19th Century English Graphite Landscape Drawing of Pevensey Castle Ruins 1855

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19th Century graphite drawing of the ruins of Pevensey castle. Titled and dated August 21, 1855 lower left and center. … Read more 19th Century graphite drawing of the ruins of Pevensey castle. Titled and dated August 21, 1855 lower left and center. Presented in cream colored matting and a silver wood frame. Image size 3.4 x 5.25", overall dimensions: 9.75 x 11.75".

Pevensey Castle is a medieval castle and former Roman Saxon Shore fort at Pevensey in the English county of East Sussex. Built around 290 AD and known to the Romans as Anderitum, the fort appears to have been the base for a fleet called the Classis Anderidaensis. The reasons for its construction are unclear; long thought to have been part of a Roman defensive system to guard the British and Gallic coasts against Saxon pirates, it has more recently been suggested that Anderitum and the other Saxon Shore forts were built by a usurper in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prevent Rome from reimposing its control over Britain.

Anderitum fell into ruin following the end of the Roman occupation but was reoccupied in 1066 by the Normans, for whom it became a key strategic bulwark. A stone keep and fortification was built within the Roman walls and faced several sieges. Although its garrison was twice starved into surrender, it was never successfully stormed. The castle was occupied more or less continuously until the 16th century, apart from a possible break in the early 13th century when it was slighted. It had been abandoned again by the late 16th century and remained a crumbling, partly overgrown ruin until it was acquired by the state in 1925. See less