Pevensey Battery 2 (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Pevensey.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of East Sussex.
1974 county of East Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Pevensey).

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ66250514
Latitude 50.82194° Longitude 0.35895°

Pevensey Battery 2 has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Battery, mentioned in C16 document. Originally a semi circular work with a breastwork and defensive ditch. Now a slight rise in ground level.
".... and likewise at the haven's mouth .... ij Rampiers may be raised for the plantinge in eche of them one Dimculveringe and ij Sacres." (Lower 1870).
This battery has been destroyed. It was probably similar to, and contemporary with, the surviving examples at Pevensey Castle (TQ 60 SW 16) and Rockhouse Bank (TQ 60 NE 10). (F1 AC 24-FEB-60).
The site of the battery, visible on RAF AP in 1946, is marked by the remains of a semi-circular ditch, 0.3m deep, and a slight rise in ground indicated the existence of the former breastwork bank (F2 PAS 29-MAR-73).
The battery has been reduced by cultivation to a slight amorphous rise, the vestigial remains of the breastwork.
Unlike other examples in the area it is situated on the flat floor of the level, presumably covering a now lost haven/inlet.
From the RAF AP it appears to have been semi-circular in form with the long axis NE-SW and measuring some 35m overall: the breastwork faced SE, fronted by a small ditch, and with a hollow for the gun behind (F4 MJF 26-OCT-87). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 411702.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MES4712.

Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Lower, M.A. (ed), 1870, Survey of the Coast of Sussex 1587 p. 5 map

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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