What did Hastings Castle used to look like?

Hastings Castle started as a wooden tower built atop a man-made mound or motte, surrounded by an outer courtyard or bailey. A wooden palisade enclosed the bailey. Following the conquest, the Norman motte and bailey castle would become a standard fixture across England.



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By the 1800s, the Castle was buried in undergrowth and rubble but was finally revived as a Victorian tourist attraction as Hastings' popularity as a holiday destination boomed. Later, during World War II, Hastings was heavily bombed and so an anti-aircraft gun was placed outside the Castle's East Wall for protection.

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In 1337 and 1339, the French attacked Hastings Castle, which eventually fell into disrepair and became ruinous. Thomas Pelham purchased Hastings Castle on June 23rd, 1591, and used the site primarily for farming over the next few centuries.

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Norman castles were designed for a different purpose, they were not defensive structures like the burhs close burhAn Anglo-Saxon fortified town., they were designed to intimidate the conquered Anglo-Saxons and remind them of Norman power.

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