Pevensey to Hastings
I acknowledge the work done by John Grehan and Nick Austin in doing some of the background work that has made my life and research easier.
John Grehan/ Martin Mace - Use of Ships to get from Pevensey to Hastings
Nick Austin - State of Selected Manors post October 1066
Use of Boat on Roman Fort
In my previous post we had got Wiliam to Pevensey and in this post I will take my narrative up to the the establishment of Hastings as a centre of operations.
Today Pevensey is some miles inland but back in 1066 the island of Pevensey was on the edge of "Pevensey Bay" and the island itself was just big enough for the Roman fort that was built there in the 400's plus a little bit. More historic information can be obtained on https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/1740/pevensey_eus_report_maps.pdf
I'm not going to get into whether or not William stumbled when he waded ashore at Pevensey as the incident is immaterial in my view to the narrative.
Most of our knowledge comes from the Bayeux Tapestry. Indeed, it details what went on at Pevensey over 6 scenes.
Scene 39
In this scene the horses are being shown as they are offloaded onto dry land. Notice that the horses are shown to be offloaded just the once. This ties into a local legend from Ninfield that the Normans landed nearby. What helps is that there is a channel of water that leads from what would have been Pevensey Bay, between Wartling and Hooe, to the south east of Boreham Street and north west of Hooe Common eventually arriving at Boreham Bridge (now called Waller's Haven). A couple of years ago a mass metal detecting exercise was held by Sussex Seekers along the edge of this stretch of water and copious amounts of nails were found. I'm hoping that some of these nails could be investigated further.**
** I'm now investigating the possibility of the Normans dis-embarking at Ashburnham and that the nails represent burning ships floating down stream to Boreham Bridge and sinking there. Thus depositing nails at the site of sinking and not where they were set ablaze.
Scene 40
The Tapestry now records that the knights raided Hastings for food. I think that there was a lot more going on for the knights other than "collecting" food. I'm sure that the knights would have gone to Hastings to secure William's landing place in the Harbour as well. This is where Nick's work with the manors comes in. He shows that all manors in the district were not pillaged equally (the ones furthest from Hastings were more lightly "touched").
Scene 41
This scene, for me, records the diligent work of the knights in securing food for William's army of infantry on Pevensey.
Scene 42
Two thirds of this scene is taken up with "domestic activity" i.e cooking. The last third shows the Roman fort after it had been "refurbished" by William's troops.. If you look closely you'll see that the roof consists of a boat turned upside down. Nick uses this to assert that a ship carrying a flat pack fort had foundered during the crossing at some point making the Normans use whatever to hand to improve the fort. I disagree with this thought. Much easier would be to use whatever was to hand to create a temporary shelter.
Scenes 43 a and b
We're back to domestic activity in the Scenes.
This scene looks like a council of war is taking place between William, Odo and Robert.
Scene 45
This scene seems to be a transition scene between Pevensey and Hastings. Shown towards the right hand side of the scene is a part of a bailey on top of a hill with a tower placed at the bottom of the hill. Most historians equate the bailey that is shown with Hastings Castle perched on West Hill. Imo they're wrong. Hastings Castle extends to 20 metres above the current sea level at the mouth of what would have been a river outlet. Back in 1066 the sea level was about 19 metres higher and the deepest part of the inlet was adjacent to the bank that the castle was built on. We also know that the stone castle was built in the 1080's to prevent somebody doing a "William". I can't remember where I read it but the Normans built fortifications at high points along any campaign route. To me, the Tapestry is saying that the Normans reverted to form and built a temporary motte and bailey between Hastings and what is now Battle.
The Tapestry also shows a tower located at the bottom of the hill. Again most historians agree that this is another fort built by the Normans.But let us take a closer look it.
My bad drawing of the "fort"
The cupola at the top of the building seems to indicate that this was a temporary building built by the Normans. However, on closer inspection the cupola and the inscription " HIC NUNTIATUM EST W are done in the same colour thread. This could be a later "improvement" or restoration in my view as without the cupola the item looks like the left hand half of a gable end. This changes the story for me to " The Normans requisitioned an existing building to use as a headquarters". I'm investigating the history of Trinity Mews in Hastings to see if it existed in 1066 as the building is strategically situated to overlook both the ( now dry) inlet and the approach to the former inlet.
No comment is made about how the foot soldiers got from Pevensey to Hastings. The official narrative calls for the soldiers on Pevensey island to make their way to Hastings via Westham /Hailsham/ Herstmoncuex / Ninfield and Crowhurst. John Greghan speculates that since the soldiers had to embark on their ships to get from Pevensey to the mainland why not just go direct to Hastings on board a ship that was going with the dominant wind?
What comes next? In my next blog I'll explore William's time in Hastings and the surrounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment