Hastings Castle: Norman Fortress on the Sussex Coast
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Hastings Castle is a Norman fortress in Hastings, United Kingdom, established by William of Normandy after his landing in England in 1066. Built first as a rapidly assembled wooden motte-and-bailey castle, it formed one of three fortifications ordered at Pevensey, Hastings, and Dover during William’s conquest.
Foundation and Norman rule
The first castle used prefabricated timber sections brought to the site for quick assembly. Later in 1066, the Battle of Hastings took place nearby, where William defeated Harold Godwinson and secured the English crown. In 1070, William ordered Hastings Castle to be rebuilt in stone and commissioned the Chapel of St Mary. The castle may have been placed under the command of his companion Onfroy du Teilleul.
The Counts of Eu held Hastings Castle for most of the Norman period, beginning with Robert of Eu. Their control eventually ended when their heir, William, retained his French possessions and forfeited his English inheritance. The stone rebuilding continued into the early twelfth century, establishing the medieval form represented by the surviving ruins.
Royal control and fortification
During the conflict of 1216, King John ordered Hastings and Pevensey castles to be slighted, meaning that their defences were deliberately damaged. He was retreating from a French army led by Prince Louis of France. Henry III re-fortified Hastings Castle in 1220.
Control of the castle and its lands, known as the Honour of Eu, changed hands during Henry III’s reign. In 1249, the king transferred the lordship to his uncle by marriage, Peter of Savoy. The rights passed to the future Edward I in 1254, returned to Peter in 1262, and remained with Peter until his death in 1268. The Honour of Eu was a medieval territorial lordship whose lands could include castles and their surrounding estates.
Destruction, neglect, and investigation
Severe storms in February 1287 caused parts of the soft sandstone cliffs and sections of the castle to collapse into the sea. French attacks on Hastings in 1339 and 1377 burned parts of the town, while coastal erosion continued to remove more of the castle during the following century.
The castle suffered further damage in the mid-sixteenth century during Henry VIII’s campaigns against Catholic monasteries. It then remained derelict for many years. Thomas Pelham purchased the site on 23 June 1591, after which it passed through the Pelham family and was used for farming. The ruins became overgrown and were effectively forgotten.
The Earl of Chichester, who owned the castle in the nineteenth century, commissioned archaeological investigations in 1824. Fallen blocks were used to reconstruct parts of the Chapel of St Mary, including its floor, sections of the chancel arch, and portions of the walls. Further archaeological excavations and investigations were associated with Philip Arthur Barker and Kenneth J. Barton in 1968, and with Mark Gardiner in 1985.
Hastings Castle was damaged by bombing during the Second World War, when Hastings was targeted. Hastings Corporation purchased the site in 1951, and the castle became a public tourist attraction. It has been a Grade I listed building since 19 January 1951.
Remains
Coastal earthworks and layout
Hastings Castle is a keep-and-bailey fortification built on cliffs adjoining Hastings and overlooking the English Channel. The ruins occupy a coastal spur that had already been inhabited during the Iron Age. They stand approximately 31 metres above sea level, with the sea to the southeast and predominantly grassland around the site.
The later stone castle was built on the motte of the earlier fortification. The original motte-and-bailey arrangement remains identifiable through its raised earthwork mound and circular bailey, the enclosed lower area used for buildings and defensive activity. A nineteenth-century garden was created on the motte, and its summit was cleared to a level below the surviving medieval remains.
Stone fortification and chapel
The visible ruins belong to the stone castle ordered by William in 1070 and dating in surviving form to the early twelfth century. The site preserves fragmented portions of the stone fortification, standing above cliffs whose continuing erosion has carried other sections into the sea. Warfare, cliff collapse, neglect, and twentieth-century bombing have all contributed to the present condition of the remains.
The Chapel of St Mary formed part of the stone rebuilding. In 1824, fallen blocks were used to reconstruct its floor, sections of the chancel arch, and parts of the walls. The chancel is the eastern part of a medieval church, while the chancel arch separates it from the main body. The reconstructed chapel remains part of the fragmented medieval complex alongside the motte and circular bailey.
