Paintings Of Lewes Castle

Erected in 1068 for strategic purposes, Lewes Castle remains one of only two double-motted castles known in England, and also one of England's oldest. Today, the castle sits slightly off the main street of Lewes town, somewhat worse for wear but still emanating the grandeur that allowed it to command an important piece of the Southern England coastline.

Shortly after William the Conqueror seized control of England in 1066, he set about establishing a series of fortifications throughout his new kingdom, an effort to control his new and as yet uncooperative Anglo-Saxon subjects. Lewes became one of several castles rimming the southern coast of England, placed to allow William swift escape across the English Channel back to his homeland in Normandy, if the English rebelled.



The line of castles stretched from Hastings on the east to Arundel on the west, outposts that also offered King William protection from any comers in France. In fact, the scores of castles founded by William I during the first decade after the Norman Conquest became his greatest weapons of subjugation. Situated along main communications routes or at strategic points along river crossings, the castles and their garrisons watched over all activity that passed through the realm.

Lewes Castle, for example, commands a key position at the head of the River Ouse, which drains into the English Channel and has a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside, an ideal situation for guarding a key route into central England. In order to ensure the loyalty of his knights and to secure his kingdom, William I established feudalism in Britain, granting land and feudal rights to his most prized subjects. They were responsible to keeping the peace, supplying an army, and administering law and order in the name of the king. In return, these noblemen received lavish estates and the right to build castles.

To keep control over the southern region along the River Ouse, William de Warenne, the king's Chief Justiciar and later Earl of Surrey, received the Rape of Lewes, a broad swathe of land that reached from the coast to the Surrey border. Warenne then established Lewes Castle, one of several he owned in England.

The development of Lewes Castle dates to the tenure of the Warennes at the site. Consisting primarily of two motte castles and an associated bailey, Lewes Castle is a masterpiece of early Norman construction. Single-motted castles (some with multiple baileys) still fill the countryside in England and Wales, demonstrating their effectiveness in dominating a place despite their superficially flimsy design. Yet, only one other double-motted castle existed in England, the fine Lincoln Castle.

Essentially composed of an earthen mound (the motte) and an adjacent enclosure (the bailey), these fortifications were true castles, built to house a lord and also as a military base. At first, timber defenses protected these earthwork castles, but the wooden ramparts were quickly replaced with stone walling and towers, or the castles were themselves replaced with more sturdy stone fortresses.