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AN INQUIRY AFTER THE SITE OF ANDERIDA
OR ANDREDESCEASTER.
BY THE REV. ARTHUR HUSSEY.
READ AT THE QUARTERLY MEETING, JANUARY, 1853.
At a Meeting of the Sussex Archæological Society in May, 1847, a paper on the above subject was read, and subsequently printed in the Archaeological Journal for that year (vol. iv); but new matter bearing upon the debated point having since arisen, it appeared desirable here to revise the entire question, rather than merely continue the former discussion, which could not be conveniently referred to by many persons.
Among the various topics which have excited, and more or less baffled the curiosity of antiquaries, one is the position of the ancient city, Anderida or Andredesceaster. But since the name even may be only partially known, it seems expedient to premise that the little information we possess respecting it amounts only to this: that the former appellation was borne by one of the fortresses, erected and maintained by the Romans, till just after a.d. 400, upon the southern shores of this island; and that, under the second title, many of our early historical records mention the siege, capture, and destruction of it, some time after the Romans had relinquished their British dominions, by the Saxon invaders. From that period the above names appear to have been totally disused: the natural consequence of which is, that now, after the expiration of nearly 1400 years, with numerous intervals of confusion and obscurity, it is left to conjecture and probability alone, whereby to identify the spot, which that long-forgotten settlement may have occupied. In our endeavours to ascertain this fact, we will begin by reviewing the circumstances attending the final extinction of the city by the Saxons, from which principally its notoriety has arisen.
