Onward!

Welcome to a new post on 1066 events.

Right, we left the Norman infantry at Pevensey and the cavalry en route to Port of Hastings.

Before I advance my story forward a word about sea levels. Currently Pevensey Castle is about 7 to 9 metres a.s.l (above sea level) while Hastings Castle and the church built roughly at the same time ( circa 1080 -1090) are built on the current 20 metre contour. The later Hastings Priory is built on the 12 metre contour. I believe this shows that the sea level has changed considerably since 1066 times and what was on the coast then may not be now.

So to sum up.
The high water mark could not have been greater than say 19 metres thus making the datum in 1066 about 11 metres higher than today. The explaination of the heights around Pevensey being that the land has shrunk down as the water has receded.

Main body movement

When the Bastard thought it prudent, he transferred to the Port of Hastings and set up operations there. According to the Bayeaux Tappestry(BT), he built two forts, one higher up than the other. Nick Austin has interpreted this to mean that the forts where in line of sight of each other. I prefer a simpler explaination - one was at the top of the hill and the other was at the bottom. So where are the forts?

East or West?

The opening of the inlet where most believe the Port of Hastings was, is  deeper on the eastern side than on the western side and yes the Castle is on the deeper eastern side of the entrance. However, this does not tally with the BT, which shows the classic Norman hill fort behind and elevated with respect to the shore fort.

Another clue as to which side they landed concerns the route to the second hill fort ( on top of Telham Hill). The route from the western side is some 3km shorter than from the eastern side and is easier to negotiate with respect to gradients. If they landed on the eastern side they would have to climb to 143 metres a.s.l before descending to 126 m at the roundabout of Battle Road and the A2100 before climbing again to approx 139 m for the fort. On the western side, there is only a need to get to 126m at the roundabout and consequently 139 m to reach the fort.

A point to ponder is that the later Hastings Priory ( built in the reign of Richard the Lionheart)was located on the western side of the inlet - was this a nod to his triumphant ancestor?

The Shore Fort

I haven't pinned down the exact location of the Shore fort, however I think it is in the region of Cambridge Road. My reasoning is that most of his supplies would have been landed on the shoreline near where the Priory was built and he would have wanted a secure location to protect himself and his cronies from the locals. This makes more sense than building a fort on the other side of the inlet away from his troops and supplies. Also easy access to the track leading up and away from the shore would be needed too.

The Hill Fort

This, for me, was the easiest bit of the puzzle as the mound upon which the fort was built still exists.
It's the mound at the side of the A2100 going towards Battle. It conforms to known tactics of the Normans so therefore ideally located for their purposes.

General

I think it was a clever move by the Bastard to destroy so many ships/boats once they landed at Hastings. On the one hand it encouraged the troops and on the other, it cleared up the inlet to allow other boats to moor up.

Additionally, the BT shows that ships timbers were used to construct them. So, I think that there were were a few ships lost during the storm when they set off. Maybe no important people were lost but supplies were.

P.S

 I'm working to create a few graphics to show 1. the lopsided inlet channel to explain the siting of the later Castle and 2. the height profiles of routes from the hill fort to the the east and west sides of the inlet.