida by Ælla, the founder of the South Saxon kingdom, is the next historical epoch ; but that the structure itself suffered any considerable damage when its unfortunate occupants fell beneath the seaxes of the invaders seems improbable, considering the simplicity of their military operations. Such buildings as they found suitable for strongholds the Saxon people occupied during war; but they built