proper begins with the coming of the Norman adventurer,
although, singularly enough, that worthy paid little attention to the
town. Landing at Pevensey on 28th September, 1066, William made his
way to Hastinga-ceastre, which he occupied without much show of
resistance (despite the picture of burning houses in the Bayeux
Tapestry), for the ships had gone north with Harold, and the folks
around had neither the means nor the mind to fight. He stayed in the
district a fortnight, scouring round for provisions and terrorizing the
natives. During that time he set to work to build some sort of a
castle, probably on or near the spot where the ancient camp had stood,
and where later the Castle proper eventually rose. This we gather from
the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the digging and timbering of a
makeshift stronghold. On 14th October William marched northwards to
meet Harold, and the famous Battle of Hastings, or Senlac, was fought.

Thence onward the town seems to have had a very chequered career.
Previous to the coming of the Normans the encroachments of the sea and
the gradual silting up of the old harbour (wherever it was) had
rendered necessary the laying down of a new town in a securer place,
and in all probability the building of the town between the east and
west cliffs was in that way begun--at a spot far to the south of the
present Old Town, of course. The township thus commenced was the _New
Burgh_ afterwards mentioned in Domesday Book, and placed by William
under the jurisdiction of his kinsman, Robert, Count of Eu, and of the
Abbot of Fecamp.

The Norman occupation heralded a period of prosperity, for everything
was done by William to foster good relationship between the kingdom and
the duchy. The continual passage of the monks between France and
England, the importation of Caen stone for the building of the abbey
(done until similar stone was discovered near at hand), made for
commercial growth and stimulated that shipbuilding industry which the
proximity of Andredesweald rendered possible. Robert of Eu at once
replaced the hastily-formed wooden fortress by a small stone castle,
and this was added to from time to time. And so the gradual progress
went on till the days of the completion of the Abbey in the reign of
the Red King: when Hastings reached its heyday.

Not long, however, did it remain thus in the full flush of existence,
for from the time of Stephen onwards it began steadily to decay. Why