As Europe gets ready to celebrate the Year of the Normans in 2027 and the 1,000th anniversary of the birth of William I, aka the Duke of Normandy and William the Conqueror, it’s easy to say that the Normans shaped the course of Sussex. But what did the Normans really do for us, and where can you still see their influence in Sussex?
Battle Abbey
Everything begins, quite literally, at Battle Abbey founded in 1071. Built on the orders of William the Conqueror, the abbey was an act of penance to mark the great loss of life at the Battle of Hastings. But it was also a statement of power. Although not much remains of the original Norman abbey, it became one of the most powerful and richest monasteries in England. The abbey owned a lot of land and a number of estates, and the town of Battle grew up around it to serve the abbey’s needs.
The abbey also had a number of special privileges and the abbots of Battle sat in the House of Lords, thereby playing their part in state affairs. During the Hundred Years War, abbots from Battle orrganised defences and support for the community, and in 1377 an abbot from the abbey was part of a successful defence of Winchelsea. In short, Battle Abbey played a central role in Sussex life in a variety of ways.
Lewes Priory and Castle
Lewes Priory was a Cluniac priory established by William de Warenne and his wife Gundrada in about 1081. William de Warenne fought with William at the Battle of Hastings and the priory became one of the the largest monastic churches in the country, set within extensive grounds. It served as the mother house for other Cluniac priories in England and you can still walk around the extensive ruins in Lewes today. With Lewes Castle just a short distance away, the look and feel of Lewes must have changed dramatically after the Normans arrived.
Wilmington Priory
Small but beautiful, this Benedictine priory was founded as an alien cell by Herluin de Conteville, William I’s step father. It helped to maintain other lands held in the area by the Benedictine monks of Grestain Abbey in Normandy. If you look at a map of Sussex, you can see how a tapestry of religious power and influence started to emerge under the Normans.
Boxgrove
The Priory and Church of St Mary and St Blaise at Boxgrove near Chichester were founded in about 1117 by monks from the Abbey of Lessay in Normandy. The interior at the Priory is in Norman (Romanesque) style and services are still held here. The guest house is now in ruins to the north of the priory, but was where travellers could find lodgings, often on their way to Chichester and beyond.
Chichester Cathedral: consolidation of religious power
Between Battle and Winchester is Chichester Cathedral inspired and influenced in design by the great Norman abbeys of Caen in Normandy. After the Battle of Hastings, the Council of London deemed that that remote cathedrals should be moved to more central locations. In 1075, work on Chichester Cathedral began (replacing Selsey) and in 1076, the See of Chichester was established. It would have been hugely important, and still is. Today, the Diocese of Chichester covers East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove, and is one of the Church of England’s largest dioceses, comprising 361 parishes. Although much altered over the centuries, the cathedral’s foundations are unmistakably Norman and it is Grade I listed.
Castles: the Norman grip on Sussex
If abbeys signalled spiritual authority, castles enforced administrative and military control. The art of building motte-and-bailey castle was not a Norman invention but they certainly perfected it and many of the castles that still dot our Sussex landscape today, popped up in the aftermath of 1066. It’s hard to imagine what it must have felt like as construction got under way and these towering buildings started to look down on the people of Sussex. You can still see or visit a number of these today including:
- Hastings Castle: among the first, thrown up rapidly after the invasion, perched dramatically above the sea.
- Pevensey Castle: a clever reuse of a Roman fort, strengthened and repurposed by the Normans.
- Lewes Castle: commanding the town and the Ouse valley, a symbol of Norman authority in the east.
- Bramber Castle: guarding a key river crossing and route inland.
- Arundel Castle: still one of the most complete and impressive castles in England, its Norman origins layered beneath later grandeur.
These weren’t just defensive structures. They were instruments of control each anchoring what became known as a “rape” of Sussex, the county’s distinctive territorial divisions.
Norman Churches: quiet survivors
Beyond the great abbeys and castles, the Norman legacy is perhaps most evocative in Sussex’s parish churches. There are dozens if not hundreds of churches in the county that date back to the Norman era and give a flavour of the intricate network of Norman influence. Just a few examples include:
- St Mary de Haura, Shoreham: a large Norman church, hinting at the importance of medieval Shoreham as a port.
- St Nicholas Church, Bramber: small and eventually to be given to Fecamp Abbey in Normandy.
- Coombes Church: famous for its frescoes and with an 11th century nave.
- St Peter Church, Southease: with its distinctive round tower and 11th century nave.
The Norman blueprint for Sussex
If the Romanesque Norman architecture is what we see, the administration is what we inherited. Normans quickly replaced the Anglo-Saxons ruling classes and introduced (or refined) a feudal system. Under this system, all land was held by the king, who in turn granted it to nobles in exchange for military service. The nobles granted portions of their land to land holders for the king in a waterfall of power and control.
Disputes over land and feudal obligations were resolved in feudal courts which operated at local, manorial or baronial levels. The Normans also refined Sussex organisation with distinctive divisions known as rapes each centred around a castle and stretching from the coast to the Weald. The six Sussex rapes were: Chichester, Arundel, Bramber, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings. Each Rape was divided into Hundreds with its own lord and sheriff, with a fortress near the sea. Although most of the administrative functions of the rapes had ended by 1894, some functions endured into the 20th century in what was really a remarkable legacy.
Cultural change
There are is so much of our language that developed from those early days of Conquest. Anglo Norman refers to a dialect used between 1066 and the middle of the 15th century. In fact from the 13th century, Anglo-French was used in all sorts of legal, administrative and commercial documents as it was the language of the King and the upper class.
Words that derive from this Anglo Norman include castle, cabbage, garden, bailiff, chancellor, council, government, abbey, baptism, clergy, defence, dungeon, easy, face, feast, forest, and the list goes on. Meanwhile, diet might not have changed massively for the ordinary man but pork became more popular as did good table manners and the use of spices.
The Normans brought significant changes to Sussex that quickly established and secured their power and control. Integration started quite early too with marriages between locals and Normans, and within 80 to 100 years, many Norman immigrants considered themselves English rather than Norman (or French). That undoubtedly means many Sussex locals today who think of themselves as of Saxon descent will often also have a healthy dose of Norman immigrant in their veins. The changes the Normans brought undoubtledy changed the look and feel of Sussex at the time but their influence endured for many hundreds of years after 1066, and 1,000 years on, can still be seen today.
If you’d like to know more about 1066 and the Year of the Normans, you may also like:
