ery little of the original castle now remains but there is enough for a visit and the views make the effort worthwhile. Some of the cliffedge land the castle stood on has disappeared though natural erosion so the castle now appears smaller than it would have been. William the Conqueror first built a wooden motte and bailey castle on the site when he invaded Britain in 1066. The Normans brought pre-fabricated castles across from Normandy so that they could build fortifications quickly. The wooden fort was replaced by stone soon after William granted the area of Hastings and its castle to (his cousin?) Robert, Count of Eu. The Count founded a collegiate church within the confines of the castle dedicated to St. Mary. The majority of the stonework that can be seen today are the remains of the church including a section of the nave and an arch.Castle
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Hastings Castle
| County | Categories | Motte & Bailey / Cliff-top | |
| Remains | Small amount survives | Access | Only open at certain times |
| Location | 50.85637,0.584471 (Google Maps) ///submit.noting.cheese | Directions | Directions via Google Maps |
| County |
| Categories |
Motte & Bailey / Cliff-top |
| Remains |
Small amount survives |
| Access |
Only open at certain times |
| Location |
| 50.85637,0.584471 ///submit.noting.cheese |
| Directions |
| Directions via Google Maps |
ery little of the original castle now remains but there is enough for a visit and the views make the effort worthwhile. Some of the cliffedge land the castle stood on has disappeared though natural erosion so the castle now appears smaller than it would have been. William the Conqueror first built a wooden motte and bailey castle on the site when he invaded Britain in 1066. The Normans brought pre-fabricated castles across from Normandy so that they could build fortifications quickly. The wooden fort was replaced by stone soon after William granted the area of Hastings and its castle to (his cousin?) Robert, Count of Eu. The Count founded a collegiate church within the confines of the castle dedicated to St. Mary. The majority of the stonework that can be seen today are the remains of the church including a section of the nave and an arch.Location
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Related Information
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Related Episodes
Edward III - The Hundred Years War (click here)
Edward III - The Hundred Years War (click here)
Timeline
1090
...
William Rufus at Hastings Castle
William Rufus gathered the nobles and bishops at Hastings Castle to do him homage after he became king, showing how important this castle was during the early Norman years. ¹
1338
Quarter 1
French attack English ports
Philippe used Genoese troops to attack ports on the south coast of England including Southampton, Plymouth, Hastings and Rye. The attacks reached right around the coast as far as Bristol. ¹
1338
October
French attacks continue on the south coast
Towns at Dover, Folkestone, Harwich, Hastings, Portsmouth, Rye, and the Isle of Wight were attacked and many merchant ships were destroyed. The attackers even sailed into Portsmouth harbour pretending to be English by raising English flags and sacked the town.
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Transport yourself back up to a thousand years and explore historical buildings as they may have appeared in the past. Built using the popular game development tool Unity 3D, these reconstructions will run in the most of the popular web browsers on your desktop or laptop computer.
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