A Society Trip to Ancient Pevensey

The Rye Conservation Society is organising a visit for members to Pevensey on Wednesday 24th October. Although Pevensey is nearby and can be visited directly by train we think that many members will not have been there. It is the original landing place of William the Conqueror and his men who built Pevensey Castle on the original site of a Roman fort. In addition there is an interesting local museum and a fine large parish Church reflecting its prosperity in the 14th and 15th centuries. The proposed details of the visit are as follows:

Train from Rye: 9.48

Arrive Pevensey & Westham 10.30

Visit Castle 10.45 – 12.15

(Free for English Heritage members)

Lunch in Priory Court Hotel 12.30

Visit Pevensey Court House Museum 14.00 (www.pevenseycourthouse.co.uk)

Visit 14c St Nicholas Church 15.00

Afternoon tea or drinks 16.00

Train back to Rye 17.02

Arrive in Rye 17.48

The Castle is about fifteen minutes stroll from the station through the ancient village of Westham with a number of interesting old timbered houses. Being a ruined castle there are steps and other obstacles that people should be aware of especially if you want to visit the dungeon and sensible shoes are recommended. The Castle is owned and maintained by English Heritage and costs around £7.00 to visit but is free for EH members.

If you would like to lunch at the well regarded Priory Court Hotel then please let us know so a confirmed booking can be made. It is a half timbered Tudor building just outside the Castle walls. Cost of lunch would be about £20.

If there are more than 20 participants we might split up for the afternoon visits to the Church and Museum, as the latter is quite small. The grade one listed Church has recently been restored with assistance from the Heritage Lottery. The Museum is only a few yards from the Church and as its name suggests is housed in the old Court House and Gaol. It was also the old Town Hall and is Grade two listed.

Costs would be £7.75 return for the train with railcard. Admittance to the museum and church is free but obviously donations would be appreciated. The visit is intended to be flexible so that you can opt out of all or part of the afternoon if you wish and get an earlier train (which are hourly) to Rye.

Please e.mail Ryeconservation@gmail.com if you would like to come along.