Sir Edward Dallingridge received a licence to crenellate and build Bodiam Castle in 1385 specifically as defence against French raids penetrating up the River Rother into Sussex. The repeated burning of Rye and Winchelsea and raids toward Lewes showed that the French could reach deep inland via river routes. Bodiam was designed to block the tidal Rother and prevent such penetration. Though never actually besieged, it stands as the architectural consequence of the French raid crisis of 1377-1380.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
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