The north gate
Next: stop 2
Follow the north wall to the church's tall walls.
Go to stop 2Transcript
Welcome to Hastings Castle. You're standing at the north gate, high on the West Hill.
People used this hilltop long before the Normans. Beyond the castle walls is a big earth bank known as the Ladies' Parlour. It's thought to be part of an Iron Age fort that once covered the whole headland, and digging has dated the castle's outer ditch to the Iron Age too.
In late September 1066, William of Normandy landed at Pevensey and moved his army here. Before the battle, his men raised a castle of earth and timber. You can see it on the Bayeux Tapestry. Men with spades heap up a mound, and the Latin caption says this man ordered a castle to be dug at Hestenga ceastra. That's Hastings. It was one of the first castles the Normans built in England.
Most of the stone walls came later, in the 12th century. Now follow the north wall to the church's tall walls.