Pevensey circular

By Ben Perkins

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Starting from the car park next to Pevensey Castle, our walk heads out across the drained marshland of Pevensey Levels to the hamlet of Rickney, sampling part of the officially-designated, well-signed and regularly used 1066 Country Walk.

The return route follows sections of an associated link route between the 1066 Walk and the South Downs, along surprisingly little used and overgrown field paths and quiet lanes.

Some care is needed when negotiating two crossings of the A27 and you will have to put up with a short section beside the busy road through Stone Cross where there is a good pavement.

The final stage of the walk passes through the outer precinct of Pevensey Castle, allowing a short detour to visit the inner medieval fort, managed by English Heritage and open daily, should time and energy permit.

Founded as the Roman Fort of Anderida to resist Saxon incursions, Pevensey Castle was adapted and developed by the Normans and, after subsequent neglect, renovated to help repel the Spanish Armada before subsiding into the picturesque ruin we see today.

1.From the entrance to the Castle car park bear left along the road using the right-hand pavement, with the outer walls of the Castle rising up to the left of the road.

After a few yards, turn right along a track, signed as the 1066 Country Walk, which soon becomes a hedged path.

Cross the busy Pevensey bypass with care and continue along a clearly defined path between fence and hedge. Where this ends at a gate, bear right along the right edge of pasture, soon with the substantial waterway of Pevensey Haven on your right. Follow this well-signed path for over a mile, beside the water at first, then across a meadow and forward, passing to the left of buildings, to join a lane at Rickney.

Turn left here, parting company with the main 1066 walk to follow a link route which eventually joins the South Downs Way.

2.ON reaching a road junction, go left over a stile beside a gate, temporarily parting company with the 1066 link path. Follow a short enclosed path to a second stile and then head out across a large field. There is no defined path but aim to pass a few yards to the left of an electricity pylon to find a stile in a crossing fence.

Maintain direction across the next field, joining and following a right-hand fence which leads you to a gate. Go ahead along the concrete drive from some rather derelict-looking glasshouses to join a road.

3.Turn right and, at a road junction with Hankham Street go right again. After 70 yards turn left along a roughly made-up drive, back on the 1066 link path.

Where the drive ends go right along a well-signalled but overgrown path through scrub, crossing a swampy area where planks have been provided to help you across the wettest bits.

Climb a grassy bank to a stile and go ahead across a large field, walking roughly parallel to power lines and passing obliquely beneath them, with a distant view ahead to a wide sweep of the Downs. This year a broad swathe, indicating the line of the right of way, has been cut through an oil seed rape crop.

4.Cross a footbridge and stile, go forward to a bridle gate and continue with a post-and-rail fence on your left. Skirt to the right of a house and garden, cross a road and follow the drive to Sharnfold Farm Centre, opposite a large pick-your-own establishment.

Pass to the right of the farm shop and continue along a drive.

Where the drive ends go ahead within a wide grass strip to a stile and across a field to reach and re-cross the A27.

Once over a stile on the other side of the main road, go left for ten yards, then right up a bank and ahead, skirting to the right of an area of young planted trees before joining and following a heavily-fortified fence on your right out to the B2247. Turn left along the nearside pavement.

At a mini-roundabout, go ahead and where the B2104 crosses, go ahead again, leaving Stone Cross parish church on your left.

5.After a few yards, fork left past a pole barrier and along a shady lane (Peelings Lane). At a crossroads go straight ahead. After about a quarter of a mile, fork left over a stile, still on the waymarked 1066 link path.

Care is now needed as this path, although waymarked, is little used and overgrown in places, requiring careful navigation.

Secateurs and a stout stick might come in useful to deal with encroaching plant growth. Aim for the buildings of Castle Farm to find a stile and a narrow path between two barns. Veer slightly right across the farmyard, ignoring a signed path to the left and follow a concrete drive ahead between two more open-sided barns to reach a stile, then go forward along a left field edge with Pevensey Castle in view ahead.

In the field corner go forward over an overgrown footbridge, hidden in a hedge and across the next field to a gate and another footbridge. Go across the next field to find a third footbridge.

Push your way out into the field beyond and follow the right edge of the next field until, in the field corner, you can bear right to join the road at Pevensey.

6.Cross the road and follow Castle Lane, opposite. Where the lane bends right, go left to walk through the outer grounds of Pevensey Castle and through an arch in the Roman wall, back to the start.