Pevensey is supposed to have been a British settlement prior to the Roman invasion, and British coins have been discovered there. It is now pretty well agreed that Pevensey is the site of the ancient city of Anderida, and was in close proximity to the great forest of Anderida, mentioned by Bede (731), and described in the Saxon Chronicle (893), as 120 miles in length from East to West, and 30 miles from North to South. It was at Pevensey that William the Conqueror made a successful landing. The history of England supplies particulars of this great fortress of ancient times. Edward III. settled the Castle on John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and John Pelham was appointed its Constable, and his courageous wife, during her husband's absence with Henry in Yorkshire (1399), sustained a prolonged siege, and her beautiful letter describing the siege is given in Hallam's " Literature of Europe." Many state prisoners were confined in the Castle in the custody of Sir John Pelham, including Edward, Duke of York, cousin of Henry IV.,
King James I. of Scotland and Joanna of Navarre. After many
changes, in 1730, it came into the possession of Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington. From him to the Cavendishes, its present owner being the Duke of Devonshire. Extensive excavations were made in 1852, by Messrs. Mark Anthony Lower and C. Roach Smith, and recently under a Committee of Antiquarians, comprising :- Messrs. W. Page, F.S.A., and C. R. Peers, F.S.A. (editors of Victorian History), H. Sands, F.S.A., L. F. Salzmann, and J. E. Ray (Hastings), who have discovered numbers of Roman Coins, Pottery, and other relics of the Roman Period. The ruins are -
