The country around Lewes is hilly and rather devoid of trees.  It is broken in many places by chalk bluffs, and the chalky nature of the soil was noticeable in the whiteness of the network of country roads.  Many old houses are still standing in the town and one of these is pointed out as the residence of Anne of Cleves, one of the numerous wives of Henry VIII.  Near the town and plainly visible from the tower is the battlefield where in 1624 the Battle of Lewes was fought between Henry VII and the barons, led by Simon de Montfort.  Lewes appears to be an old, staid and unprogressive town.  No doubt all the spirit of progress in the vicinity has been absorbed by the city of Brighton, less than a dozen miles away.  If there has been any material improvement in Lewes for the past hundred years, it is hardly apparent to the casual observer.

We were now in a section of England rich in historic associations.  We were nearing the spot where William the Conqueror landed and where the battle was fought which overthrew the Saxon dynasty—­which an eminent authority declares to have done more to change the history of the Anglo-Saxon race than any other single event.  From Lewes, over crooked, narrow and rather rough roads, we proceeded to Pevensey, where the Normans landed nearly a thousand years ago.  It is one of the sleepy, unpretentious villages that dot the southern coast of England, but it has a history stretching far back of many of the more important cities of the Kingdom.  It was a port of entry in early times and is known to have been in existence long before the Romans came to Britain.  The Romans called it Anderida, and their city was situated on the site of the castle.  Like other Sussex towns, Pevensey lost its position as a seaport owing to a remarkable natural movement of the coast line, which has been receding for centuries.  When the Conqueror landed the sea came up to the castle walls, but now there is a stretch of four miles of meadowland between the coast and the town.

The castle, rude and ruinous, shows the work of many centuries, and was really a great fortress rather than a feudal residence.  It has been in a state of decay for many hundreds of years, but its massive walls, though ivy-grown and crumbling, still show how strongly it was built.  It is now the property of the Duke of Devonshire, who seeks to check further decay and opens it to the public without charge.

[Illustration:  Pevensey castle, where the Normans landed.]

Battle, with its abbey, is a few miles from Pevensey.  This abbey marks the site of the conflict between the Normans and the Saxons and was built by the Conqueror on the spot where Harold, the Saxon king, fell, slain by a Norman arrow.  William had piously vowed that if he gained the victory he would commemorate it by building an abbey, and this was the origin of Battle Abbey.  William took care, however, to see that it was filled with Norman monks, who were granted