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| Name: | Rockhouse Bank, Normans Bay: C16 gun battery |
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| HER Ref: | MES118 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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Designations
- SHINE: Earthworks of a post-Medieval battery, Norman's Bay
Summary
Probable C16th coast defence battery. Ditch with inner rampart, earthworks mutilated during WW II when it was a defended locality.
Monument Types
- COASTAL BATTERY (AD 16th Century - 1500 AD to 1599 AD)
Description
(TQ 67910561) On the south side of Rockhouse Bank, in a commanding position on the lip of a sligh escarpment overlooking the seaward approaches to Norman's Bay, there is a small earthwork which is shownon the OS 25" 1930. It is three-sided only with the open side facing inland. The centralarm measures c. 37.5m in length and the two flanking arms each c.20.0min length. The work consists of a ditch with inner rampart.Ditch is also discontinuous having two causeways. The interior is featureless. It is most probably one of a series of coastal batteries erected in the 16th century (a) of which there is a surviving example at Pevensey Castle (TQ 60 SW 16), and one NE of Pevensey Bay (TQ 60 NE 6), now destroyed. It no doubt covered the entrance to Pevensey Harbour which, because of coastal erosion and silting, is known to have moved eastwards to the area of Norman's Bay during the 16th century (b). (1) The work is generally as described by Authy 1. The interruptions in the 'V'-shaped Md ditch have a later appearance, and the breaches in the breastwork, though mutilated, have the appearance of gun ports. Published survey 25" revised. (2) The remains of this battery are well preserved and generally as described in 1960, except that the end of the E arm has since been worn down by cattle, and the end of the W arm has been mutilated; also the two gaps in the earthen bank or breastwork are probably ? World War II mutilations rather than gun ports. (Both are visible on the 1946 Aps) (a). (3)
Use by 5th Battalion, The Kings Regiment as a defended locality in WW2 identified in Butler, C, 2007 [9].
Sources
| <1> | Article in serial: Article in serial. Survey of the Coast of Sussex temp Eliz I, 5 Edited by M A Lower 1870. |
| <2> | Article in serial: Article in serial. The Inning of Pevensey Levels Sx AC 53 1910 58-9 (L F Salzman). |
| <3> | Correspondence: 1952. Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigators Comment. F1 CFW 24-FEB-60. |
| <4> | Correspondence: 1952. Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigators Comment. F2 PAS 29-MAR-73. |
| <7> | Article in serial: Article in serial. RAF AP CPE/UK 1751 21/9/46 4005/6. |
| <8> | Correspondence: RCHME Field Investigators Report. F3 MJF 29-OCT-87. |
| <9> | Bibliographic reference: Chris Butler. 2007. East Sussex Under Attack: Anti-invasion sites 1500-1990. p 83. |
Associated Events
- Field observation on TQ 60 NE 10
- Field observation on TQ 60 NE 10
Associated Monuments - none recorded
Associated Finds - none recorded
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