Pevensey Castle: a Saxon Shore fort, Norman defences, a medieval enclosure castle, and later associated remains

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Pevensey Castle is a fortified site in East Sussex whose origins lie in the late Roman period as one of the Saxon Shore forts, constructed around the third or fourth century AD to defend against coastal raids. The Roman fort's massive stone walls, substantially preserved, were subsequently reused and modified during the Norman period following 1066, when a motte and bailey castle was constructed within the Roman enclosure. The site developed further as a medieval fortress, with stone keeps and domestic structures added during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and it remained militarily significant through the medieval period and beyond. The castle's strategic position near the coast made it valuable across multiple periods of English history, and its surviving remains, encompassing both Roman and medieval elements, form an important archaeological record of continuous military occupation spanning more than a thousand years.

Pevensey Castle: a Saxon Shore fort, Norman defences, a medieval enclosure castle, and later associated remains is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1013379. View the official record →

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