More information : (TQ 820 094) Castle (NR) (Remains of) (1)
Hastings Castle stands on a rocky promontory, and the first
artificial work on the site was probably an Iron Age enclosure or fort. It has been proved by excavation that the main bank of the 'Ladies Parlour' (the outer bailey) is partly Iron Age work (4) and Dawson is of the opinion that the whole promontory was an Iron Age site (2).
The castle itself started as a Motte with wooden keep erected by William immediately after landing (as shown on the Bayeux tapestry), but the mound in its present state is 13 or 14 c with the original motte contained within it (4). The stone works were mainly erected 1171-4, 1182-3 and 1190-91 (3). The castle suffered from encroachments by the sea and 14th century raids, and by 1399 had apparenly been allowed to fall into decay (3).
The Collegiate Church of St Mary within the precinct is thought to have been founded in c 1090 (5) but it may have existed before the Conquest (6). It also was damaged in French raids in 1399. In 1470 an unsuccessful attempt was made to turn it into an alien Benedictine cell, and it was dissolved in 1546 (5).
See attached Guide and Archaeology Division Map diagram with field notes. (3-8)
The remains are generally as described in the Guide and and Map Diagram and have been revised on 1:1250 plan. The Road ditch or hollow on the eastern side (TQ8226 0949 - 8217 0962) may have continued along Castle Hill Road and formed an outer boundary to the whole complex. (9)
C11 and C13 ruins, principally of the collegiate Church of St Mary and the North and East curtain walls with East gate and bastions. The Castle built circa 1070. The church was started afterwards but before 1094. More building work in early 1170s to 1190s including the keep in 1172. Repairs of 1216 and afterwards progressive ruin. The walls are stone rubble, and as it exists now there are ruined walls and foundations of the church which had a central tower the western arch of which has been rebuilt, there are remains of a square tower at the west end of the nave. There remains the curtain walling along the North, North-west, North and North-east with the gatehouse on the North-east side with 2 rounded towers. Outside the walls on the north side are store-rooms (known as the Dungeons) in the form of narrow tunnel-vaulted passages. The keep and other buildings no longer exist. AM. (10)
There is documentary evidence that a collegiate foundation existed in Hastings in the reign of Edward the Confessor, but it is not documented as so in the Domesday Survey. (11)
A motte was erected at Hastings as soon as William landed there in 1066, but there is no evidence that it was on the same site as the later castle. However, the prsent castle site was utilised dhortly after the conquest and remained in royal hands until 1331, after which it fell into decay. (12) |