Castrum Anderitum

Castrum Anderitum stands at the western edge of Pevensey village in East Sussex, where the remains of a Roman fort adjoin the later medieval castle. Built in the 290s on a low rise above the coastal marshes, it once formed part of the Saxon Shore system designed to guard the southern coast. The fort’s massive walls still rise on three sides, enclosing a grassy interior and a small moat. Inside these Roman defences the Normans raised a castle in the 11th century, which later decayed into the picturesque ruin seen today. During the Second World War the site was pressed back into service, with pillboxes set into the ancient stonework. The fort’s strategic position at a sheltered harbour made it a key link in the chain of Saxon Shore forts from Hampshire to Norfolk. Coins of the usurpers Carausius and Allectus were found in its foundations, showing its importance in the late 3rd century. A fleet, the Classis Anderidaensis, is recorded there in the Notitia Dignitatum, ready to intercept pirates crossing the Channel. The fort’s curtain wall was built in segments by different gangs, each using whatever stone and tile were to hand, so the masonry shows varied styles along its length. Archaeologists have dated the oak piles beneath the walls to the late 3rd century through dendrochronology. Visitors walk along the substantial Roman walls that still stand up to six metres high in places. Inside the enclosure the grass is dotted with fragments of medieval masonry from the later castle. The surrounding Pevensey Marshes stretch away to the east and south, the old tidal inlets now reclaimed land. On the west side the village roofs and church spire rise above the ramparts. From the top of the walls there are wide views across the marshes and the line of the old shore, where islands once became high ground at high tide.