facing of the wall in a good state of preservation, from a thick bed of clay having been laid against it.
The next point examined was the gate c, which fronts the main street of Pevensey, into which it leads by a flight of ten steps. The exterior of this entrance is shown in the accompanying view. From the modern air given to it by a brick archway, it had been doubted whether an ancient gate had existed at this point. Our excavations, coupled with certain appearances above ground, have, however, proved the fact beyond all doubt.
Our attention was next given to an examination of the ground within a short distance of the walls, where some traces of the foundations of houses or other buildings were anticipated. The dotted lines in the plan, represent the trenches made. The results were very inadequate to the labour bestowed, for with the exception of a few Roman coins, minute fragments of Samian and other pottery, tiles, and animal remains, nothing was brought to light. No regular foundations occurred, and it almost follows as a consequence of this, that notwithstanding the great strength of the external walls, the buildings within them must have been of slight and temporary character.
An opening was made at g, to the depth of several feet, through a bed of sand-stone chippings, apparently the refuse of the medieval work. Near the two cannons at h, some trenches were made, and one or two Roman coins were found.[1]
A foolish tradition connects Pevensey Castle with the ancient house in Westham called Priesthawes, by a subterraneous passage. As the two places are between two and three miles apart, so preposterous an idea could not for a moment be entertained; but since an elderly inhabitant of the neighbourhood vouched for the fact of his having in his youth accidentally discovered some kind of passage a few perches to the south-westward of the great gateway, we thought it worth while to examine the ground. The locus in quo is a small field
- ↑ These two pieces of ordnance are apparently of the sixteenth century. One has the initials W. P. (William Pelham ?), and the other the Tudor badge, the rose and crown, and E. R. for Elizabetha Regina. These are probably the two pieces mentioned in a Survey of the Sussex Coast made in May, 1587, in anticipation of the Spanish invasion: — "The Castle of Pemsey to be reedified or vtterlye rased: there is ij dimy-culverings of small value."
