Pevensey Castle - Second World War

Second World War

During the World War II the castle was used by the home guard and as a military camp for anti-aircraft troops. It also housed American and Canadian troops who were officially responsible for this section of coast in case of an invasion. As late as 1942 small additions were made to fortify the castle in case of German invasion across the Channel. This was far from fanciful as post-war exposure of German plans in Operation Sea Lion showed that this would have been the route of the invasion from the beaches to seize London.

A number of pillbox defences were built into the fabric of the castle. As shown in the picture on the left these were cunningly disguised by using local stone on the front and even today are hard to distinguish without the benefit of a guidebook. Unlike the picture, many are built low into the walls so have no distinguishing feature except the gun slits. A conscious decision was made to leave these pillboxes in place after the war as they portray the unique direct role Pevensey has played in the defence of Britain from Roman times to the 20th century.